Latest news with #IpswichTownFC
Bloomberg
4 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Arizona Pension Fund Looks to Bank Profit From Ipswich Town Deal
Football is littered with tales of billionaires losing vast sums on dreams of glory. A group of firefighters and prison officers from Arizona look set to buck that trend. The Arizona Public Safety Personnel Retirement System is in talks to sell a stake in Ipswich Town FC for a significant profit, four years after becoming the English football club's main backer, according to people familiar with the matter.
Yahoo
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Ed Sheeran Overwhelmed With Emotion Performing With Musical Hero James Blunt: ‘Top 3 Favorite Moments on Stage Of All Time'
Ed Sheeran has played gigs in the largest venues all over the world, collaborated with major pop and hip-hop stars (Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, Cardi B, Stormzy) and had his songs streamed tens of billions of times. But on Sunday night (July 13) during the final show of his three-night run at Suffolk's Portman Road stadium — home of his beloved Ipswich Town FC football club — Sheeran truly took it back to the start when he shared the stage with the singer who made him want to do this all in the first place: James Blunt. More from Billboard Ed Sheeran & Kylie Kelce Call Taylor Swift the 'Cheat Code' for Easy Applause Boy George Doesn't Think Modern LGBTQ+ Identity Politics Have 'Helped Anyone' George Kittle Recalls Getting to Sing His 'Favorite Taylor Swift Song' With the Pop Star at a Bar 'I rarely get nervous at gigs, I do this so often. I'm very nervous to sing this, because I've never sung this with him and this really is a dream come true,' Sheeran told the crowd as he announced Blunt. The two then launched into a duet on Blunt's sentimental 2004 hit 'Goodbye My Lover,' with Blunt taking the lead on vocal and playing keyboards as Sheeran strummed an acoustic guitar. 'I'm quite emotional after that actually. That is top three favorite moment on stage ever. Ever,' Sheeran said afterwards. Sheeran has long spoken of the huge impact Blunt's music had on his own desire to write and perform songs and in an accompanying note on the video he wrote, 'I saw @jamesblunt when I was 13 opening for @eltonjohn at Portman Road. I bought his album that day, then got obsessed. My dad took me to Cambridge junction to see him months after, and he became my favourite singer songwriter. His songs moulded me, his performing inspired me. I wanted to be him.' He added, 'I wanted to be him so much that I signed to the same management as him. I wanted to be him so much I signed to the same record label as him. I sometimes have to remind myself how much he means and meant to me, because we've been mates for well over a decade now. I'm godfather to his son. He's one of my close mates.' Sheeran said that he sometimes forgets he was once a 13-year-old boy who got obsessed with Blunt, covered his songs at a school talent show, went to a number of the fellow singer-songwriter's gigs and has transformed from being just a fan to a both a fan and a friend, which is 'super weird' when he thinks about it. 'I asked him to do the final night at ipswich because of that gig 21 years ago where I saw him at the same venue,' Sheeran explained. 'And I asked him to sing my favourite songs of his tonight, because he, and the song, mean so much to me. Thank you James for coming today. I know you finished your South American tour two days ago, and you should be resting, but you flew to ipswich to sing with me. And it meant the world.' The 'Bad Habits' ended his note with a reversal of the old saw about meeting your heroes. 'Don't meet your hero's, unless your hero's are James Blunt,' Sheeran wrote. 'Love you mate.' It was a magical weekend for Sheeran all around, as he also got to collaborate with another one of his formative influences, British boy band Westlife, who joined him on night one for a joint performance of their 1999 hit single 'Flying Without Wings' during the run that included support from Myles Smith, Tori Kelly, Busted, Skye Newman, Dylan and Maisie Peters. Check out footage of the performance and Sheeran's note below. Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Janet Jackson's Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits H.E.R. & Chris Brown 'Come Through' to No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart
Yahoo
14-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Ipswich Town sign Rennes midfielder Azor Matusiwa
Ipswich Town FC have signed Rennes defensive midfielder Azor Matusiwa (27), both clubs have announced. Matusiwa signed for Rennes from Ligue 1 rivals Stade de Reims eighteen months ago, but the former Netherlands U21 international has mostly failed to replicate the form that earned him a €15m move to the Bretons. L'Equipe understands that Rennes and the EFL Championship side agreed on a €11.5m transfer fee. Matusiwa penned a four-year deal with Ipswich Town FC. The Dutch midfielder featured 47 times with Stade Rennais. Les Rouge et Noir are currently trimming their squad down under the guidance of newly-named Sporting Director Loïc Désiré. Matusiwa had reportedly no guarantees from head coach Habib Beye regarding his playing time. Advertisement GFFN | Bastien Cheval
Leader Live
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Leader Live
Ed Sheeran fans from around the world queue overnight for homecoming concert
The 34-year-old is due to perform three shows at Portman Road, the home of Ipswich Town, the football club he supports and has previously sponsored, from Friday to Sunday, with fans coming from as far away as the US to see the singer. Hayley Judge, who is from south London and was at the Suffolk venue in the early morning, and claims to be the world's only female Ed Sheeran tribute act, told BBC Radio Suffolk that she was looking forward to hearing the singer's new songs which she was 'loving', but added that 2011's The A Team 'never gets old for me'. A post shared by Ipswich Town FC (@ipswichtown) She said: 'I used to run an open mic, and one of the guys came to the open mic one night, and he played The A Team, and I'm like, 'Oh, that's an amazing song'. 'And then that's how I started following Ed and just started learning his songs and bought a loop station, the little one that Ed used to have. I think the first loop song I ever did was Small Bump all those years ago, and it's just sort of progressed from there.' Judge has met Sheeran on three occasions, with the latest coming when she won a competition to join the singer on a pink bus which drove around London to celebrate the release of Azizam earlier this year. She added: 'We spent a good hour-and-a-half just going around London, really intimate gig with him playing on the top deck of the bus, and then afterwards, he came round and just spent like five minutes with everyone on the bus and just chatted. 'That's when he said, 'I've seen your cover of Azizam, how's the tribute stuff going?', and I did say to him on the bus, I said, 'One day Ed, me and you'll do a duet', and he shouted back, 'Yeah, let's do it today', but unfortunately, obviously it was a very busy day, so we didn't get to do it then.' Sheeran will be supported by Myles Smith and Tori Kelly for the July 11 show, before Busted and Dylan open on July 12, and James Blunt and Maisie Peters complete the line-up on July 13. The shows come after he announced his eighth studio album Play would be released in September. Fan Debbie, who has travelled from Indiana in the US for the concert, told BBC Radio Suffolk: 'Actually, I didn't know who Ed was until 2020, because I had a hearing loss and I didn't listen to music, and with my hearing aids, Ed got me into music again, so I'm a latecomer.' Sheeran was born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, but moved to Framingham Earl in Suffolk as a child and has owned a minority share in nearby football club Ipswich Town since last year, with the club being relegated from the Premier League at the end of the 2024-2025 season. He has had 14 UK number one singles and eight UK number one albums, and the singer's best known songs include The A Team, Lego House, Sing, and Don't. On Thursday, the singer launched an exhibition of his Cosmic Carpark Paintings in London's Heni Gallery. Gates open for the shows at 4.30pm, with a curfew at 10.30pm.
South Wales Guardian
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- South Wales Guardian
Ed Sheeran fans from around the world queue overnight for homecoming concert
The 34-year-old is due to perform three shows at Portman Road, the home of Ipswich Town, the football club he supports and has previously sponsored, from Friday to Sunday, with fans coming from as far away as the US to see the singer. Hayley Judge, who is from south London and was at the Suffolk venue in the early morning, and claims to be the world's only female Ed Sheeran tribute act, told BBC Radio Suffolk that she was looking forward to hearing the singer's new songs which she was 'loving', but added that 2011's The A Team 'never gets old for me'. A post shared by Ipswich Town FC (@ipswichtown) She said: 'I used to run an open mic, and one of the guys came to the open mic one night, and he played The A Team, and I'm like, 'Oh, that's an amazing song'. 'And then that's how I started following Ed and just started learning his songs and bought a loop station, the little one that Ed used to have. I think the first loop song I ever did was Small Bump all those years ago, and it's just sort of progressed from there.' Judge has met Sheeran on three occasions, with the latest coming when she won a competition to join the singer on a pink bus which drove around London to celebrate the release of Azizam earlier this year. She added: 'We spent a good hour-and-a-half just going around London, really intimate gig with him playing on the top deck of the bus, and then afterwards, he came round and just spent like five minutes with everyone on the bus and just chatted. 'That's when he said, 'I've seen your cover of Azizam, how's the tribute stuff going?', and I did say to him on the bus, I said, 'One day Ed, me and you'll do a duet', and he shouted back, 'Yeah, let's do it today', but unfortunately, obviously it was a very busy day, so we didn't get to do it then.' Sheeran will be supported by Myles Smith and Tori Kelly for the July 11 show, before Busted and Dylan open on July 12, and James Blunt and Maisie Peters complete the line-up on July 13. The shows come after he announced his eighth studio album Play would be released in September. Fan Debbie, who has travelled from Indiana in the US for the concert, told BBC Radio Suffolk: 'Actually, I didn't know who Ed was until 2020, because I had a hearing loss and I didn't listen to music, and with my hearing aids, Ed got me into music again, so I'm a latecomer.' Sheeran was born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, but moved to Framingham Earl in Suffolk as a child and has owned a minority share in nearby football club Ipswich Town since last year, with the club being relegated from the Premier League at the end of the 2024-2025 season. He has had 14 UK number one singles and eight UK number one albums, and the singer's best known songs include The A Team, Lego House, Sing, and Don't. On Thursday, the singer launched an exhibition of his Cosmic Carpark Paintings in London's Heni Gallery. Gates open for the shows at 4.30pm, with a curfew at 10.30pm.
