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6 months ago
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Ed Sheeran swapped the Met Gala for a promotion party with his beloved Ipswich Town on the heels of the club's elevation to the Premier League.
The Suffolk-based side clinched a spot in the English top flight on the heels of Saturday's 2-0 victory against relegated Huddersfield which put them just one point behind Championship table-toppers Leicester City.
Kieran McKenna's side are just the 12th team in English football history to record back-to-back promotions from the third tier to the first division, and their return rounds off a 22-year absence from the country's top table.
Sheeran, who grew up in nearby Framlingham, is a long-term supporter of his childhood club, and celebrated confirmation of their promotion on Saturday in the 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 make it back to England to celebrate with the players in person.
Ed Sheeran partied the night away with the Ipswich Town players after team won promotion
The singer-songwriter had promised to celebrate with the squad after the side were promoted when he was in Miami on Saturday
Monday night saw Sheeran take to the carpeted steps of the Met for the museum's yearly gala
'Took the Ipswich Town lads out for a promotion party tonight,' Sheeran captioned a video shared to Instagram, before cheekily tagging defender Luke Woolfenden and midfielder Massimo Luongo.
'(I'm with them now and they want to a tag)'.
The players and the pop star were seen singing along to Sheeran's 2017 smash hit Shape Of You, before he led the group in a chant praising 'Super Kieran McKenna'.
In a hint of the jubilant rowdiness to come, forward Conor Chaplin later demanded that Sheeran 'give him the f****** mic' as the festivities continued.
Chaplin was also videoed singing Sheeran's first hit A Team along with the 33-year-old accompanying him on his guitar, before the squad joins in with the duo.
Sheeran's support has been invaluable to the club since their 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 and women's sides.
In recognition of their biggest fan, Ipswich's dressing room celebrations featured a sing-a-long to his 2017 song Perfect - while across the pond, Sheeran was waiting to FaceTime with the team and give his congratulations directly.
Conor Chaplin (left) was keen to snap a picture with the devoted Tractor Boys supporter
The forward was keen to celebrate with the Framlingham native after a heroic campaign
Chaplin and Sheeran later led the group in a rendition of the singer's first hit A Team
But Sheeran was more interested in praising 'Super Kieran McKenna' than going through his own back catalogue
'Back to back promotions for Ipswich. Very emotional,' Sheeran captured a video of himself celebrating victory against Huddersfield and calling up the players. 'It wasn’t that long ago I was sat at Portman Road watching them lose in League One with 11k people watching.
'This is huge for the club, huge for the town, and huge for football, showing anything can happen with belief and passion.
'Congrats to all the players, people at the club, and of course super Kieran. Sorry I can’t be there to celebrate but we don’t want another betting company as the sponsor next season eh. Uppa town. Emotional. See you in the Prem'.
While on FaceTime, Sheeran had promised the players that he would be back in England on Wednesday, planting the seed for their raucous night out later that evening.
Sheeran's connection with the club is particularly strong due to experiencing their lows as well as their highs throughout his time supporting the club.
'I live just outside of Ipswich, I've seen it go through really difficult times,' Sheeran told ESPN.
'I know that being in the Premier League is going to be bring, not just real excitement to the football club, but also real excitement and joy to the town 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 inking a deal with the club for the 2020-21 term
He went on to add: 'What's brilliant about football is it is very unpredictable and you never know what's going to happen.
'We've seen the top six teams in England fall from grace before and you've seen people like Leicester win the league. You never know, if we avoid relegation next season that's 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 see out their victory lap in the wake of the achievement, coming just two days after an open-top bus parade in honour of promotion.
Thousands of fans flocked to the town - including another notable Tractor Boys fan, boxing champion Fabio Wardley - to watch the bus snake its way from the Playford Road training centre, past Portman Road, before finishing at Christchurch Park.
Speaking on board the bus, McKenna said: 'It's an incredible turnout, amazing seeing so much joy.
'Everyone deserves it, the whole town deserves it, the players... for how hard they've worked. And the supporters, who've followed so loyally for years and have been waiting for a day like this.
Ipswich Town celebrated their Premier League promotion with an open-top bus parade
Players swigged from beer bottles and were cheered on by thousands of fans on Monday
'We just set out to be as good as we could possibly be. The closer you get to the end you know you're within reach of an amazing achievement and we're so glad we were able to finish off well.'
With spirits high, Wolfenden also had time for a swipe at Sky Sports pundit Don Goodman for criticism sent the team's way during their campaign.
'I'll have to sit for six weeks now, and listen to Don Goodman tell us we're not good enough for the Prem like we did in the Champ,' Wolfenden quipped, before making a speech to the crowd that wondered whether the pundit would be 'absolutely gutted' with events, since 'he's been calling (the team) c*** all season.'
The festivities on Bank Holiday Monday gave way to a mammoth clean-up in its wake, but the work was aided by one familiar face - McKenna, who was snapped by one supporter helping pick up the avalanche of litter left by the partying fans.
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