The Town squad left Portman Road earlier this week with their own individual fitness plans ahead of an usually long close season. The Blues' Championship campaign was over by the end of April, while 2012/13 is delayed due to the Olympics and kicks off with a Carling Cup clash on Tuesday 14th August with the Championship programme starting four days later.
Manager Paul Jewell says he and fitness coach Andy Liddell have worked out schemes for each of the players: "It’s a long summer, so we can’t just give them 10 weeks off, we’ve got to give them an individual plan.
"I’ve sat down with the fitness coach and gone through all the data and there are certain players who need to improve on certain things and that’s what they’re going to be working on.
"Players need a rest, there’s no doubt about that but you can’t just give them 10 weeks off and each and every player knows what’s going to be expected of them before they come back in."
Jewell feels that certain members of his squad need to be sent away for additional work: "There will be at least a couple of players who will be going away, shall we say, for holidays in inverted commas, but that’s only to improve their fitness and their mental strength.
"It’s not punishment, it’s to make them better players. I want them to embrace it. We’re doing it for their benefit because we’ve got some good players here and the fitter you are the better player you’re going to be.”
One of those will be striker Michael Chopra after a difficult first season at Portman Road in which he spent time in the Sporting Chance Clinic as he addressed his gambling problems but still managed 14 goals: "We will be sending him away to a retreat to get him in better shape.
"I have told him it is a huge close season for him. We can send him places and do all we can and we will always have someone helping him 24 hours a day, but he has to want to do it.”
The Blues boss says his and Liddell’s assessment of the squad was partly drawn from the team’s impressive recent Prozone statistics: "It’s quite unbelievable. We had all the Prozone stats through from March and I wish the Prozone stats were the league table because we were top in all aspects of physicality except one, where we’re third.
"Each and every player is going to be monitored and have a programme selected for them on their performances on Prozone.
"Every month we get the data through and we’re never out of the top four, but there’s a bit more to it than just that."