Town midfielder Luke Hyam, with a new contract recently signed and a first team place to currently call his own, is the living proof that dreams can come true. The former Northgate High School pupil remembers clearly how he used to sit in the Portman Road crowd telling himself ‘One day I’d love to be out there’.
Hyam, 20, was just one of thousands of young supporters up and down the country who share the same ambition of desperately wanting to play for their favourite teams.
However, with the influx of foreign talent into the English game fewer local kids seem to be emerging than ever before.
That is one of the reasons why supporters love to be able to cheer home-grown talent and if the youngsters who make it to first team level are also local then so much the better.
Hyam said: "I had a season ticket with my dad and my brother. We used to sit in the Britannia Stand and my favourite player was David Johnson, who was an excellent striker and scored a lot of goals.
"If I remember rightly the first game I actually attended was against Rotherham and I think we won 4-3. I just remember thinking how great it would be to one day be playing for Ipswich — and also thinking I probably would never get the chance!
"If becoming a professional footballer is an achievement in itself, in my view nothing beats playing for my local team. I suppose every player starts out with that ambition but they don’t all make it. As a former supporter, I can honestly say that playing for Ipswich means everything to me.”