Scott Loach is living the dream as Town’s number one and hopes some of today’s young supporters will follow in his footsteps.
Nottingham-born Loach moved to Ipswich when he was four and he quickly became a Town fan with an ambition to play for the club.
By the time he was eight he was in the club’s academy but after a further three years he was on his travels again as his family relocated back to the East Midlands.
He first put a foot on the professional ladder at Lincoln but his first major break came in 2006 when he was 18 and Watford bought him for a bargain £50,000.
That led to England U21 honours and a couple of senior call-ups before his career turned full circle with the move to Ipswich in July last year.
Loach said: "Just being a footballer is a dream for me because I don’t know what else I would have done to be honest. I used to sit up in the stand watching the games so it’s nice to be out on the pitch now.
"Hopefully some of the kids who watch us these days will be doing the same in 10 years’ time.”
Loach went on loan to a number of clubs including Morecambe and Bradford before making his debut for the Hornets and going on to make a total of 163 appearances for them.
He added: "I started off well at Watford but I think I stayed there for too long. I had some very good years and I was also lucky enough to play for my country as well.
"But I hit a brick wall — you name me a young player who doesn’t — and it was time to get out of Watford. I’d have been happy to go anywhere but the fact that Ipswich came in for me was great.
"I wouldn’t say I was restarting my career but it was a clean slate. I’m very honoured to be playing for Ipswich but it’s not just about me being an Ipswich fan. It’s about me showing everyone what a good goalkeeper I can be.”
Having picked up a clean sheet in the first home game of the season, the 3-0 victory over Millwall a fortnight ago, Loach is looking to build on that when Leeds are in town today.
And he is keen to make Portman Road a stronghold in the bid to fashion a promotion challenge: "Home form is going to be massive, huge. I think in this league it’s massive and that’s why Cardiff went up last year — their home form was brilliant. They only lost once at home and we’ve got to make Portman Road a fortress.
"No one likes losing and it’s okay saying we only lost the games at Reading and QPR by one goal. But it doesn’t matter to me if it’s one goal or four goals. It’s still a loss at the end of the day and we’ve got to cut that out.
"At the same time, though, it shows just how close we are because Reading and QPR will both be up there at the end of the season and there’s no reason why we can’t be up there with them.”