EVENING WITH PABLO COUNAGO

After nearly two years of trying to get Pablo (Counago) over to do an ‘Evening with’ we at KBF were over the moon when Pabs contacted us to say he was in Ipswich on October 15th.

Only problem was, we got this message September 20th which meant only 3 weeks to sort out but it’s Pablo so we were determined to get this done.

The Spaniard, who played nearly 250 games for ITFC during his two spells at the club, was back at Portman Road for the first time in more than 10 years for the Lincoln City game.

He had already visited the training ground with former team mate Matt Holland where he met Town boss Kieran McKenna.

He also met up with old friends John McGreal, Steve McCall & Bryan Klug.

Pablo was over with his wife Lara and sons Lago and Andre.

After the game, Pablo headed to Isaacs where he was attending the ‘Evening with’.

He was met with a round of applause as he walked into the venue with various Welcome Back Pablo banners hanging up. He seemed very shocked at the warmth that greeted him.

Those who attended found a Souvenir Programme and a specially designed Beer mat on their seats.

The Founder of KBF thanked everyone for attending and welcomed Pablo and his family before handing over to the Host, Carl Day.

Part one of the evening saw Pablo discuss his time and love for Ipswich and the club.

When the question came up about his relationship with Roy Keane, Pablo was happy to give his side of the story.

The break saw a large and tasty buffet which went down very well.

The second half was a question and answers section and some of the questions brought laughter from the floor, with one being, “Pablo, do you hate Norwich as much as I do’.

At the end, we saw the Auction and Raffle in aid of Verity Grainger.

The raffle was small as we only had three weeks to get organised but nevertheless some great prizes are below.

When the Auction started, the Host, when auctioning the banners, said Pablo will throw a kiss which saw Pablo looking hoffiried. Pablo’s wife thought it was great fun and to his credit Pablo was a great sport by kissing the lucky bidder on the cheek.

Lastly, Pablo received a gift from KBF as a thank you for doing the night which he seemed shocked but happy with.

Overall, the night was very successful and highly entertaining and it was amazing that despite a short turn around to get the night on and no sponsor, the amount raised for Verity was £1, 016.95.