Richard Chaplow has admitted he has probably played his last game for Millwall after joining Town on loan in a move that has seen him climb the Championship table.
The experienced midfielder said: "Coming to Ipswich until the end of the season pretty much spells the end of me at Millwall. I’m a little bit disappointed that things ended the way they did because I never really got the chance to show people at the club what I was all about.
"I went there off the back of a successful time at Southampton but I saw the chance to come here to Ipswich as a great opportunity. I was very grateful and I am just looking to hopefully make the most of it and get Ipswich to where they need to be.
"Was I surprised to get a call from Mick McCarthy? Well, yes and no. A little bit because of the position Millwall were in and at that time I wasn’t in the team — for various reasons but not performance-related in my eyes. It is what it is, football, and sometimes it just doesn’t work out for you.
"I wasn’t having the greatest of times at Millwall, for one reason or another, but I wasn’t really surprised to hear from the gaffer. I’ve had a good career in the Championship and obviously played in the Premier League with Southampton and West Brom.
"I can bring experience in that respect — it’s only 18 months ago that I left Southampton — and Mick has seen a lot of me over the years.
"When I was at West Brom he was manager of Wolves and he’ll know all about me as a player. Things like that can work in your favour when the chips are down a little bit.
"I’m grateful for the opportunity and it’s down to me to make the most of it and pay Ipswich back with my contribution in the coming weeks.
"Mick has always been a manager who I have admired from afar. When I was at West Brom and he was at Wolves we used to have some good battles on the pitch with his team.
"He’s always been a man who has been around the Championship and someone I have admired. He’s a manager I have always fancied playing for and whether it was Ipswich or Mick that was the pull, both of them together in a package was inviting for me.”
Chaplow, who signed for Millwall in July 2013 following a four-game loan spell at The Den, reflected on why the move turned sour this season with the Lions battling to preserve their Championship status.
He added: "It wasn’t down to a clash of personalities with the gaffer there. I could be here for a week or two going through it all. It was just about where Millwall were as a football club at the time and where I was as a person.
"We just didn’t see eye to eye on going forward and after I had a conversation with Ian Holloway we both decided that it would probably be for the best if we parted company.
"It wasn’t down to me pushing to do something. All I wanted was to prove to everyone my worth as a footballer, which is what I’ve wanted to do at every club I have played for.
"I don’t believe I was given the opportunity to do that and it didn’t appear that the opportunity was ever going to come.
"That happens in football. You work from Monday to Friday to play on a Saturday and you want to be involved as much as possible but when you’re not you have to look at the positives.
"I’m very grateful for the opportunity I was given to play for Millwall, something that a lot of people would never have the chance of doing.
"You have to strip it back and look at what it really is and for me it was a time to be grateful to Millwall. They put a roof over my head and put food on the table, and I thank them for that, but it didn’t work out and as a footballer things are never easy.
"It’s an up and down life and it’s not the cushy life that everyone thinks it is. You just have to keep working hard and hopefully things change for you. Luckily for me I got the opportunity to come to Ipswich.
"I’m here until the end of the season and I’m not looking any further than that. For me next season is a long way away. In my view you have to live in the present moment and next season is still so far away.
"We’ve got so much in front of us to deal with and we need to keep our heads down and work hard. The boys just need to keep doing what they’ve been doing all season and I have no doubt that will get them to where they need to be.”