Returning to Portman Road brought childhood memories flooding back for new Blues keeper Scott Loach, who completed his £150,000 switch from Watford earlier today. The 24-year-old, who has signed a three-year deal with the option of a further season, was with the Town academy between 1997 and 2000 before his father’s work took them back to Nottingham.
Loach will be reunited with someone he says was one of his earliest mentors once he meets up with the squad which returns from Holland on Friday morning: "I started to come here to watch at six or seven and then joined the academy and Malcolm Webster was my goalie coach," he told Radio Suffolk.
"I can say he basically got me on the road, he taught me the techniques to be a goalkeeper and I took it from there.”
He says his love of the club has never left him, even if it didn’t always make him popular with the rest of the family: "Ipswich has always stayed with me. When I moved back to Nottingham I kept the Ipswich shirt while my family were wearing Forest shirts.
"They’ve not been too keen on that sometimes, but there’s no changing that. I’m a big Ipswich fan and I think everybody knows that and it’s a dream come true to be here.”
Town highlights of the late 1990s under George Burley flooded back: "One of the best moments as a kid was when we beat Man United in the old Coca-Cola Cup and Maurico Taricco cut in from left-back and scored a great goal from 25 yards.
"The likes of Richard Wright, Matt Holland, Alex Mathie, Bobby Petta and people like that I was really a big fan of.
"I was fortunate enough to watch them training once and I saw David Johnson and Bobby Petta doing shooting practice. I was like a kid in a sweetshop and it’s still stuck with me to this day. Just being back around here has brought those memories back.”
With Town not having beaten Watford home or away since 2004, he has inevitably had a more than decent record at Portman Road with the Hornets, something he is hoping to continue now he’ll be in the home dressing room: "Touch wood, I’ve always had good results here [with Watford]. If I can take that kind of record into my time wearing an Ipswich shirt, then happy days.
"I’ve always enjoyed playing here and now I get to play here 23 times a season which is even better. I’m very excited to be here and can’t wait to get started.”
Loach is likely to make his first appearance for the Blues since those academy days at either Braintree on Tuesday or Cambridge on Wednesday with Paul Jewell set to split his senior players between the matches.