Rarely has there been so much noise around a newly promoted side's chances as with Ipswich Town this summer, but three wins from three games to begin with suggest the hype was not without basis. We spoke to Phil Ham from our brilliant sister site TWTD ahead of Saturday.
After three years away it suddenly all went so right for Ipswich at the fourth time of asking, what were the keys to the success?
Things started to move in the right direction the previous season after Kieran McKenna took over as manager and then last season everything fell into place. We had a very good and deep squad, an excellent spirit around the camp and McKenna instilled a way of playing which meant we totally controlled most matches. We were frustrated by one or two along the way, particularly over the Christmas period, but once we’d made some judicious purchases in January, we romped home with the 6-0 home victory over Exeter which confirmed promotion our 13th win in 14 matches.
Ipswich so far this season
Sunderland 1-2 Ipswich Neill 86 – Broadhead 45, Hirst 53
Ipswich 2-0 Bristol Rovers Taylor 12, Aluko 76
Ipswich 2-0 Stoke Woolfenden 23, Jackson 81
Tell us about Kieran McKenna. Looks the real deal atm. Strengths, style of play etc?
He does indeed. He’s the archetypal modern manager. A number of players have said he’s the best they’ve ever worked with on the training field where they’re worked hard but things are never boring and laborious. No stone is left unturned in the pre-match preparation and we play an attacking brand of dominating football which is very easy on the eye. Our main concern is how long we might keep hold of him, however, he seems to have his career mapped out in a measured manner and Town should be a club big enough for him to fulfil his short and medium term ambitions.
Summer transfer activity so far, still to come, and how you think the team is shaping up?
The squad was assembled with an eye on the Championship while we were in League One with a number of players who have played at that level or would have seen themselves as better than third tier players when they signed. We had probably our best ever January window - signing Harry Clarke, Nathan Broadhead, Massimo Longo and George Hirst on loan - so that strengthened us going into the second half of the campaign.
While there was always going to be some tweaking, it was never going to be the case that there was a mass overhaul. Hirst has signed on a permanent basis from Leicester as a number nine, the area which most needed an addition or two, long-time target Jack Taylor has come in from Peterborough in midfield, existing young wiseman Omari Hutchinson on loan from Chelsea and we’ve added young keeper Cieran Slicker from Manchester City. We’ll probably add another centre-half before the start of the season with another centre forward also likely to be on the list.
CEO Mark Ashton has said two or three more should be brought in before the window closes, most likely another left-sided centre-half, a centre forward and maybe another number ten.
Ins >>> Jack Taylor, 25, CM, Peterborough, £1.5m >>> George Hirst, 24, CF, Leicester, £1.5m >>> Cieren Slicker, 20, GK, Man City, Undisclosed >>> Omari Hutchinson, 19, AM, Chelsea, Loan
Outs >>> Joe Pigott, 29, CF, Orient, Free >>> Rakeem Harper, 23, AM, Burton, Free >>> Joel Coleman, 27, GK, Bolton, Free >>> Kane Vincent-Young, 27, RB, Wycombe, Free >>> Richard Keogh, 36, CB, Wycombe, Free >>> Panutche Camara, 26, CM, Charlton, Loan >>> Idris El Mizouni, 22, CM, Orient, Loan >>> Tete Yengi, 22, CF, KUPS (Finland), Loan >>> Corrie Ndaba, 23, CB, Kilmarnock, Loan >>> Gassan Ahadme, 22, CF, Cambridge, Loan >>> Matt Penney, 25, LB, Released
Lots of love for Ipswich in the markets, fifth favourites for the title with some bookies, how do you see it going?
I think that’s broadly the area where most fans would see us competing this season. I think we expect to be challengers towards the right end of the division given the way we ended last season looking significantly better than the rest of League One. We also impressed in our two games against Burnley in the FA Cup - we were beaten by a last-gasp goal in a replay at Turf Moor - having comfortably beaten Rotherham 4-1 at home in the same competition.
The owners are ambitious so there will be no thoughts about a season of consolidation. The Premier League is the aim, although there is the recognition that that would be a big ask at the first attempt, particularly in a season in which the Championship looks set to be stronger than usual at the top end.
What have you made of your start?
It’s obviously been terrific. Perhaps the most heartening thing about the Sunderland win was that it wasn’t a typical Town performance. We didn’t dominate the game or have the lion’s share of the ball. But we always looked the more dangerous team and scored twice. Probably should have seen the game out more comfortably but we dug in and ground out the three points in a determined fashion.
I think we’ve had more of a counter-attacking threat since the end of last season and that’s been more noticeable this year now we’re playing better teams who have had more of the ball. Last year we totally dominated most games, this year that’s not been the case, but we’ve adjusted well and both wins were deserved.
Anything to make you change your prediction for the season?
Not yet. I’d expect Sunderland and Stoke to be in the top half and probably play-off contenders but we’ve not played any of the relegated sides yet and I’d expect them to give us a sterner test than we’ve faced up to now.
Links >>> Ipswich Town Official Website >>> Ipswich Star – Local Press >>> East Anglian Daily Times – Local Press >>> TWTD – Blog and Forum >>> Talking Town – Podcast
If you enjoy LoftforWords, please consider supporting the site through a subscription to our Patreon or tip us via our PayPal account loftforwords@yahoo.co.uk.
Pictures — Ian Randall Photography
The Twitter @loftforwords