BURLEY`S FINANCIAL GAIN
Six years ago, the Suffolk-based club finished bottom of the Premiership with just 27 points to their name. However, fast-forward to the present day and the Blues are surpassing all expectations having already equalled the aforementioned tally.
The recent 3-2 win over struggling Manchester City was Ipswich‚ÇÖs eighth win of the campaign, and no team has won more away games than Burley‚ÇÖs battlers this season.
A brace from striker Marcus Stewart and a deft header from defender Hermann Hreidarsson won the points at Maine Road ‚Çô both players having signed for the Blues within the last nine months.
Snapped up from Huddersfield for £2.5 million in February of this year, Stewart is scoring with relative ease in the Premiership and has already bagged nine league goals this term ‚Çô all scored from inside the box.
He has landed over half of his 43 shots on target and recorded an impressive 21% goals-to-shots-ratio ‚Çô a higher percentage than both Paulo Wanchope and Jonatan Johansson, who carry the scoring hopes of fellow newcomers Manchester City and Charlton respectively.
With Stewart prolific in the final third of the pitch, Burley can point to £4 million record-signing Hreidarsson as a pillar of strength at the back. The Icelandic international has missed just 17 minutes of the campaign and has been pivotal in Ipswich maintaining five clean sheets so far.
Hreidarsson‚ÇÖs aerial domination is illustrated by the fact that he has completed 65-headed clearances ‚Çô more than any of his team-mates. And he has also used his 6‚ÇÖ1" frame to make 18 blocks ‚Çô again, a total unsurpassed by his Ipswich comrades.
The former Wimbledon centre-half is regarded as ‚Çÿjinx‚ÇÖ in some quarters having tasted relegation from the Premiership with the Dons and Crystal Palace in previous seasons. However, on current form Hreidarsson looks set to emphatically break this trend with Ipswich.
He and Stewart were bought for the equivalent of one Craig Bellamy or a third of Rio Ferdinand, and with Ipswich riding high above the likes of Coventry and Leeds, this was definitely money well spent by Burley.
