Luke Chambers admits he is having the time of his football life at Ipswich and that he would love to be a manager when his playing days are over.
Signed by Paul Jewell and made captain by current boss Mick McCarthy, the defender is revelling in his role and revealed he is even sounded out by McCarthy when it comes to bringing in new faces at Portman Road.
Chambers said: "The gaffer has spoken to me about most players he has brought in this year and I think he’ll do that to a few of the lads because we’ve got a lot of experience in the dressing room.
"I think there’s a lot that he can take from the lads, like when he brings people in on trial then asks us how they are settling in and how we are finding them.
"We’re always saying good things because he does his homework before he brings them in. He generally knows the answer but he likes to have it backed up by the players.
"You generally get that because we’re all of the same opinion, the gaffer and the players, because he knows the right people to bring in.
"I’ve made no secret of it before — if you’re not the right character you won’t last very long here. You won’t last because no one really puts up with anything other than maximum effort every day, every time we step over the line. It’s a whole squad game.
"I’ve said in the pre-match huddle before ‘give everything you’ve got for as long as you’ve got’ because we’ve got players who can come on and can win us the game or keep us in the game.
"Unfortunately, that didn’t happen at Brentford on the opening day but I’m sure I will be saying it again and it will happen for the next few weeks.
"I love every second of being a professional footballer. The number of fans that we took away on Saturday just sums up the support that the lads get.
"I think it’s something new for a few of the boys coming in and seeing what a big club it is really. I’d missed that, coming out on a Saturday for a league game and everyone’s there to support us.
"They were tremendous again and I can only ask them to stay with us. There will be some negativity from the way we’ve thrown the game away but we can only ask that they get behind us. They will have seen good things that they will be looking forward to next week.
"I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed it as much as I have done in the last few years. There were a couple of seasons when I was at Forest and we were doing very well, but not to this extent. Everything about the place is very positive and I just enjoy my role at the club.
"I enjoy the competitiveness that we as a team bring to the opposition and it’s just an honour, as I’ve said before, to lead the boys out because everyone is in the same corner and fighting in the right direction.
"That isn’t always the case at football clubs and I think we’re lucky to have who we’ve got here.”
Chambers makes no secret of his desire to stay in the game after hanging up his boots and believes he experience he is gaining at Portman Road under McCarthy is priceless in terms of preparing him for his own managerial career.
He added: "People can sometimes put footballers up on a pedestal or whatever but at the end of the day we’re normal people. Anyone who is a footballer and thinks they are not a normal person won’t last long round here because we are just lads coming in to do our jobs playing football. We’re lucky enough to have that.
"I’ll be looking to do that in the future, by hopefully going into management, and it can only help me to be around players and them looking to me for advice. I’ve had the main man to look up to, if that’s the route I want to go down.”