Blues appoint Paul Lambert as manager

Paul Lambert is the new manager of Ipswich Town.

The former Scotland skipper, who replaces Paul Hurst at Portman Road, has signed a contract until the summer of 2021.

In a 20 year playing career, Paul won the Champions League with Borussia Dortmund then went on to pick up a succession of trophies at Celtic.

He made 40 appearances for his country, including playing at the 1998 World Cup finals.

He began his managerial career at Livingston before going on to work at Wycombe and Colchester. A move to Norwich followed at the start of the 2009/10 season and he guided the Canaries from League One to the Premier League in two years with successive promotions.

He kept Norwich in the top flight, then in the summer of 2012 took over at Aston Villa where he spent three seasons in the Premier League.

Further spells followed at Blackburn and Wolves, guiding both clubs to safety in the Championship, before he became boss at Stoke in January 2018. He was unable to stop their slide into relegation and left the club in the summer.

“I am delighted that Paul has agreed to become manager of Ipswich Town,” Town owner Marcus Evans told the Club website.

“He made it clear from our first conversation that he would relish the opportunity to come here.

“He is a very knowledgeable manager who has vast experience of the Championship as well as working for a number of years in the Premier League.

“In his time at Aston Villa he showed he could work and develop young players and his teams have always looked to play exciting football and those attributes fit our ethos here.

“He made it clear from our first conversation that he would relish the opportunity to come here." - Marcus Evans

“He obviously enjoyed a lot of success at our local rivals and the aim for Paul and everyone at the Club is to see that repeated here - and bettered!

“The first priority though is to start climbing the table and I urge the supporters to get right behind our new manager and the players to strengthen our ability to do that.”

Paul added: “I can’t wait to get going and I’ll be using all my experience - and give everything I’ve got for Ipswich Town.

“I know about the history of the Club, what a fantastic football club it is and I’m proud to be the manager here.

“Obviously it’s been a difficult start to the season but to get through this period we need to be pulling together as one - players, staff and supporters.

“I know about the history of the Club, what a fantastic football club it is and I’m proud to be the manager here." - Paul Lambert

“I want us to play with tempo, with enthusiasm, with drive. I want the players to enjoy their football and I’m relishing the challenge of helping to take this Club forward.”