Skipper Luke Chambers has revealed that he’s been in Daryl Murphy’s ear throughout the summer trying to persuade last season’s 27-goal Championship top scorer to remain at Portman Road. The 32-year-old put an end to the speculation regarding his future last week by signing a new contract until the summer of 2017 with the club having an option for a further season.
"Hallelujah!” exclaimed Chambers, speaking after Friday's 4-3 friendly defeat at Fortuna Düsseldorf.
"I’m good friends with Murph and I’ve been on his case all summer: ‘You don’t want to leave, you don’t want to leave, you don’t want to leave!’.
"He never wanted to leave and hopefully that’s tied him down for the next couple of years and he can have a better season next year.
"Everyone’s delighted, everyone in the squad loves him to pieces and I think the feeling is mutual.
"Teams expressing an interest in him was always going to happen because there’s no one else in the league that’s like him.
"I don’t think anyone and us as a team would ever forgive the club if they’d have sold him and he’d gone and scored 27 goals somewhere else.
"We’re delighted. You look at the strike force we’ve got now, you saw the goal Brett Pitman scored tonight. He’s settled in very, very well.
"That was one of the best goals I’ve seen live, I’ve said that to some of the lads. I think Skusey, a big mate of his, missed it.
"You look at our strike force you’ve got Pits, you’ve got Murph, you’ve got Didz, you’ve got Freddie, you’ve got Varns to come back.
"That’s a strike force that can get 60 goals easily if they’re on their game, which they’re going to have to be to play in the team, that will bode well for the future.”
He added: "No disrespect to the lads who have left and the lads who were here before, we’ve had a fantastic couple of seasons together, but I think the gaffer has slowly improved the squad every year and hopefully this season will be the season for us.
"We look like we’ve got a bit more pace in the team, we’ve got some young players who are trying to stamp their mark on it.
"We’ve still got three of the best players in the league to come back into the squad and that will be a joy on Monday when they come in and join in in [full] training.
"We’re looking forward to it and we’re still actively looking for a couple more players. Exciting times and we want to get of the ground and up and running.
"I think you’ve got to look at the additions of Brett Pitman, Ryan Fraser and even Ainsley Maitland-Niles, he’s made a tremendous impact.
"I gave him a little bit of stick for being a bit of a slow starter, he was feeling his way into training, he had a bit of a swagger about him, but he’s got to know our way of working pretty quickly!
"To be fair to him, in training and in games he’s looked the part and he took his goal very, very well tonight.”
In addition to the 17-year-old Arsenal loanee a number of Town’s own academy products have made an impact during the first two pre-season matches.
"You’ve only got to look at Teddy Bishop as an example,” Chambers continued. "If you’re good enough at this football club with this manager, you’ll get your opportunity. He likes to keep a tight squad.
"I think young Josh Emmanuel at right-back has come in and done very, very well in training and in the games.
"Josh Yorwerth we got from Cardiff and he’s looked very, very strong. I think the gaffer’s definitely building something and there are opportunities for young players to come in and impress and once you’ve done it three, four, five, six times in front of the gaffer, you know you’ve got his trust.”
Chambers says everyone has long drawn a line under last season’s play-off disappointment: "You have to, as horrible as it was. I couldn’t bring myself to watch the games. Fair play to them, they got promoted, they were the best team. That’s the way it goes.
"But it showed tonight how much the fans are behind us making the effort to bring themselves all the way out here, funding their trips out of their own pockets. I think they’re as ready to go again as we are.”
Town are next in action at Cambridge United on Tuesday evening when Christophe Berra and David McGoldrick are expected to be in the squad (KO 7.45pm).
The Blues’ U18s lost 5-4 to Cambridge in a substitution-filled friendly at Playford Road on Saturday morning, while the sides’ U16s drew 1-1.