Town striker Freddie Sears believes he could be a better player now than when he first arrived at Portman Road in January.
Signed from Colchester in what proved a £100,000 bargain deal, the Londoner bagged nine goals in 21 league appearances — 14 starts and seven from the bench — to help his new club into the play-offs.
Sears said: "Maybe I am a better player. I had a good season last year, playing well and playing in a lot of games for Colchester, which helped.
"I played over 90 games for them altogether, playing week in, week out, and it really developed me as a player.
"That’s probably the best development I’ve had. I’m feeling really good, I’m confident from last year and really looking forward to this season, which will hopefully be a successful one.
"The pre-season has gone well for me and I’m feeling sharp. I’ve scored some goals and I’m getting the combinations back again with the other players.
"I had five or six weeks off and it sometimes takes a while to get your eye back in but the boys have come back looking sharp, I feel good and everyone’s raring to go now.
"I’m feeling really good at the minute and really sharp. I missed the game at Peterborough with a tight thigh that came up the day before in training but apart from that I’ve been feeling really good.
"Hopefully I will get some more minutes on Saturday [against Utrecht] and then it’s the first game of the season at Brentford the following Saturday.
"You don’t really see 90 minutes any more in pre-season, which is pretty strange. Two or three games, once you get them out of the way you feel at your maximum and ready to go before you kick on to what looks like being a long, hard season.”
Sears was speaking at the club’s Open Day, which attracted a bumper crowd who were treated to a training session before manager Mick McCarthy and his players devoted their time to making sure fans young and old were able to obtain pictures and autographs of their heroes.
The ex-West Ham youngster added: "It’s different and not something I’m used to, but it’s great to see the fans turn up in their numbers to see what it’s like behind closed doors as it were.
"TC put on a good training session with a lot of goals and a little game to finish with, which is good for the fans.”