New signing Damien Delaney says he wants a return to Premier League football with the Blues, after signing a two-year deal earlier today. The Irishman made eight top flight appearances for Leicester earlier in his career and is determined that they won't be his final taste of Premier League action.
Delaney, 28 later this month, was paraded at a Portman Road press conference this afternoon after making his move from QPR for an undisclosed fee, a switch first revealed by TWTD and our QPR sister site LoftForWords.co.uk more than a month ago.
The twice-capped Republic of Ireland international is believed to have joined the Blues for an initial £750,000 plus a further £250,000 if Town make the play-offs and another £100,000 after he has made 50 appearances.
The Cork-born defender, who was joined at the press conference by chief executive Simon Clegg but not manager Roy Keane, said: "I played in the Premier League when I was at Leicester City, I was 20 or 21 at the time.
"I'm not getting any younger, I'm 27, 28, but I want to be successful and I want to get promoted and I want to do it while I'm in my prime. That was the biggest draw for me, the speed at which the club wants to do that.â€Â
Delaney says Town have more to offer him than former club QPR: â€ÂI see Ipswich as a better opportunity for me to progress and become a better player. It's a chance to work with the manager and the players who are already here, which is too big an opportunity to turn down.
"I'm very pleased to be here. I'm pleased to be joining a club that's moving in the direction it's moving in. The appointment of Roy Keane as manager has shown the intentions of the football club and I want to be part of it, to come here and be successful and do the best that I can.
"Roy Keane being the man that he is isn't going to come down here to the club for the sake of it," he added.
"He's come down here to be successful. He's an ambitious person and I'm an ambitious player. I've spoken to the manager already and he told me his plans â€" to get the club promoted - and the speed at which he wants to implement them and that's what attracted me the most.â€Â
Delaney says he is looking forward to the pre-season friendly in Cork which will see him play against several players from his time with his hometown club's youth set-up before moving to Leicester in October 2000: "Joe Gamble is still playing there and Neal Horgan, they were both in the youth team with me when I was at Cork City. Neil Horgan actually had his testimonial last month, so that shows how long I've been away and shows my age!
"I know I'm only 28, but it's a short enough career and hopefully I'm at my peak at the moment and I want to push on and get promoted when I'm at my peak.â€Â
Town first team coach Tony Loughlan was coaching in Leicester's academy when Delaney was at the Walkers Stadium, although the two didn't work together as the defender joined the Foxes as a first-year professional rather than a youth trainee.
The erudite former Hull City man says he has joined Town to play at left-back rather than centre-half where he has also spent long periods during his career and told fans to expect a committed approach: "I'll play as a left-back, I've spoken to the manager already, and fans can expect a lot of effort from me, that's one thing for sure.â€Â
Town chief executive Simon Clegg says the move took a while to complete: "I'm delighted that he's joining us today. He will further strengthen the club as we look forward to what I think will be a very exciting season for Ipswich Town Football Club.
"The deal's been ongoing for a little bit of time, but it's really come to a head over the last week or so.â€Â
After leaving Cork, the 6ft 3in tall left-back, central defender or occasional midfielder went on to make 11 senior appearances for Leicester before following Peter Taylor out of the Walkers Stadium and to Hull City for £50,000 in October 2002, having been on loan spells at Stockport, Huddersfield and Mansfield.
He became the last Hull player to score at Boothferry Park before their move to the KC Stadium and played alongside Jon Walters while with the Tigers. In 2003/04 he won all Hull's player of the year awards (while playing regularly at centre-half) as they won promotion from League Two, while his goal against Rochdale was voted the Tigers' Goal Of The Season.
In January 2008 Delaney moved to QPR in a deal worth around £600,000 plus top-ups potentially taking it into seven figures, signing a three-and-a-half-year deal.
Delaney, a highly-rated Gaelic footballer as a youngster, quickly impressed the Loftus Road faithful with marauding runs down the left and won himself a place in Giovanni Trapattoni's first Republic of Ireland side, making his debut against Serbia in May 2008 and winning his second, and so far final cap, later the same month in a friendly with Colombia.
His 2008/09 season was less successful, despite making 42 appearances under the innumerable managers employed at Loftus Road, and at the end of the season Delaney was one of five still-contracted players made available by the R's. Overall for QPR, Delaney made 57 starts and two sub appearances, scoring three goals.