Ex-Rover heads back to Germany
Tuesday 15th September, 2009
By Richard Ault

Former Tranmere reserve team player Ian Joy looks set to move back to German football after a spell in the American MLS with Real Salt Lake City.

Joy was with Rovers during John Aldridge's tenure as Manager, Aldo bringing him in from Manchester United.  He never quite made the first team at Prenton Park and went on to have spells with Chester City and Kidderminster.

A career that looked as though it may have been on a downward spiral then turned into one of the most interesting of all ex-Tranmere players. 

A brief move back home to America to play for Columbus Crew was followed by a move to German side St Pauli, and that lit the blue touch paper on a gripping career.

Ian was part of a team that embarked on a historic cup run with the Hamburg-based minnows, making headlines around the world, let alone just Germany. 

Their run to the semi-finals of the German Cup was pretty much unprecedented and saw Ian come up against the likes of Miroslov Klose and Michael Ballack, amongst others as Werder Bremen and Bayner Munich both had to visit St Pauli's intimidating Millerntor-Stadion.  We interviewed Ian twice at the time*, discussing his time at Tranmere and his thrilling cup adventure as it unfolded.

St Pauli's success led to their UK fan clubs seeing their numbers swell.  A passionately supported club - with a somewhat controversial and extreme reputation in some parts - they did eventually fall away again and subsequently tumbled back out of the limelight, albeit with memories to last a lifetime.

Ian headed out of German football, returning to the MLS with Canadian-based outfit Real Salt Lake City who made the left-back an integral part of their team.  Ian has now quit the club though, a real blow to the Canadian side who also lost ex-Spurs and Wolves winger Rohan Ricketts this summer.

Ian has now returned to Germany, wishing to be closer to his young daughter.  He has joined German 3. Liga team FC Ingolstadt 04 on trial and turned out in a behind-closed-doors friendly against the clubs Under-23 team this week.

Ingolstadt press officer Oliver Samwald told American footy website, Yanks Abroad: "He's (Ian) been here for around one week so far.

"It is not clear when we will make a decision about whether or not to sign him," he added, noting "it's still open."

We wish Ian the best of luck once again, and hope to catch up with him again soon.

*interview and article with Ian Joy were originally published on our old roversrearguard.com website in November 2005 and February 2006. 

In the coming weeks, our old 'Where are they now?' series will be re-published with updates, including articles and interviews with the likes of Dirk Hebel, Mauro, Paul Rideout, Ivano Bonetti and of course Ian Joy.