Town defender Aaron Cresswell has revealed that speculation Aston Villa were interested in signing him last summer amounted to nothing more than paper talk.
The reports surfaced at the end of Cresswell’s first season at Portman Road and after Town fans had voted for the ex-Tranmere man as their Player of the Year.
New Villa boss Paul Lambert was said to be weighing up a move for Cresswell, his club having made an enquiry, but six months on the player is still as committed as ever to Ipswich.
Cresswell, 22, said: "All I know is what was in the paper and to be honest I just put it down to paper talk. I never got involved and never had a decision to make.
"At the start of the season I knew I wasn’t playing well. But the whole team wasn’t playing well. We were getting beaten, confidence was low and no one was really on top of their game.
"Everyone has said ‘his head was turned’ and ‘he may not want to be here’ but that was never the case.
"I was always fully committed to Ipswich. At the start of the season I still had three years left on my contract so I just kept my head down.”
Cresswell’s loss of form over the first few weeks of the campaign coincided with the team’s slump to the bottom of the Championship table.
But since new boss Mick McCarthy replaced the departed Paul Jewell things have improved considerably and 13 points from a possible 21 has seen Town climb clear of the bottom three.
Cresswell reflected on the 2-1 success at Bolton on Saturday, adding: "In the first half I don’t think we played particularly well and we could do nothing about their goal — it was 30 yards in the top corner.
"We kept it tight at the back and we knew second half we could push on and kick on into the game. We did that towards the end of the game and thankfully it was a good win for us in the end.
"Maybe a couple of weeks ago or months ago we’d have sort of sat back and held on for the draw, but at the minute confidence is high in the camp and we wanted the win more than them I suppose. It was a good win for us.
"Over the last six or seven games we’ve had three or four wins and one draw. Obviously that’s more or less promotion form you could say. We’ve just got to keep going and keep pushing up that table.”