Tommy Smith has nominated Mick McCarthy as the best manager he has played for during his time at Portman Road.
Hardly surprising, perhaps, given the club’s current lofty status that Smith should plump for McCarthy ahead of the man who gave his first team debut, Jim Magilton, in 2008, or either Roy Keane or Paul Jewell.
Not even being dropped earlier this season could change Smith’s mind, the defender having not only regained, but also retained, his place in McCarthy’s starting line-up.
Smith said: "Without a doubt Mick is the best. For me, personally, being a centre-half it has helped me massively having a defender coach me. I can only benefit from that. He was a very good player in his time and I have learned a lot from him.
"We do a lot of work as a defensive unit, a back four, and he does individual stuff as well every now and again.
"When the games are coming thick and fast you can’t spend as much time training, but at the moment we are only playing once a week so we have spent a fair bit of time working on the defensive side of things.
"Maybe not so easy on a windy day but it’s still a good session and I just hope I carry on learning from him and improving as we go.”
McCarthy acknowledged that academy graduate Smith was unfortunate to be dropped when the manager opted for Luke Chambers and Christophe Berra as his central defenders and Jonny Parr and Tyrone Mings as his full-backs following Town’s 1-1 draw at current leaders Derby on August 30.
Smith was absent from the starting line-up for seven of the next eight games - he replaced the ill Chambers for the Blackburn game - but following Town’s 3-1 midweek defeat at Cardiff he was restored to the side for the home clash with Huddersfield four days later, celebrated by scoring the opening goal in the 2-2 draw and kept his place.
He added: "What probably made being left out such a hard pill to swallow was that I had been playing well until then.
"If you have had a bad time and you get dropped at least you can accept that it is deserved. I just had to get away, get my head down, carry on working hard and wait for my chance.
"That’s what I did and I got my chance so hopefully I have done enough to stay in the team.”
Smith received a huge vote of confidence from McCarthy for last week’s 4-1 home win over Leeds when Christophe Berra was recalled after missing the last-gasp win at Charlton while serving a one-game ban.
Jonny Parr was the player to be dropped from the bench and Smith said: "I appreciated that and long may it continue. I want to stay in the team.”