From the Met Gala to a Premier League promotion evening! Ed Sheeran celebrates with jubilant Ipswich Town players after childhood fan promises ‘night out’ after their success this season

Ed Sheeran swapped the Met Gala for a promotion night with his beloved Ipswich Town on the heels of the club’s rise to the Premier League.

The Suffolk-based side clinched a place in the English top flight on the heels of Saturday’s 2-0 win over relegated Huddersfield, leaving them just one point behind Championship 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 premier division, and their return caps a 22-year absence from the country’s top spot.

Sheeran, who grew up in nearby Framlingham, is a long-time supporter of his boyhood club and celebrated his promotion confirmation in Miami on Saturday, 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 in person with the players.

Ed Sheeran partied the night away with Ipswich Town players after the team won promotion

The singer-songwriter had promised to celebrate with the team after the team’s promotion during their visit to Miami on Saturday.

On Monday evening, Sheeran walked up the carpeted steps of the Met for the museum’s annual gala.

“I took the Ipswich Town lads for a promo night tonight,” Sheeran said in a video shared on Instagram, before cheekily tagging defender Luke Woolfenden and midfielder Massimo Luongo.

‘(I’m with them now and they want a tag)’.

The players and pop star were seen singing Sheeran’s hit 2017 hit Shape Of You, before he led the group in a sing-along praising ‘Super Kieran McKenna’.

In a hint of the jubilant ruckus to come, forward Conor Chaplin then asked Sheeran to “give him the f***ing mic” as the festivities continued.

Chaplin was also filmed singing Sheeran’s first hit, A Team, with the 33-year-old accompanying him on guitar, before the team joined in as a duet.

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 continued to sponsor the club’s outfit, both men’s and women’s.

In recognition of their biggest fan, Ipswich’s dressing room celebrations included a sing-along to his 2017 song Perfect – while across the pond, Sheeran waited to FaceTime with the team and introduced them directly to his Congratulations.

Conor Chaplin (left) was keen to take a photo with the devoted Tractor Boys supporter

The striker looked forward to celebrating with the Framlingham native after a heroic campaign

Chaplin and Sheeran then 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 catalog.

“Back-to-back promotions for Ipswich. Very emotional,” Sheeran captured a video of himself celebrating the win against Huddersfield and calling out to the players. “Not long ago I was sitting at Portman Road and watching them lose in League One in front of 11,000 people.

“It’s huge for the club, huge for the city and huge for football, showing that anything can happen with belief and passion.”

“Congratulations to all the players, the people at the club and of course great Kieran. Sorry I can’t be there to celebrate but we don’t want another betting company as a sponsor next season eh. City ‘Uppa. See you at Prem’.

Over FaceTime, Sheeran promised the players he would be back in England on Wednesday, sowing the seed for their raucous party later that evening.

Sheeran’s bond with the club is particularly strong due to his ups and downs throughout his support of the club.

“I live just outside Ipswich, I’ve seen the town go through some very difficult times,” Sheeran told ESPN.

“I know that being in the Premier League is going to bring not only real excitement to the football club, but also real enthusiasm 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.

He added: “The great thing about football is that it’s very unpredictable and you never know what’s going to happen.”

“We’ve already seen the top six teams in England fall from grace and you’ve seen the likes of 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 will happen.

Celebrating with a global megastar is just the latest excitement as the team takes its victory lap following the feat, coming just two days after an open-top bus parade in honor of the 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 center, past Portman Road, before finishing at Christchurch Park.

Speaking on the bus, McKenna said: “It’s an incredible turnout, incredible to see so much joy.

“Everyone deserves it, the whole city deserves it, the players… for their hard work. And the fans, who have followed us faithfully for years and have been waiting for a day like this.

Ipswich Town celebrated their promotion to the Premier League with an open-top bus parade

Players drank bottles of beer and were cheered by thousands of fans on Monday

“We just decided to be as good as possible. The closer you get to the end, the more you know you are within reach of an incredible feat and we are very happy that we were able to finish well.

With morale high, Wolfenden also had time to hit out at Sky Sports pundit Don Goodman for criticism leveled at the team during their campaign.

“I’m going to 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 for the Champ,” joked Wolfenden, before giving a speech to the crowd who wondered if the pundit would be “absolutely gutted” by the events, as “he’s been calling (the team) c*** all season”.

The Bank Holiday Monday festivities resulted in a mammoth clean-up, but the job was helped by a familiar face – McKenna, who was photographed by a supporter helping to pick up the avalanche of rubbish left by fans in party.