Bobby Robson, Ipswich Town and a brutal quest for the 1981 treble

The wind is blowing hard and cold over East Anglia during the winter. With barely a hill in sight, there's no stopping the icy cold's advance in this corner of southeast England. An agricultural region, it is home to two main football teams: Norwich City in Norfolk and Ipswich Town in Suffolk.

While both teams are small compared to those in England's big cities (London, Liverpool and Manchester for example), they have punched above their weight in the past. Norwich were particularly strong just after the start of the Premier League, finishing third in the inaugural season before a famous UEFA Cup victory against mighty Bayern Munich.

But overall Ipswich enjoyed more success, starting with the appointment of Alf Ramsey as manager in August 1955 when they languished in the Third (South) Division - a provincial side without success in their name.

Having played 32 times for England, including the infamous 1950 World Cup defeat to the United States, Ramsey hung up his boots in 1955 and set about contemplating the next phase of his career . A player renowned for the tactical side of the game, it seemed natural that he would go into coaching. This is how he was approached by Ipswich owners, the Cobbold Brewing family, to consider a player-manager role after their last relegation to the third tier of English football.

Rejecting the role of player, he agreed to join them as manager at the age of 35. Everyone has to start somewhere, so while Ipswich was a small club languishing in the lower leagues, Ramsey hoped it could be a stepping stone to bigger things.

No one around Ipswich could have dreamed of what was to come next. In his second season, he achieved promotion to the Second Division as Champions with a team scoring over 100 goals, which was then followed by a Second Division Championship and promotion to Champions.

Incredibly, Ramsey then led Ipswich to become vchampions of England in their first campaign in the top flight, an incredible achievement in just four seasons. It was these astonishing managerial debuts that led to England coming knocking in 1963 - and the rest, as they say, is history.

Unfortunately, Ipswich did not build on this success and bumped between the first and second tier until the arrival of another future great England manager, Bobby Robson, in January 1969. During the decade Next, Robson made Ipswich a success yet again, the pinnacle being FA Cup glory in 1978 after a 1-0 victory over Arsenal, which could have been a much wider margin, such was the dominance of England. Ipswich that day.

They were a regular top-five team during this period and a constant thorn in the side alongside more established sides such as Liverpool and Manchester United. This was personified in an incredible game in the 1979/80 season when Ipswich demolished Manchester United 6-0 at home despite the United keeper saving two penalties. One question remained though: could Robson take Ipswich one step further and convert a top five side into English champions against mighty Liverpool?

It was in this context that 1980/81 began. Ipswich had finished third in the previous campaign, but behind Manchester United and then-dominant side Liverpool. It was the Liverpool of Clemence, Neal, Hansen, Thompson, Case, Lee, McDermott, Souness and Dalglish. It was the Liverpool...