Ipswich Town are back

Hello, my name’s Jack and welcome to the weekly round-up called This Week on Premier Skills English.

In This Week, we’ve got lots of interesting words and phrases to help you talk about football in English.

If you are listening to this podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify you can also visit the Premier Skills English website at premierskillsenglish.britishcouncil.org where you’ll be able to download the podcast.

On the Premier Skills English website, you can read the transcript and join the Premier Skills English community by completing a language task in the comments section. This will really help you remember the new words and phrases from the stories from the Premier League.

This week, I’m back after my holidays. I spent the last few weeks on holiday and visiting family in Indonesia. Which was amazing and lots of fun, but it meant that I haven’t been around as much. I’m back now and very excited about the new season and have lots of plans for exciting new podcast episodes including this one. You see, today, I’m talking about the town of Ipswich and Ipswich Town FC, the newly promoted team, bursting back to the Premier League after 22 years in the Championship and League One. I’m going to talk about the town and the club. I’ve broken the story about the town into three parts and for each part, I’m going to focus on five words and phrases. After each part, I’ll talk about the vocabulary and then there will be a language challenge. At the end of the podcast there will be a new football phrase for you and a new fiendish football phrase for those of you who are looking for something more challenging.

Before I start talking about Ipswich, I want to look at the last football phrase and the last fiendish football phrase.

If you didn’t hear them last week, here’s one more chance to guess now.

Last week’s football phrase was the noun ********. This is a special way to describe a person or a club that they have earned or that describes them better. So in the story, I said that Cole Palmer has earned the ******** Cold Palmer because he is so cool under pressure.
Last week’s fiendish football phrase was **** ****. This is a detailed strategy or series of tactics that a player can prepare before a match or competition that they think will help them succeed. Pickford had his shootout **** **** literally written on the side of his water bottle.

Congratulations to Alex from Ukraine who managed to suggest good answers despite me making mistakes with the number of stars and spaces for both phrases. Well done to Hasan from Turkey, BrandonArsenal from Colombia, welcome to Premier Skills English BrandonArsenal. Congratulations to LeoFabiano from Brazil, Jacob_burns from Poland - I looked at Turbokozak, but my Polish is not good enough. It does look fun though. Well done to AndreTorre102 from Brazil, ElChueco from Argentina, Gapa from Korea, Kwesimanifest from Ghana, Denis2000 from Belarus, Lukáš from Czechia and Ryohei from Japan.

You all managed to work out that the football phrase was nickname and the fiendish football phrase was game plan. Keep listening till the end of the podcast for two new football phrases.

And now, it’s time for me to start today’s focus on Ipswich Town FC.

Ipswich Town F.C. are back

Ipswich is a large town in Suffolk. Suffolk is in an area of England called East Anglia which is east of London on the north side of the river Thames. Ipswich is the second biggest town or city in East Anglia. The biggest is Norwich and the two towns enjoy a friendly rivalry that is most passionately expressed in the East Anglia Derby, when Ipswich Town FC play Norwich City.

Ipswich was founded during the Anglo-Saxon times, sometime in the 7th or 8th century, on a bend in the Orwell river. The Orwell River flows into a wide estuary and was an important trade route. The Anglo-Saxons built a port in Ipswich and while the waterfront has changed over the centuries, Ipswich Dock remains an important port today. The ancient port in the centre of the town has been renovated and is now the Ipswich Waterfront and is full of cafes, restaurants and bars and is a centre for leisure and culture.

If you walk a few hundred metres from the Ipswich waterfront, you can find Portman Road, the Ipswich Town Football Club ground. Ipswich Town FC was founded in 1878 and took up residence at Portman Road in 1884. The ground has a capacity of 29,673 and has four stands including the Sir Alf Ramsey Stand, named after the team’s manager from 1955-1963. Sir Alf Ramsay led the team from the Third Division to victory in the First Division, then the top flight of English football. As well as the Sir Alf Ramsey Stand, there’s the Sir Bobby Robson Stand. Sir Bobby Robson managed Ipswich from 1969 to 1982 and led the team to two major trophies, the FA Cup and the UEFA Cup.

Language focus 1

The words from the story that I want to talk about are:

• Rivalry
• Passionately expressed
• Ipswich Dock
• To renovate
• To take up residence

Rivalry
The noun rivalry refers to a situation where two people or two groups of people compete against each other to see who is the best. In any competition, if you want to win, then you will feel some rivalry, a sort of hostility towards the people you are competing against. In situations where there are long standing competitions, there are long standing rivalries and in these situations, the hostility between competitors or fans can become intense. In Ipswich, the rivalry with Norwich is mostly good natured and while the atmosphere at Portman Road can be loud and emotional, everything gets worked out on the pitch.

Passionately expressed
I said that the rivalry is most passionately expressed in the East Anglia Derby when Ipswich Town play Norwich City. The adverb passionately describes the way that someone does something, if they do it with a lot of feeling and emotion. The adjective passionate describes someone who feels things very deeply and is very emotionally involved with something. So, I am passionate about music. I love some music, what I think is good music and really hate some other music. I have a strong emotional reaction to music. The verb to express means to communicate a thought or a feeling. You can express yourself through your words or you can express yourself through your actions. So when Ipswich Town play against Norwich City, the fans communicate the strength of their rivalry through their songs and cheers and the passionate reactions to their team’s performance.

Ipswich Dock
The word dock has a few meanings, but in Ipswich, the dock is the place where boats get tied up so that people can get off them and onto land. There are lots of words for these places. Usually, a really big place where boats that cross the seas and oceans stop to load and unload their passengers and cargo is called a port. The place where fishing boats tie up to unload their fish is called a harbour. And sailing boats and canal boats stop in a marina. I think that the word dock refers to the structure that boats are tied to and the buildings that cargo is loaded into so you can find docks in ports, harbours and marinas.

To renovate
The verb renovate means to fix and repair something so that it’s in a good condition and can be used. It’s most commonly used to talk about buildings. In the UK, we have lots of old buildings and some of them are not in very good condition. Fortunately, lots of people like to renovate old buildings and they clean and repair them and replace anything that’s broken and generally improve their condition. Some people really love to buy very old cars, classic cars and to fix them up. For classic cars, we use the verb to restore but for buildings we say renovate.

To take up residence
If you take up residence somewhere, you move in and start to live there. It’s quite a formal sounding expression so you might read about new diplomats taking up residence in the embassy or if you have a presidential election, the new president may take up residence in the presidential palace.

Language challenge 1

Right, now it’s time for you to think about this language again. I have used AI to come up with examples of the words and phrases from the first part of today’s focus on Ipswich. I have removed the vocabulary from the sentences so I want you to fill in the gaps with the correct forms of the language I’ve just described..

Question 1. The hotel will close for six months to _________ all of its guest rooms.

Question 2. After scoring the winning goal, he _________ his joy by dancing around the pitch.

Question 3. The Port of London has numerous _______ where ships from around the world come to deliver goods.

Question 4. The historic _________ between the neighbouring towns is celebrated with an annual festival and sports competitions.

Question 5. The author ____________ in a remote cabin to focus on writing his novel.

Leave your answers to this language challenge in the comments section on the Premier Skills English website.

Now it’s time for part 2 of today’s focus on Ipswich Town.

In 1992, Ipswich Town FC were among the 22 inaugural teams that kicked off the Premier League. They survived the first season but were relegated in 1994. The club were promoted back into the premier league and finished in a more than respectable fifth place before being relegated again and then relegated further to League One. In December 2021, Kieran McKenna was appointed as manager. In his first full season in charge, McKenna turned the club around, breaking several club records and managed an impressive 18 league match undefeated streak. Ipswich Town were promoted to the Championship in 2023 and at the end of 2024, secured back-to-back promotions and earned their spot in the Premier League.

The team has traditionally played their home games in a blue and white kit. Their shirt has vertical blue and white stripes and so for most of their history, the club’s nickname has been the Blues. However, they have another, newer nickname.

East Anglia and Suffolk in particular has a long history of agriculture. In 2001, Ipswich were playing Leeds United at Elland Road in the Premier League and the home side were losing 2-1. The Leeds fans started singing "We're being beaten by a bunch of tractor drivers". In popular culture, the country farmer is well loved, but not considered particularly sophisticated. The Leeds fans thought their city players should have been able to beat those country folk from Ipswich so the song was not meant to be encouraging for the visitors. However, the Ipswich Town fans loved it and adopted the nickname the Tractor Boys as a sort of self-deprecating joke.

Language focus 2

The words from the story that I want to talk about are:

• Inaugural
• To appoint
• Vertical
• Tractor
• Self-deprecating

Inaugural
The word "inaugural" means "the first". It is used to describe something that happens for the very first time or marks the beginning of something important. So I said that Ipswich Town were one of the inaugural teams in the Premier League. In the first season of the Premier League, there were 22 teams, there were 22 inaugural teams. They were the first teams to be part of the Premier League. I think that the adjective is most commonly used to talk about events in politics after a new leader has been elected. They will make an inaugural speech and there are usually other formal first or inaugural events.

To appoint
The verb to appoint means to choose someone for a job or a position. It’s probably more commonly used in passive phrases. So, I said that Kieran McKenna was appointed as manager in December 2021. This is another way of saying that he was given the job. I don’t think we’d use the term for normal jobs. I think we only use it for important jobs with lots of responsibility or for roles that are chosen by someone important like the president or prime minister.

Vertical
The word "vertical" describes something that goes up and down, like a straight line from the bottom to the top, or from the top to the bottom. Imagine a tall tree, a flagpole, or a ladder. These things are vertical because they stand upright. It’s contrasted with horizontal which means in a line from left to right, like the horizon. So Newcastle United and Ipswich Town play in shirts with vertical stripes and QPR and Reading play in shirts with horizontal stripes.

Tractor
A tractor is a big, powerful vehicle that farmers use to help with their work on the farm. Tractors have really big back wheels and very powerful engines so they can pull or push heavy things. They are also quite slow and if you live in the county in the UK, you’ll often get stuck behind one on country roads.

Self-deprecating

The term "self-deprecating" describes jokes or comments that people say to make fun of themselves, usually in a gentle and friendly way. When people make self-deprecating jokes, they talk about their own mistakes or flaws, but in a way that shows they don't take themselves too seriously. I guess you could make jokes that deprecate other people, that put them down or that try to make people laugh at them, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard that. It’s much more common to hear people talking about self-deprecating jokes.

Language challenge 2

It’s time for you to think about this language again. I’m going to read you five sentences that include examples of the words and phrases from the second part of today’s focus on Ipswich. I have removed the vocabulary so I want you to fill in the gaps with the correct forms of the language I’ve just described.

Question 1. Even though he's very talented, he often uses _________________ jokes to make others feel comfortable.

Question 2. The teacher drew a _____________ line on the board to show the height of the building.

Question 3. He was __________ to the board of directors to help make important decisions for the company.

Question 4. The farmer drove the __________ across the field to prepare it for planting.

Question 5. The airline's _________ flight to Tokyo was a milestone for the company.

Leave your answers to this language challenge in the comments section on the Premier Skills English website.

Now it’s time for part 3 of today’s focus on Ipswich Town.

The club badge is shaped like a little tower which represents Wosley’s Gate, an important landmark in Ipswich. The badge also features a horse with its foot on a ball. The horse is a Suffolk Punch which is a breed of working horse from Suffolk that would have been very important for the farmers in the region before the invention of the tractor.

Ipswich Town’s most famous fan is the singer Ed Sheeran. Sheeran is such a big fan of the club that he’s their main shirt sponsor. In an interview for the Ipswich Town website, the singer said: "The Football Club is a big part of the local community and this is my way of showing my support."

Any club that gets promoted to the Premier League is going to face a challenge. Ipswich Town was playing in League One two seasons ago and now they are going to be facing off with the big teams of the Premier League. According to Transfermarkt, Manchester City’s Erling Haaland is the most valuable player in the Premier League and on his own, he is worth almost twice the value of the entire Ipswich Town squad. So the Tractor Boys are going to be the underdogs in almost every match this season. But everyone wants to see the underdogs do well so I’m sure Ipswich Town will have a lot of support.

So, if you ever get the chance to visit East Anglia, it’s worth taking a trip to Ipswich. If you’re lucky enough to be there on a match day, head to Portman Road and lend your voice to the fans who gather to cheer on The Tractor Boys.

Language focus 3

The words from the story that I want to talk about are:

• To represent
• Landmark
• Sponsor
• Squad
• To cheer on

To represent
The verb to represent has two main meanings. The first is to show something in a clear way. When something or someone represents something else, it acts as a symbol or example of that thing. So when two people get married, they often exchange rings that are symbols that show that they are married and represent their love and connection. The other meaning that’s common in sport is when an athlete or player represents their country. So in an international football competition like the World Cup or the Euros, the players that are selected to play for their national side are said to represent their country. In the Olympics and Paralympic games, athletes from all around the world will represent their countries on the fields and tracks and pitches and courts, competing for medals and glory for their countries.

Landmark
A landmark is something that is very important, famous, or easy to see and recognise. Landmarks can be buildings, monuments, or natural features that help people know where they are. They are often special places that people like to visit. In Paris, the most famous landmark is the Eiffel tower. In London, there’s Tower Bridge and the Houses of Parliament. I’ve just come back from Indonesia and when I was there, I went with my family to Jakarta and we went up a special tower called Monas, the national monument which is an important landmark in Jakarta.

Sponsor
The word sponsor is a verb and a noun. The verb means to give someone money because they are doing something that you like, often for charity. In football, companies sponsor football clubs, they give them money. The noun form means the person or organisation that sponsors something or someone. So I said that Ed Sheeran sponsors Ipswich Town. He is their sponsor. Now in modern football, sponsors are rewarded by having their brand on the players’ shirts. So for most clubs, this means a company logo. As Ed Sheeran is not a company, he’s asked for some mathematical symbols that represent some of his albums to be printed on the front of the shirts.

Squad
In football, a squad is the group of players who are part of a team. These are the players that the coach can choose from to play in matches. The squad includes all the players, not just the ones on the field, but also the substitutes sitting on the bench and other team members. In the Premier League , each team has a squad of up to 25 players.

To cheer on
The phrasal verb to cheer on means to shout words or sayings of encouragement and support to someone who is doing something challenging or exciting. When you cheer someone on, you are showing them that you are on their side and want them to succeed. You might shout come on or something encouraging like: you can do it. Or you might join in a special song.

Language challenge 3

It’s time for you to think about this language again. I’m going to read you five sentences that include examples of the words and phrases from the third part of today’s focus on Ipswich. I have removed the vocabulary so I want you to fill in the gaps with the correct forms of the language I’ve just described.

Question 1. The Statue of Liberty is a famous _______ in New York City.

Question 2. Every player in the ________ plays an important role, whether on the field or supporting from the bench.

Question 3. The local bakery decided to _________ the school’s sports team, providing new uniforms.

Question 4. Her family was there to _______ her ____ during the marathon.

Question 5. The red cross on the map ___________ a hospital.

Leave your answers to this language challenge in the comments section on the page for this podcast on the Premier Skills English website.

Now it’s time for this week's football phrases.

This week’s football phrase is **** ********. This phrase describes how well players are able to kick the ball to their teammates. It’s one of the statistics that managers look at. If the ball always gets to their teammates then they will have a very high **** ********. However, if they kick the ball poorly and it is intercepted by players on the other side, then this will reduce their **** ********.

This week’s fiendish football phrase is ********. I don’t think that it’s a very fiendish phrase, but we’ll see how well I can describe it. It means the performance of a player or a team over a whole season. So if a player is injured, they might miss out on lots of the matches of a season’s ********.

If you know the answer to the football phrase or the fiendish football phrase, be sure to leave it in the comments section at the bottom of the page for this podcast on Premier Skills English.

Before I finish, I am going to go through the answers to the last language challenge.

Number 1. The CEO was known for her ruthless business tactics, often cutting jobs to increase profits.

Number 2. They decided to hire an assistant to help relieve the strain of their growing workload.

Number 3. Failing the final exam came as a psychological blow to him, as he had studied so hard.

Number 4. Speaking in front of a large audience for the first time was a nerve-wracking experience.

Number 5. The coach is under pressure to lead the team to victory this season.

Number 6. After being promoted to CEO, she felt the weight of the world on her shoulders with all the new responsibilities.

Number 7. The negotiations between the two countries reached a stalemate, with neither side willing to compromise.

Number 8. The manager got it in the neck for the team’s poor performance in the tournament.

And that’s all I have time for today. Before I finish, I just wanted to say that I hope you found this podcast useful, and I hope everyone stays fit and healthy and safe.

Bye for now and enjoy your football.