Town boss Mick McCarthy admits he’s excited as the new Championship season gets under way with a game against his hometown club Barnsley at Portman Road on Saturday afternoon.
After more than a month of pre-season training and friendlies, McCarthy says he’s raring to go: "I’m excited. I’m ready for it to start. My thoughts on pre-season are well documented.
"You cannot be motivated to the extent that you will be when the league starts, that’s anybody.
"If somebody tells you they are I’ll tell them they’re a liar because the tingle comes now, the excitement comes, the nerves come.
"And I was like that as a player, I preferred to have that butterfly in my stomach and be nervous, that made me perform better. So yes, it’s exciting, I’m looking forward to it.
"I am [nervous] every week. I prefer to be. Nervous always sounds bad. Not nervous-worried or anxious, I’m not that. Excited, full of anticipation.”
He added: "I’m looking forward to a home game against my hometown team. We’ve hardly ripped it up in pre-season but that doesn’t bother me because it is pre-season and it really matters on Saturday.
"I hope we can entertain all our fans and send them home happy, that’s our intention.”
His aim for the campaign ahead? "To finish as high as we possibly can and compete with all those who have spent 10s of millions and be as good as we can and be a really competitive team in this league and hopefully entertain our fans.”
Going into the game against the Tykes McCarthy has one notable selection dilemma with new signing Adam Webster set to make his debut at right-sided centre-half.
That means one of Christophe Berra or Tommy Smith, regulars in the Town backline for the last three seasons, but who are both naturally left-sided, will miss out.
Berra and Smith, who largely operated on the right last term, were both among the division’s top centre-halves in 2015/16, according to the Wyscout scouting platform with Berra ranking first and Smith seventh.
McCarthy admits it’s a big call: "Extremely tough, but then that’s the decision I’ve got to make.
"The real problem in terms of making a decision is the fact that Adam Webster’s fit. Two weeks ago, certainly three weeks ago, when he’d had 13 weeks out with a really nasty ankle injury, I never thought he was going to be fit. But he’s put a right spanner in the works!”
McCarthy also has to decide whether to start either of this week’s new additions, widemen Grant Ward and Conor Grant.
While Grant has joined on a season-long loan from Everton, Ward and Webster were the Town boss’s most expensive signings since he came to the club in November 2012 with the former Spurs man costing an initial £500,000 and the ex-Pompey defender £700,000 plus Matt Clarke.
"There’s no doubt if we could have got somebody on frees and Bosmans then we would have done, but they weren’t available,” McCarthy said.
"Marcus has put up the money and it’s great that we can sign them. Certainly the two that we’ve bought, Adam Webster and Grant Ward, they look like two real quality players that will do well with us and get better and better.”
Barnsley returned to the Championship after two seasons away by beating Millwall 3-1 in the League One play-off final in May.
"They were brilliant,” McCarthy said. "They started well and then I think they lost seven on the bounce and were down near the bottom.
"And then, I think still under Lee Johnson, they won seven on the bounce or something crazy, had a really silly record, and got out of it.
"Then Paul Heckingbottom took over and they made two trips to Wembley and won them both. I think that was an amazing story of a season which looked like it was going to go wrong for a while.
"I thought they played some great football at Wembley, they looked well organised, they all looked up for it.
"They do worry me slightly coming here because they’re a team that wants to be in the Championship.
"They’ve been down in League One for two seasons and they’re happy to be here, they’re desperate to be here and they’ll be wanting to upset us. It’s going to be a really tough game, no doubt.”
One of Barnsley’s stars of last season was winger Adam Hamill, someone well known to McCarthy.
"He was a really exciting talent, he was at Liverpool and I took him from Barnsley [to Wolves] and I thought he would be a great signing for us,” he recalled.
"It didn’t work out, he’s been at a number of other places and I think he’s matured and he’s settled again at Barnsley and he’s a real threat.
"Certainly in the Johnstone’s Paints Trophy final [when they beat Oxford United 3-2] I thought he was excellent in that game. And they’ve signed him on a long-term contract, so they think a lot of him.
"Now he’s settled, I don’t know if he’s married but he’s got a child. We all mature and I think he’s fulfilling his potential now. It’ll be a tough game.”
Also in the Tykes squad is midfielder Conor Hourihane, who spent a year with the Blues without breaking into the first team.
"He looks a good footballer, he’s done well for Barnsley, he’s been one of their standout players,” the Town boss continued.
"He’s got a goal in him as well and it’s always sod’s law when a player comes back. Let’s hope it’s not sod’s law on Saturday.”
McCarthy seems certain to start with last season’s multiple player of the year award-winner Bartosz Bialkowski in goal with skipper Luke Chambers at right-back and Jonas Knudsen on the left.
Alongside Webster, the Town boss will probably name Berra, who he has picked ahead of Smith on previous occasions when looking to pair left-sided and right-sided centre-halves.
In midfield, Cole Skuse could be joined in the centre by Kevin Bru, as he was in the friendlies against Charlton and Royale Union Saint-Gilloise.
Teddy Bishop seems likely to be handed the right-sided role with one of the new signings starting on the left. Ward may get the nod having been at the club since Monday, however, having missed three weeks of pre-season with through injury, the former Spurs man probably won't play for more than an hour and could be replaced by Grant from the bench.
Up front, Daryl Murphy seems set to be partnered by Freddie Sears with one or both of David McGoldrick, a little behind having missed the early weeks of pre-season, and Brett Pitman, back after a toe injury, likely to feature as subs at some stage.
Barnsley head coach Paul Heckingbottom says the game will be an early test of his promoted side’s Championship credentials.
"They have a similar squad to last season, they’ll play a similar way and they are competitive. I would have thought that they’ll be up there again,” he told the Tykes’ official website.
"This is a great benchmark for us in terms of what the Championship is all about, we’re going to an established team and they’ve always been in and around the play-offs.
"We’re competing against better players but also higher profile, more experienced managers who have achieved a lot but we’re all looking forward to it. It’ll give us a good gauge of where we are after the 90 minutes.”
Barnsley have no injury problems but defender Angus MacDonald, who they recently signed from Torquay, is suspended.
Historically, Town have done well against the South Yorkshiremen, winning 21 games between the sides (20 in the league), drawing nine (nine) and losing 13 (11).
The teams last met in February 2014 when they drew 2-2 at Oakwell with the Tykes on their way to relegation to League One.
Berra and McGoldrick were on target for the Blues in the 81st and 84th minutes as Town came from two goals down.
Chris O’Grady's 12th minute strike saw the Tykes into a half-time lead and sub Tomasz Cywka’s 74th minute freekick added to their advantage before the Blues’ late fightback
In the previous November at Portman Road Barnsley sub Jim O’Brien’s 70th minute equaliser claimed his side’s first away point of the campaign as the sides drew 1-1 in a live Sky game.
Murphy had headed the Blues in front in the 41st minute with Town on top, but the visitors were the better side after the break.
Blues boss McCarthy came through the ranks at Oakwell, making his senior debut in 1977 and went on to make 314 appearances, scoring 10 goals, before leaving for Manchester City in 1983, having been part of a side which had climbed from the Fourth to the Second Division.
Defender Paul Digby came through the ranks at Oakwell and made 11 starts and 14 sub appearances before joining Town on loan in January then making his move permanent in the summer.
Keeper Bialkowski spent on month on loan at Barnsley from Southampton in September and October 2009, making two appearances.
Winger Cameron Stewart was also on loan with the Tykes, at the end of 2014/15 when he made three starts and one sub appearance.
Blues fitness coach Andy Liddell was a Barnsley player between 1991 and 1998, also having come through the Tykes’ youth system. Town scout Ian 'Taff' Evans played alongside McCarthy at Oakwell from 1979 until 1983.
Barnsley midfielder Hourihane was with the Blues between 2010 and 2011, having followed his former Sunderland manager Roy Keane from Wearside, but was unable to break into the first team and moved on to Plymouth. The 25-year-old from Cork joined the Tykes in the summer of 2014.
Saturday’s game sees Town debut their new Fanzone on the FieldTurf behind the East of England Co-operative Stand. Full details here.
The charity collection taking place around Portman Road before the game is for Home Start, a locally-based charity supporting families with young children.
Town's disability liaison officer Warner Duff will lead the teams out as part of the EFL’s Stories campaign, which sees clubs acknowledge someone who has gone that extra yard for their team during the opening week.
From the Norwich game on Sunday 21st August onwards, Town will be selecting a Community Champion for weekend home games, who will present the match ball to the referee on the pitch prior to the game.
Friends of fan Wayne Double, who sadly passed away this summer, will be holding a minute’s applause in the 42nd minute of the game as a tribute and are asking fellow supporters to join them.
Saturday’s referee is Keith Stroud from Hampshire, who showed 191 yellow cards and 11 red in 45 games last season.
Stroud’s most recent Town game was the 3-2 home victory over the MK Dons in the final home match of last season, in which he booked Tommy Smith and one opposition player and awarded the visitors a spotkick.
Prior to that Stroud was in charge of the 1-1 home draw with Birmingham in September last year in which he awarded the Blues a penalty, netted by Pitman, which was bitterly disputed by the visitors when Ainsley Maitland-Niles was felled by Jonathan Spector. He booked Berra, Jonathan Douglas and two visiting players.
A former Premier League referee and one-time FIFA assistant, Stroud also took control of the 3-2 defeat at Brighton in January 2015 in which he booked Bru and Noel Hunt and one Seagull.
He also officiated in the 1-0 home derby defeat to Norwich at Portman Road in August 2014 and Town’s 1-0 home victory over Birmingham in March of the same year.
Squad from: Bialkowski, Gerken, Chambers (c), Emmanuel, Knudsen, Kenlock, Webster, Berra, Smith, Digby, Skuse, Bru, Douglas, Dozzell, McDonnell, Bishop, Ward, Grant, Murphy, Sears, McGoldrick, Pitman.