Ipswich woman shares 'exciting' time she received prize from Sir Alf Ramsey

An Ipswich woman has looked back at the "exciting time" she met legendary Ipswich manager Sir Alf Ramsey. 

Traci Smith shared her memory of Sir Alf who gave her a radio cassette when she was a student at Westbourne High School in 1984.

The Ipswich resident received the prize for raising a large sum of money for charity, and still has the player now.

Aged 14 at the time, the moment was captured by the Ipswich Star, then the Evening Star, and the East Anglian Daily Times.

Now 38 years on, the Ipswich resident said meeting England’s football team manager was still an important moment to her.

Traci said: “The 1966 World Cup was way before my time but I knew that Alf Ramsey was the manager of that winning team so I was so excited to meet him. He was really lovely.”

For Ipswich Town fans the club had many successful years under the leadership of Sir Alf.

Retiring from football aged 35, he became Ipswich's manager in 1955 and led the team out of the Third Division, with the Blues heading to the top flight by the 1960/61 season.

He left the club in 1963 to take on the England manager's role, three years later winning the World Cup.

Sir Alf, lived in Ipswich, on Valley Road between 1986 to 1994. 

He died on April 28 1999 and is remembered to this day, with the club unveiling a statue in his memory in 2000, naming the road after him.

The south stand at Portman Road was named after him in 2012.