New loan striker DJ Campbell says he was looking for a “different kind of challenge” when he turned down the chance to rejoin former club Blackpool in favour of a three-month spell at Portman Road. The QPR man netted a fortunate debut goal in last week’s 2-1 defeat to Cardiff.
Campbell had a number of clubs interested in taking him on loan with Town and the Seasiders vying for his signature, the Blues making their move after Paul Taylor was ruled out for at least six weeks with a cracked bone in his foot.
"There were a few clubs. People know that I could have gone back to Blackpool. People may ask why I turned Blackpool down when they’re [near the] top of the league and Ipswich are second bottom,” he told BBC Radio Suffolk.
"For me that doesn’t really matter. I looked at all the options I had and to be honest Ipswich was for me was a different kind of challenge.
"I had great times at Blackpool, scored a lot of goals there. I worked for Ollie, who is a great manager, but I wanted something different.
"I spoke to former players here, I did my homework on Ipswich, got great reviews from friends that used to play here — that it’s a great club, that’s got great tradition, a great history and it’s got good players as well.”
The 30-year-old believes that that squad is good enough to be further up the table: "Obviously the position we’re in in the league doesn’t reflect the players that we’ve got really. I spoke to a few people and they said that the way we’re playing doesn’t merit the position.
"I took all these things into context and made a decision, and I’m delighted with my decision, if I’m honest. I’m happy to be here.”
He admits he’s "nowhere near” full match fitness having made his most recent QPR starts in their 3-1 victory over Wigan in January and in the 4-0 loss to Bolton on the opening day of last season.
The one-time non-league player says it was a frustrating campaign: "Last year, I had a lot of injuries, having never really been injured in my career.
"I went from scoring 13 Premier League goals for Blackpool to not playing at all last year. I made two starts as well as a handful of sub appearances, which isn’t good enough for the standards I set myself.
"It was tough but that’s behind me and now I’m fit and raring to go and give Ipswich a good three months, or even more of my time, you never know. Hopefully it will be a good loan spell.”
Hammersmith-born Campbell says he’s not really sure whether he has a future with his local club QPR, having signed a two-year deal when he left Blackpool for £1.2 million in the summer of 2011: "I don’t know what the situation is with QPR, whether they want me back in January to be in the 25-man squad or not.
"I’ve heard rumours that they do, but as I haven’t actually spoken to the gaffer about it. I just want to concentrate on getting fit and doing my best for Ipswich. I’ll worry about that when my loan period ends.”
Campbell was disappointed not to be on the winning side on his Town debut but his goal was welcome, even if it was by no means a classic: "It was great to get off the mark, albeit a bit of a strange goal. Maybe I should have scored the first chance. Maybe if I was match fit I would have.
"To be honest, I didn’t know what happened. I thought the goalkeeper would have got it and, if I’m honest, kind of bottled it really! And to be fair, he kind of bottled it as well!
"There was a bit of confusion. I didn’t even really know it was in the net. I looked around and I wondered what was going on and I saw people celebrating and I realised it was in the back of the net and I thought ‘fair enough! I’m not going to complain!’.