He may be a Town fan but new goalkeeper Scott Loach did not allow that to influence his decision to join the club from Watford this summer.
Two games into his Portman Road career, and with a trip to face his former club at Vicarage Road this evening, his decision to return to the club where he was an academy youngster between 1997 and 2000 was based entirely on his career prospects.
Loach, 24, was glad of the fresh start after things turned sour with the Hornets last season and he was axed from the starting line-up for 13 games after his side’s 4-0 defeat at Crystal Palace in February.
He did return, however, for the final fixture, a 2-1 home win over Middlesbrough in which he was awarded the Man of the Match accolade, but a change of ownership and the arrival of Gianfranco Zola to replace the sacked Sean Dyche signalled the end of his time in Hertfordshire.
Loach, sporting a four-inch scar on his right shin that was innocently inflicted by Blackburn striker Colin Kazim-Richards in Saturday’s 1-1 home draw, said: "You don’t lose your ability but you can lose a bit of confidence and your form can dip. It can happen to anyone and you just have to learn from it.
"I’m sure at some stage in the future I could have another downer where things go wrong. It’s not what you want but when it happened at Watford and Tomasz Kuszczak came in on loan from Manchester United I actually learned a lot from him.
"When the chance came along to join Ipswich I didn’t jump at it because I’m a fan and always will be. I felt it was right because I want to be playing in front of 20,000 fans in an excellent stadium.
"I want to be facing the likes of Michael Chopra and Jason Scotland in training because I know it will make me sharper. Everything is here that I need to become better at my job and progress.
"I decided it would be good to have a completely fresh start here. I even changed my boots and my gloves — and so far things are going really well. I’m where I want to be.”