The £3.1 million Ipswich Town transfer fiasco that will continue to baffle a lot of fans

admin | December 3, 2023 | Other Clubs | No Comments

After losing the second-tier play-offs three times in a row in the 1990s, Suffolk Town made it back to the Premiership in 2000 by defeating Barnsley at Wembley on their fourth attempt.

After five years out of the English football premier league, George Burley’s management with a strong combination of youth and experience eventually paid off for the Tractor Boys.

The good times kept rolling in the 2000–01 season when, amazingly, the team that was one of the favorites to be relegated—Ipswich—finished in fifth place in the Premiership, 32 points clear of the drop zone and qualified for the UEFA Cup the following year.

Town had already begun to spend money by then; in August 2000, they broke their transfer record when they signed Icelandic defender Hermann Hreidarsson, and in 2001, they proceeded to buy players for seven-figure salaries as they got ready to travel to Europe.

Finidi George, a Nigerian winger who had won numerous caps and international competitions for the Super Eagles and had scored five goals in La Liga for Real Mallorca in the previous season, was one of those who generated a lot of enthusiasm.

How much did Ipswich Town spend on Finidi George?

This resulted in Suffolk paying £3.1 million for his services at the age of 30, and even though George would probably not offer much more in the way of resale value after that, the experience seemed important given the club was going back to play in Europe.

But in the end, Ipswich and George were greatly disappointed with what transpired.

How did Finidi George’s time at Ipswich Town go?

In his first league home game, a 3-1 victory over Derby County, the Nigerian did play a major role with two goals. However, the Tractor Boys struggled to find their footing in the Premier League throughout the season, and George returned with three goals from his next six games after missing some time due to a fractured cheekbone.

George was in and out of the team at the end of the season, though, with Town in danger of relegation, and by the end of his first season in England, he would be a Division One player.

Even though George had scored six goals in 25 Premier League games—a decent total for a winger—he was 31 years old going into the 2002–03 season. Two months into the season, the manager who had signed him, Burley, was fired, and Joe Royle, Burley’s successor, did not think highly of George.

George’s last game was in the UEFA Cup against Slovan Liberec in November 2002. The winger was frozen out after missing a penalty kick in a shootout that resulted in their elimination from European competition once more.

Why was Finidi George frozen out at Ipswich Town?

A few weeks later, George received word that he could quit Ipswich because Royle desired to assemble his own team.

And even though there was supposed to be a transfer to Fenerbahce in January 2003, it never happened. Instead, George left Portman Road in the summer of 2003 after a few months following the club’s administration.

Some things just don’t turn out the way you expect them to. George has expressed his personal unhappiness in recent years about how his time at Ipswich went and how he couldn’t really stay totally fit to help them survive in the top division.

Though there were other players in that field who offered more for less money, such as Matteo Sereni, George was by no means the largest failure since he did not live up to the expectations placed on him.