Boss Mick McCarthy says today’s opponents Millwall have a special place in his heart but that he won’t be treating them differently to any other club during the 90 minutes.
McCarthy joined the Lions as a player in 1990 before being appointed manager by then-chairman Reg Burr in 1992.
The 53-year-old said: "It will always have a special place in my football history, in my heart because I enjoyed it.
"I went there and I didn’t play as many games as I would have liked to have done through injury, but they gave me my opportunity in management and I guess that’s why I’m sat here today.
"Mr Burr, God rest his soul, gave me my first opportunity, trusted in me, believed in me and I loved it. I had almost four good years as a manager and player-manager, six in total.
"I still live in the area where Millwall fans are, not Millwall itself but where their fans are, and it’s great, I think it’s a great club.”
He says he learnt a lot while manager at the Den: "Let me tell you, it’s a demanding club and it was a great place to cut my teeth.
"I see the Premier League now and the pressure that’s there. I took that job at 32 and let me tell you I was wet behind the ears and proper caught in the headlights for a while. It was a great grounding for me, in terms of my managerial career.”
Despite his obvious affection for Millwall, today he will treat them just like he would any other opponent, at football or anything else in life: "I don’t like anybody I play against. I mean that.
"Anybody I play against I want to beat, I’ve always been the same. My kids at tiddlywinks, crazy golf or putting. It’s a horrible trait in you sometimes with kids, but you’re either like that or you’re not.”
He hopes the Lions will bring a decent following to Portman Road: "I hope so because it makes for a good atmosphere. When you get a good away crowd it makes the home crowd respond.
"I would hope that the home crowd would respond from the results that we’ve had recently.
"But we’ve got to play well, we’ve got to do well here to give them something to support, which they’ve had in the last few games. We’ve got to continue with that.”