Skipper Luke Chambers has hailed boss Mick McCarthy’s stringent recruitment policy as Town go into their last 12 games aiming to secure a repeat of last season’s play-off finish.
It was predecessor Paul Jewell who brought Chambers to Portman Road in the summer of 2012 but later that year, with his team at the bottom of the league, he departed and McCarthy arrived to trigger an immediate upturn in fortune.
Chambers, co-defender Tommy Smith, midfielder Luke Hyam and striker Daryl Murphy are the only members of the current senior squad who played for Jewell, with the others recruited by McCarthy on free transfers or for modest fees.
The skipper said: "In my opinion the gaffer has turned the club around. He does his homework and you can’t really argue with anything that he’s done over the last few years.
"When I first came here it wasn’t a great place to be. He’s kept, what, four players on from that time and that shows you how quickly things can change in football.
"When you think about the players we’ve had through the door he’s done it seamlessly because it doesn’t seem as if there’s been a massive overhaul.
"There was a lot made when I first came here about the policy of bringing in loan players. The club was full of loan players — we had as many as seven — but the gaffer has made proper permanent signings.
"The new lads all move to the area, whereas before it wasn’t everyone who bought into the idea of living here and settling in to make it your home.
"When we do go out we know we’ve got the backing of the fans, which has been the case for the last few years both home and away. They’re never going to call you out because they know that every week you are giving 110 or 120 per cent.
"It’s hardly a secret that the fans want new additions to try to help us progress towards the play-offs. But the gaffer has not made any secret of the way he wants to run things, stressing that he will only bring players in if they challenge straight away for a place in the starting line-up. The boys he has brought in have had their opportunities and taken them.
"It’s good that he does his background checks and when the new lads come in they fit in seamlessly. It is an easy dressing room and he is bringing players in that fit into the work ethic and belief, and who buy into his and the team’s ideas.
"Thankfully, we have turned a bit of a corner after losing three games in a row and we feel as a group that we have a great opportunity to be where we want to be at the end of the season.
"At my previous clubs — and I’m not naming names because that’s not what I’m about — there were players who were totally out for themselves. Now I accept that you have to look after yourself but at the end of the day football’s a team game.
"There’s a lot been made about me playing right-back when I’ve said I would prefer to play centre-half. But I’ve been playing for two or three years as a right-back so I’ve got to be seen as more right-back than centre-half now. I probably couldn’t go into centre-half and just take to it like that. It would take a few games to do that.
"Lads are asking to be played out of position, like Kevin Bru when he started on the right of midfield at the weekend. They just do it for the team. That’s the group and the characters we’ve got, and if anyone didn’t buy into that they wouldn’t last very long in our dressing room.”
Chambers is also delighted to see academy graduates like midfield duo James Blanchfield and Andre Dozzell on the fringe of the first team squad, both having travelled to Huddersfield recently and the latter making his first appearance on the bench for Saturday’s home win over Nottingham Forest.
Chambers said: "It’s no secret that our dressing room is an easy one to settle into and we all like to see the young lads coming through. There has been a lot of investment from the owner in the academy and we are now starting to see it pay dividends.
"They are given every opportunity to come and train with the first team lads and when they make an impact, as both James and Andre have done in the last few weeks, they get their rewards.
"The experience of being around the senior players, not just sitting on the bench during the games but the build-up to games and seeing how we approach things, will do them no harm in the future We are delighted to see them progressing and I think we are going to need them next season.
"Both of them did their initiation songs last week and Andre was so laid-back that I wouldn’t say he sang — it was more a case of him speaking the words. That was a little bit disappointing and we actually asked him to sit down after a while.”