Ed Sheeran swapped the Met Gala for a promotion party with his beloved Ipswich Town immediately after the club’s promotion to the Premier League.
The Suffolk-based team secured a place in the English top flight following Saturday’s 2-0 win against relegated Huddersfield, which moved them just one point behind table leaders Leicester City.
Kieran McKenna’s side are only the 12th team in English football history to record consecutive promotions from the third tier to the top flight, and their return completes a 22-year absence from the country’s top flight.
Sheeran, who grew up in nearby Framlingham, is a long-time supporter of his boyhood club and celebrated confirmation of his promotion on Saturday in Miami, where the superstar is currently on tour.
The singer-songwriter then flew to New York for Monday night’s Met Gala, where the star was a guest of designer Stella McCartney.
But after posing on the red carpet at fashion’s biggest night, Sheeran was finally able to return to England to celebrate with the players in person.
Ed Sheeran partied all night with Ipswich Town players after the team won promotion.
The singer-songwriter had promised to celebrate with the team following the team’s promotion when he was in Miami on Saturday.
On Monday night, Sheeran walked up the carpeted stairs of the Met for the museum’s annual gala.
“Took the Ipswich Town lads to a promotion party tonight,” Sheeran captioned a video shared on Instagram, before cheekily tagging defender Luke Woolfenden and midfielder Massimo Luongo.
‘(I’m with them now and they want a label).’
The players and the pop star were seen singing Sheeran’s 2017 smash hit Shape Of You before leading the group in a sing-along praising ‘Super Kieran McKenna’.
In a hint of the jubilant uproar to come, striker Conor Chaplin later demanded that Sheeran “give him the bloody microphone” as the festivities continued.
Chaplin was also filmed singing Sheeran’s first hit, A Team, alongside the 33-year-old accompanying him on his guitar, before the team joined the duo.
Sheeran’s support has been invaluable to the club since his days in League One, when the hitmaker signed up as the club’s shirt sponsor for the 2020-21 campaign.
The singer has continued to sponsor the club’s kit for both the men’s and women’s teams.
In recognition of their biggest fan, celebrations in the Ipswich dressing room included a sing-along of their 2017 song Perfect; while, across the pond, Sheeran was hoping to FaceTime with the team and congratulate them directly.
Conor Chaplin (left) was keen to have his photo taken with the devoted Tractor Boys fan.
The forward was looking forward to celebrating with the Framlingham native after a heroic campaign.
Chaplin and Sheeran then led the group in a performance of the singer’s first hit, A Team.
But Sheeran was more interested in praising ‘Super Kieran McKenna’ than reviewing his own catalogue.
‘Consecutive promotions for Ipswich. ‘Very emotional’ Sheeran captured a video of himself celebrating the win against Huddersfield and calling on the players. “Not long ago he was sitting at Portman Road watching them lose in League One with 11,000 people watching.
“This is huge for the club, huge for the city and huge for football as it shows that anything can happen with faith and passion.”
“Congratulations to all the players, the people at the club and of course the super Kieran. Sorry I can’t be there to celebrate but we don’t want another bookmaker as a sponsor next season eh. Uppa Town. Emotional. See you at the Prem’.
While on FaceTime, Sheeran had promised the players that he would return to England on Wednesday, planting the seed for his raucous night of partying later that night.
Sheeran’s connection with the club is particularly strong as he experienced its highs and lows during his time supporting the club.
“I live just outside Ipswich, I’ve seen him go through some really tough times,” Sheeran told ESPN.
“I know that being in the Premier League will bring, not only real excitement to the football club, but also real excitement and joy to the city and lift it up, which is really important.”
The 33-year-old was no doubt disappointed not to be at Portman Road when Ipswich beat Huddersfield on the final day of the season.
The hitmaker still sponsors the club’s kit after signing a deal with the club for the 2020-21 season.
And he added: “The good thing about football is that it is very unpredictable and you never know what is going to happen.”
“We have seen the top six teams in England fall from grace before and we have seen the likes of Leicester win the league. “You never know, if we avoid relegation next season, that will be the biggest success for me, but you never know what’s going to happen.”
Celebrating with a global megastar is just the latest excitement as the team takes its victory lap following the achievement, which comes just two days after an open-top bus parade in honor of the promotion.
Thousands of fans flocked to the city, including another notable Tractor Boys fan, boxing champion Fabio Wardley, to watch the bus snake its way from the Playford Road training center, via Portman Road, before ending in Christchurch Park.
Speaking on board the bus, McKenna said: “It’s an incredible turnout, incredible to see so much joy.”
‘Everyone deserves it, the whole town deserves it, the players… because of how hard they have worked. And the fans, who have followed us faithfully for years and wait for a day like this.
Ipswich Town celebrated promotion to the Premier League with an open-top bus parade
The players drank beer and were cheered by thousands of fans on Monday.
‘We just set out to be the best we could be. “The closer you get to the end, you know you are within reach of an incredible achievement and we are very happy that we were able to finish well.”
With spirits high, Wolfenden also had time to criticize Sky Sports pundit Don Goodman for the criticism sent to the team during their campaign.
“I’ll have to sit for six weeks and listen to Don Goodman tell us we’re not good enough for the Prem like we did at the Champ,” Wolfenden joked, before giving a speech to the crowd wondering if the expert would be there. absolutely devastated” by the events, as he “has been calling (the team) shit all season.”
Holiday Monday’s festivities gave way to a mammoth cleanup, but the job was helped by a familiar face: McKenna, who was photographed by a fan helping to pick up the avalanche of trash left by party fans.
