Manager Mick McCarthy says he hated pre-season as a player and hates it even more as a manager. Now that Town have confirmed their place in the Championship for another season, the Blues boss is working on this summer’s programme ahead of the start of the season proper on August 3rd.
"Pre-season’s crap, I hate it,” he admitted. "Let me tell you, let me clear it up, I hate pre-season, with a vengeance. Probably stay away from me, especially if we’ve lost because I’m not bothered, it doesn’t bother me one bit.
"I’ve been in pre-season where we’ve lost most of them and we’ve had a great season and I’ve been in pre-seasons where we’ve won and we’ve had a crap season, a crap start. I hate it, I hated it as a player, I hate it even more as a manager.”
He says only some results seem to get noticed: "They don’t count if you win, they count a helluva lot if you lose! That’s the problem - ‘Oh, it was only pre-season, it doesn’t count that we won 7-0’.
"Lose 1-0 to Southend, ‘Bloody hell!'. I hate it, I’m just telling you now. When you come and ask me questions, be careful!”
McCarthy, who we understand spoke with owner Marcus Evans about his summer budget earlier this week, says potential pre-season tours have been looked into but nothing has as yet been decided with the Blues' divisional status only confirmed on Saturday.
Scottish Premier League side St Mirren - whose midfielder Kenny McLean is understood to be a Town target - revealed that a friendly with Town had been pencilled in but McCarthy says that’s not yet set in stone: "We’ve talked about it but that’s not confirmed. I would like to.”
Ideally, if that game comes off, the Blues boss wants to play another game north of the border: "I just thought it would be nice if we could travel on a Friday, play on a Saturday and stay, play Tuesday and come back on the Wednesday.
"It would be a nice mini-trip that doesn’t involve too many nights away and they get two games. We’d get a good Scottish tan, come back blue. That’s the plan, I’ve spoken to St Mirren about it but it’s not confirmed as yet.”
Whether or not that game does happen, there will be an overseas trip now that Town are definitely in the Championship for 2013/14: "We will do something. It’s all a big expense and being in the Championship will make a big difference to what we do compared to if we were in League One. If [we were] in League One, it [wouldn't] have anything to do with me anyway.”
In recent years the likes of Southend, Cambridge, Luton and Colchester have become regular pre-season opponents given their close proximity. McCarthy says this approach makes sense: "They’re the easiest ones to play but then I hear from fans that we always play the same teams.
"Well, that’s right, because we’re miles from anywhere! What are we going to do? We’re not going to go and stay overnight for a friendly or get afternoon beds.
"We have to be conscious that if we go and play somebody, if we play in the evening we have to have a pre-match meal at 4.30, so we have to get there, so it needs to be within two hours’ travelling time maximum. We need to leave at 2 o’clock and get there for 4.30. I’m just talking about travel arrangements, that’s the common sense of why we do it.
"On a Saturday, we have a pre-match meal at 11.15. Two hours’ [travelling time], we’re leaving at 9am to get there and then you turn up and you’ve been on the bus for two hours and you play rubbish and the fans all give you stick because it’s pre-season and you’re going to be relegated.
"The idea of going away and actually playing games so you can have a kip and can prepare properly for them is the right thing to do.”
The Blues will have one domestic friendly slightly further afield with the deal to sign young left-back Tyrone Mings including an away game with his former club Chippenham Town.
In terms of a home friendly — with Italian giants Lazio still owing a game as part of Matteo Sereni’s move, which was a decade ago now - there are no plans to have one this summer with the top few inches of the Portman Road pitch being worked on: "We’re having the pitch dug up anyway, so it’s not going to be ready for home fixtures.
"I had that when I was at Sunderland with [chairman] Bob Murray, I never had a home fixture. I thought it was strange because everywhere else I’ve been we’ve always looked for a home fixture.
"As a player, you’d have the last one at home. But it kind of makes sense. We did it at Wolves and played Valencia and we got battered, we got slapped. That was great that for the last friendly!
"Then we played Blackburn one year and we slapped them and everybody came back more optimistic.
"If the first game of the season is a home game, why would you want your fans in the week before to watch you get slapped by Valencia or somebody?
"You might want to keep them [waiting] for that first home game, new strip, new whatever it is. Like I say, I hate pre-season, I’m not really bothered what we do.”