Burley rewrites the Premiership script

Burley has achieved a near-miracle at Ipswich

By BBC Sport Online's Andrew Warshaw

When Ipswich Town were finally promoted to the Premiership almost a year ago after several heart-breaking play-off defeats, most neutral fans put them straight back into the category of relegation certainties.

After all, manager George Burley had little money to strengthen the side and admitted that survival was the goal for his unfashionable Tractor Boys, as they are nicknamed, from East Anglia.

Yet with less than two months to go to the end of the season, Ipswich are fighting not for survival, not even for consolidation but for a place in the Champions' League alongside the likes of Manchester United and Arsenal.

While the rich and famous have bought their way to success, Burley has masterminded, quietly and modestly, what must be regarded as one of most remarkable achievements of this or any other season.

What money he has been given he has spent wisely, on players like striker Marcus Stewart, defender Hermann Hreidarsson and the recently purchased Chris Makin.

Ferguson is still top dog

Not exactly household names but players who fit into the Burley ethic of team-building and an all-for-one mentality that have made Ipswich everyone's second favourite team and left the fans purring with delight.

What's more, unlike most promoted sides, Ipswich play the game the right way.

They play to feet with the emphasis on passing and movement. Prima Donnas are conspicuous by their absence.

It is a style in the club's true traditions, exploited by the great Ipswich managers of the past like Alf Ramsey and Bobby Robson.

Burley may not be as famous as either of them but his achievements this season deserve huge recognition. Just ask Manchester United.

Earlier this season, Alex Ferguson's team were ripped apart at Portman Road yet somehow emerged with a 1-1 draw.

Ferguson was dumbstruck over how Ipswich performed that night.

Yet while the United supremo is now being hailed as one of the best managers in the world, along with Bayern Munich's Ottmar Hitzfeld and England boss Sven Goran Eriksson, in a new survey, Burley figures nowhere.

Of course I am surprised we are where we are. I would have been happy just to stay up

  George Burley

Understandable in global terms, perhaps, but when the Premiership manager of the year award is handed out at the end of the season, the unflappable Scot deserves to be streets ahead of the rest of the pack.

Burley, whose team chalked up another three points at Southampton on Monday night, is immensely proud of his young guns.

"To play in the Champions League would be the stuff of fairytales," he said. "Of course I am surprised we are where we are. I would have been happy just to stay up.

"But we're not afraid of anyone any more because we have so much self-belief. Now we are looking at the top six."

Burley refuses to accept that Ipswich's surprise success is due in part to the poor quality of opposition.

Those who argue that the Premiership is not up to its usual standard are insulting his players, he says.

"People who say that must be kidding themselves. England has three teams in the Champions League quarter-finals and another in the Uefa Cup. That doesn't seem too bad to me."