Jimmy's Back!

We have our Jimmy Back! After what has been such a difficult week for Ipswich Town fans, there has been a bit of good news. Well, I say good news, fantastic news. News of the variety that nearly even brings a tear to the eye of the most hardened football supporter.

It has been a long summer, with many ups and downs. All in all, it would probably be fair to say that the majority of signings made by Paul Jewell have been very positive, but there certainly was a time when most fans almost accepted that Bullard would not be pulling on an Ipswich shirt again.

The midfielder returned to training with Hull, and at first looked to be well and truly back in the club's plans, which saw him included on a pre-season trip to Slovenia. Furthermore, a whole host of Premier League club's were sniffing around the one time loanee.

But we did not lose hope – whether it was in desperation, I am not sure, but rarely would two days pass without Bullard's name being mentioned. It had echoes of the Giovani dos Santos scenario after he had enjoyed a successful loan spell with the club.

I will admit, in fact, I was one of the fans that continued to hold out hope that our beloved Jimmy would one day come home – and the feeling when he finally did was miraculous. Almost emotional, I would argue.

It is true, a move had looked unlikely for much of the summer, but the first shred of hope came when it was announced that Bullard had been suspended by his employers, Hull, for a breach of discipline.

At this point, you would expect most players to receive huge amounts of criticism, and the usual clichés about footballer only being bothered about money and not the club to come up. In the Ipswich camp however, a wave of excitement began to appear.

I'm not sure I have ever seen such a large group of people almost collectively praying that someone would get sacked. Rumours began to emerge that he would be, and the possibility of Hull having to pay off his expensive contract was getting to much for Town fans to handle.

Would that mean he would be prepared to take a massive pay-cut and return to Portman Road?

When it was finally announced that Bullard would have his contract terminated, I must admit, I had to physically tell myself that any move was probably still unlikely. Blackburn, Wolves, QPR and a plethora of wealthy Premier League clubs were all being linked with him. The press almost were giving a sense of 'oh yeah, little Ipswich might try to sign him too.'

So surely there was no way he would come to Ipswich now all the big boys knew they could get him for free, right? Wrong. Bullard and Jewell clearly had been in communication all summer, and the former Wigan player clearly had his heart set on coming back to Portman Road.

He has already said that he took a huge pay cut to sign for Ipswich on a two-year deal, and it is likely that if he had held out for a bit longer, he probably could have got himself a lucrative Premier League contract.

It is refreshing to see a player sign for a club because they want to play football, because they love the fans, and because they have a sense of loyalty to a certain manager. In this day and age, I'm not sure there are many players in world football who would do the same.

Jimmy, I think I speak for most Ipswich fans here when I say we are thrilled to have you back, and cannot wait to see you in that blue shirt for another two years at least.

Below is a little video I have found for anyone reading this to savour. Enjoy.