Boss Mick McCarthy says a huge prize awaits the winners of the Championship play-off derby between the Blues and Norwich City. Perhaps the biggest ever East Anglian derbies were set up after Town finished in sixth, despite a final day defeat at Blackburn, while the Canaries beat Fulham 4-2 at home to grab third.
"There’s a huge prize for both teams,” McCarthy said. "One of us in two weeks’ time is going to be absolutely thrilled and the other is going to be talking about having a really bad season and it’s a disgrace, and yet we’re both in the play-off semi-finals.
"I just hope it’s us that’s going to Wembley and we’re all happy. But, you know what, if you go to Wembley and get beat against whoever else is in there, it doesn’t matter, you’ve been beaten. I want to win, I’m not bothered who I’m playing against.”
McCarthy, whose side will face either Middlesbrough or Brentford at Wembley on Monday 25th May if they defeat the Canaries, is no stranger to local derbies in Championship play-off semi-finals having faced West Brom while Wolves manager in the 2006/07 campaign.
Wolves, who had finished fifth, were beaten 1-0 away at the Hawthorns in the first leg, then lost the home game 3-2.
"I was there with Wolves against West Brom, that’s equally as big again, and Wolves and West Brom will think it’s bigger than Ipswich and Norwich,” the Town boss recalled. "I’m looking forward to it, it’s great.”
McCarthy has taken part in six play-offs as a manager but has won only once, the 2002 World Cup games against Iran when he was in charge of the Republic of Ireland, with whom he previously lost to Belgium for a place at the 1998 tournament.
At Championship level he has faced defeat in the semi-finals with Millwall (1993/94) and Sunderland (2003/04) as well as Wolves.
Looking back at the derbies during his playing career, he added: "I’ve had some big ones, even in Lyon, against St Etienne that’s pretty spicy.
"West Ham and Millwall, Newcastle and Sunderland, Barnsley-Huddersfield, Barnsley-Sheffield Wednesday, I hated everybody when I was at Barnsley. I’ve learned to like a few people since I was at Barnsley.”
Did he feel there was anything from the performance at Blackburn he could take into the play-offs? "The way we keep going, our determination, effort and spirit, always.
"We’re always going to have mediocre days or bad days. We’ve just got two more games where we need to have good days.”
He says he was periodically aware of developments elsewhere during Saturday’s game: "At half-time I was, 75 minutes I was, I knew it was 2-0 [to Reading].
"It was with eight minutes to go that we got our second, I still wanted to get that goal but I was aware [Derby] were 3-0 down and the crowd let us know.
"Our crowd didn’t start cheering until it was 3-0, so they didn’t trust Reading, did they? They had to get to three before they started to get excited and they knew it was going to happen.”
He says he remained composed on the sidelines despite the stress: "I wasn’t calm, but strangely enough I was more calm at 3-1 down because there’s not a lot you can do then, you rely on other people and all you’re trying to do is get back in the game.
"And I think that happens with players because you’re not worried about conceding a goal, it makes no difference, you’ve got to get back into the game.
"And I think, bizarrely enough in the last 10 minutes, they ended up being nervy and don’t want to cost themselves the win. It’s just that emotion and that mental state that swings from side to side.”
He says he tried to keep everyone relaxed in the days running up to the game: "All week we’ve kept a really calm disposition or demeanour about us.
"Why wouldn’t you because there’s nothing you can do about it until Saturday anyway, not stress the prize, what’s at stake.
"You’ve got to get them roused on the Saturday, not on the Monday. We started great, we scored a great goal.
"Then there’s that psychological state [you get into], Blackburn start chasing it, we probably think we’ve got something to hold onto and we don’t play well.
"Where does it all come from? There’ll be a whole load of psychologists ringing me, they can all piss off. You can put that as well, that’ll stop them doing it!”
He says he has no need to tell his players what these games mean: "You don’t actually go around telling players. I get astounded at times when I get asked ‘What do you say to them?’.
"Do you think they’re not aware we can get to the Premier League, do you think they’re not aware that a win or a draw is going to do it?
"If I go around saying that to them, they’d think ‘Is he a pillock or what?’. Talk about the master of stating the obvious. I think you can give people negativity by going round them, so I don’t do that.”
Rovers boss Gary Bowyer singled out former England international David Dunn for praise in his final game for the Lancashire club.
Asked whether the 35-year-old’s farewell provided additional inspiration for Rovers, McCarthy added: "Possibly, he played well Dunny, he’s been a good player around the place. I have no idea, but it doesn’t really matter because we’re in the play-offs!”
Meanwhile, Norwich boss Alex Neil is also eagerly anticipating the games against the Blues, the first matches between the sides other than regular league games since the League Cup semi-finals in 1985.
"I’ve been told this will be the biggest derby between Norwich and Ipswich, and these are the games you want to be involved in,” the Scot said.
"We’re really looking forward to it, and we’ll get ourselves fully prepared. It definitely adds something, an extra spice, because the fans are desperate to get one over their rivals which makes it an emotional occasion.
"We know exactly what it means to everyone, and it means a hell of a lot to myself and the players as well. Ultimately, we've got to rise to the challenge and get ourselves past Ipswich to make the final."