Loan star Aaron Mclean is the latest in a long line of players to speak in glowing terms about the contribution of Town assistant boss Terry Connor, who followed manager Mick McCarthy to Portman Road after the pair had a long association at former club Wolves.
Mclean, who has joined from Hull until the end of the season, said of Connor: "From the start of sessions right to the end you get out of them exactly what he wants you to get out of them.
"For example, the other day we did a session and for the first minute he said ‘Right, we’re just going to do one touch’.
"We did the minute and when he stopped the session he said ‘Right, why did I want you to do one touch? Because I want you to be on the half turn, I want you to be making angles — this, that and the other’.
"After that the standard of the session went up a million per cent. Something as small as that, you’ll get so much more out of it. The way he talks to you as well, it’s with respect and he treats us like adults.
"Some managers talk to you as if you are 10-year-old kids. The way he carries himself both on and off the training ground and the way he is as a person — since I’ve been here he’s made sure I’m looked after — he’s first class, definitely.”
Mclean believes Connor’s background — he was a striker for Leeds, Brighton, Portsmouth, Swansea and Bristol City as well as being capped once at England U21 level — can also benefit him during his time with Town.
He added: "Terry’s drills in training have been different class. As an ex-striker himself he knows what we want to do and knows how to make the sessions enjoyable. There’s nothing worse than going for a shooting session and it’s not enjoyable because you lose concentration. He’s got a way of making sure that you stay concentrated through the whole session.
"There are a lot of us fighting for those two positions and we all need to make sure that week in, week out, we are all bringing something to the team. If one week you don’t score you need to make sure that you are still bringing something to the table.”