The former West Ham and Tottenham boss – once an advisor to former Blues owner Marcus Evans – spoke fondly of the Suffolk club when asked about their back-to-back promotions.
“Ipswich is a lovely, good football club with great tradition – Alf Ramsey, Bobby Robson and with what George Burley did. It’s great to see them get back up there,” he said.
“I am looking forward to seeing them when they come to Bournemouth. I shall be there. I go to all the games at Bournemouth every week. I buy my tickets and go with the grandkids.
“I hope Ipswich stay up. I really do. I’d love to see them stay up. I hope they surprise people.
“When Bournemouth came up back in the day with Eddie Howe – 11,000 people the stadium holds – everyone thought they’d go down.
“I hope Ipswich stay up. I really do. I’d love to see them stay up. I hope they surprise people.
“When Bournemouth came up back in the day with Eddie Howe – 11,000 people the stadium holds – everyone thought they’d go down.
“But they suddenly established themselves in the Premier League, which I could never in a million years have imagined.
“If you’d said to me 20-odd years ago that Bournemouth will be in the Premier League one day – we were getting 2,500, 3,000 people in there.
“It’s not like Ipswich. Ipswich has always been a good club with incredible players like (Kevin) Beattie and Alan Brazil, Matt Holland, Arnold Muhren and (Frans) Thijssen – the two Dutchmen, two of the first to come over who were fantastic players back in the day. Good luck to them.”
SIGN-UP! Get four months of ALL our Town content for just £4 – or 40% off a whole year!
Meanwhile, Redknapp, speaking as a brand ambassador for free to play fantasy football game Sorare, discussed England’s chances at Euro 2024.
Reflecting on last Friday’s 1-0 defeat by Iceland at Wembley, he said: “I really fancy us so strongly to win the Euros but that really was a bit of a downer. Suddenly, if we’re honest it does start putting a few doubts in your mind that weren’t there.
“I could probably have played in goal instead of the Iceland goalkeeper for all that he had to do. We had one shot on target or something crazy.
“I was a bit disappointed to hear Gareth (Southgate) say he was more concerned about what we did off the ball than what we did on it. I really don’t understand that one. Maybe it’s too clever for me to understand.”
He continued: “I think Harry Maguire’s a big loss for us, I really do. I know he’s not everybody’s favourite player, but he’s great in both boxes at set plays and he’s a leader, a character. The players like him. He’s a big personality around the team and in the camp. We mustn’t kid ourselves. That is the problem area.”
