Town striker Freddie Sears has reflected on his first year at Portman Road and stated: “I’m pretty pleased and I think I’ve had a good time here since day one.”
Sears, who arrived from Colchester last January, will be going to Birmingham tomorrow in search of his seventh goal of the season but only his third in the space of 23 games after he hit the target four times in six games at the start of the campaign.
The 26-year-old former West Ham youngster said: "I came in and took to it like a duck to water really. Everyone has been welcoming and the first time I met the gaffer it was pleasing. Everything he said seemed to go with everything I said.
"I remember meeting Chambo on the first day and he’s exactly the same with me now as he was then.
"It has been easy coming into the group but it’s on the pitch that matters most. I think I have performed well and I’m really happy with my first year at the club.
"I got a goal in my second game down at Brighton. As a striker you are judged on goals — when you score them and when you don’t score them — so obviously to come to a new team and get off the mark quite quickly was a bonus.
"I was doing really well at Colchester last season and had 14 goals before I came here.
"A little bit of pressure was off me but you still want to come into a new team and score early on and when I did that it was the best thing that could have happened to me.”
Sears only cost a modest fee - his U’s contract was understood to include a £200,000 buy-out clause - and at a time when clubs are contemplating £12 million deals for reinforcements it is a reminder of how he has proved a terrific bargain since stepping up a level.
Asked if he was always confident of being good enough for the Championship, he added: "I felt I had been ready for two or three seasons to play at this level and it was just a case of waiting for the opportunity to come along.
"Sometimes it’s a good thing to take a step back to come forward again. No disrespect to Colchester but that was my aim when I signed for them.
"I wanted to be playing Championship football and even Premier League football in the future.”
In his 12 months with Town he has made 52 appearances, 10 of them from the bench, and scored 15 goals. He said: "When I first came to Ipswich everyone was flying.
"Didzy was flying, Murph was flying and then Didzy picked up an injury. But Noel [Hunt] was still here and I remember he scored twice when I made my debut at Millwall.
"I was coming into a side where boys were flying and doing really well, and I think I put myself about and showed the gaffer what I could do early on.
"I thought I did well on my debut and played well, then I scored in my second game and it obviously gave the gaffer something to think about.
"But, having said that, with the likes of David McGoldrick and Daryl Murphy here it was hard to break into the side, so on that front I think I’ve done well.”