Not-so-new Town loanee Jonny Williams — back from Crystal Palace for a fourth time — is adamant that promotion to the Premier League is a realistic target this season.
Williams said: "The aim has to be at least the play-offs. I know you hear that a lot around here but the club does always seem to finish in and around the top six every year.
"You just need to have a bit of luck along the way, not conceding the late goals here and there, and you can sneak into the top six. But who really knows? The Championship is such a funny league that is hard to predict.
"People ask me if I’m surprised to see Huddersfield sitting at the top and Barnsley in third but to be honest I’m not surprised at all. I’ve been playing in it for a few years now and I’m not sure anything surprises me any more.
"Go back a couple of seasons and Bournemouth were just up from League One. No one really expected them to do as well as they did.
"They are now in the Premier League. It’s such a difficult league to predict but I definitely believe Ipswich can be up there challenging.
"We have the players and the management, plus the fans, to do that and I’m really excited that I’m going to be a part of it.”
No sooner had Williams completed his latest loan move — he was with both Nottingham Forest and MK Dons last season — than some Town fans were asking him on Twitter why he didn’t make the switch permanent.
He added: "The support I’ve had from the Ipswich fans has always been amazing and just walking into the stadium again brought back a lot of happy memories. Palace said I could go out on loan for the season, which is great, but I won’t deny I would like to get settled at a club.
"I’ve got this year and next year on my Palace contract. It’s difficult to know what is going to happen, which I’ve been saying for a while now. It’s about opportunities at the end of the day and whether that’s been stunted through injuries or team selection I’m not sure.
"But there comes a point when you want to be settled somewhere or you want to be playing with your club — one or the other — and we’ll get to that point, I’m sure, where a decision will have to be made.”
Williams recalled how his third loan spell was blighted by an injury against Watford at Portman Road in November 2014 when he came off second best in a robust challenge from defender Joel Ekstrand, popular opinion suggesting the big Swede was fortunate to escape with just a yellow card.
He said: "I was just starting to get going when that happened. I’d played the first few games and we were playing and doing well.
"Murph, Freddie and Didzy were all playing well and the team was looking strong.
"It was just such a shame to get injured when I did because I’d come back and put in some good performances early on then gone away with the Wales team. It was such bad timing, very unfortunate — and it was a bad tackle.”
Williams has rejoined the Blues with another injury, an ankle problem suffered in pre-season, which is set to keep him out until October.
"I was thinking ‘Not again’ when I got the injury,” he added. "It was a game against a non-league team and I was only meant to be playing one half.
"I got hacked down after about half an hour and after seeing a replay of the tackle it could have been a lot worse. It could have been really nasty and I think I got out of it just in time.”
Looking forward to getting back out on the field, he continued: "I’ve come here to play and I want to help this team. If I’m doing that it helps my international career. I spoke to Alan Pardew, the Palace manager, and he said he wants me to go and play.
"He said he doesn’t want to see a player like me playing in the U23s and just being in his squad now and again. I want to be playing every week and hopefully I can do that here.
"I know I’ve had my injuries but I hope the fans have been able to see what I can do if I get an opportunity to play on a regular basis.
"That’s all I ask and coming to a club like Ipswich and being loved by the fans is only going to help me to perform to the best of my ability. When I play my next game for Ipswich at Portman Road it will be a really special feeling.”