Town new boy Ben Pringle has reflected on how his dream move last summer to Fulham has turned sour with only around a quarter of his two-year deal completed.
The 26-year-old Geordie hails from Ashington, the village where Newcastle legend and ex-Town boss Jackie Milburn, as well as his World Cup-winning nephews Jack and Bobby Charlton, first kicked a football.
Pringle had high hopes of playing in English football’s top flight when he signed for Fulham last summer on a free transfer after his contract at Rotherham had expired — but instead he faded from the first team scene and hopes a one-month loan deal with Town - which could be extended to the end of the season - can help to reignite his ambition.
The blond-haired midfielder said: "I knew when I signed at Fulham, having played every single week at Rotherham for a good three years, compared to Fulham where I knew I might not play every week, that there would be times when I might be on the bench.
"I believed in my ability, though, and I didn’t think what happened at Fulham would happen. It was frustrating at times but I’m delighted to come here and play games.
"There have been a lot of changes go on at Fulham — they’ve changed the way they want to do things a number of times during the season. The style of play is maybe different to what I’d like to play.
"You could say my face didn’t fit or that the changes made things different, but it’s just one of those things.
"You don’t know what’s going to happen, you can’t predict what’s round the corner, and I’m just focusing on the next couple of months here at Ipswich and see where it goes really.
"Throughout my career it’s been about playing games and if I’ve not been playing I’ve gone somewhere else, which is like any footballer. It’s really important that happens here.”
A glut of injuries to key members of manager Mick McCarthy’s senior squad, one of them ruling out on-loan winger Bournemouth winger Ryan Fraser for several weeks, prompted him to move into the loan market and bring Pringle to Suffolk.
Pringle laughed: "I haven’t stopped hearing about Ryan, to be honest! But he’s completely different to what I am.
"From what I gather he’s little and runs at people quite quickly. I don’t think fans are going to be expecting that from me.
"The gaffer’s said ‘We’ve brought you in to create chances and that’s to put balls into the box’ so I know what I’ve got to try to do and with the strikers we have in the team it shouldn’t be a problem.”