Midfielder Liam Trotter says he is yet to decide whether to accept Town’s offer of a new one-year contract. The 21-year-old will be looking to win the League One play-off for the second year running today when his loan club Millwall face Swindon at Wembley (Sky Sports Two, 2.30pm).
Last season Trotter helped Scunthorpe into the Championship when they beat his current loan club 3-2 in the final and he says he has enjoyed the two campaigns: "Both of the last two seasons have finished very eventfully for me. If I keep this up, I’ll have an exciting career.
"I’ve been offered another year’s contract at Ipswich, but I’m waiting until after Saturday’s game to sort out what I’m going to do. But I might go back to Ipswich, sit around for six months until January and then go on loan to another League One club who want to go up!”
Trotter says he was sorry for his former Town team-mate and current Millwall man Scott Barron after last year’s game: "I felt bad because my mate Scott Barron was playing for Millwall, so I thought I’d come back and help them out this year.
"I think a few of the lads were still a bit upset about losing at Wembley last season when I came back, so I’ve been careful not to rub it in that I played for the winning side.
"All I can remember from last year’s final was that it was absolutely boiling and everyone was very dehydrated afterwards — although Nigel Adkins, the Scunthorpe manager, kept his jacket on for the whole 90 minutes.”
An FA Youth Cup winner with the Blues in 2005, Trotter says the Town badge will be on show at Wembley, 10 years to the day since the 2000 play-off final victory over Barnsley: "I still wear my Ipswich tie after games. As we were doing so well here, I thought it might be a lucky charm, so I still kept it on. You don't change things like that.”
The one-time Bury Town trainee says he can see parallels between the Lions and the Iron a year ago: "I can definitely see the similarities between Scunthorpe last season and Millwall this year.
"It's little things in people. At Scunthorpe we reached the Johnstone's Paint Trophy final [losing to Luton] and we took the whole occasion in, going to Wembley, taking the pictures, walking around the stadium. For the play-off we didn't do any of that.
"I'm not sure how Millwall's preparations were last year but we haven't had a day out at Wembley looking around the stadium this time. It's hard to prepare like it's a normal game because it is such a great place to be, such a great occasion and you want to make the most of it. But you've got to get the balance right of playing the occasion and the game.”
Meanwhile, Town midfielder Colin Healy could return to Scotland over the summer, according to a report north of the border. The Irishman spent the second half of the season on loan at Falkirk, who were relegated from the SPL, but is claimed to be interesting Aberdeen. League One Hartlepool were again linked with the 30-year-old on Friday.
Healy, who has another year on his Town contract, is amongst those who have been told they have no future at the club.