Ipswich Town
League Position: 6th (2013/14: 9th)
Average league attendance: 19,603 (2013/14: 17,110)
Top league goalscorer: Daryl Murphy (27)
Ipswich Town, like Brentford, reached the Championship Play-Offs but were ultimately unsuccessful. Town fans had to swallow the bitter pill of losing to their arch rivals Norwich City in the Semi-Finals and then see The Canaries reach the Premier League with a 1-0 win in the final against Midddlesbrough.
Town’s top scorer was Daryl Murphy, who netted an impressive 27 goals in 44 games. The 32-year-old Irishman was a revelation last season, becoming the Championship’s leading goalscorer. His feat is all the more impressive as prior to last season he had only scored a total of 20 goals in the previous two seasons.
They started their season with a 1-0 win over Fulham, and stayed in the top six from mid-September onwards. Manager Mick McCarthy put together a hard working side that, whilst not playing the football the purists would wish to see, was effective in getting results.
Ipswich had lost only three matches by the turn of the New Year, which left them in second place. The previous ten games had yielded eight wins. However they could not replicate this form in the second half of the season and had to settle for last day qualification for the Play-Offs. With Ipswich losing 3-2 at Blackburn Rovers, they finished sixth due to Derby County’s dramatic 3-0 reverse at home to Reading.
Norwich City proved too strong for them over two legs: having drawn the first at Portman Road they went down 3-1 at Carrow Road. McCarthy is vastly experienced – and successful - at this level but a repeat of last season’s league position could be considered unlikely.