Town goalkeeper Bartosz Bialkowski has hailed fellow custodian Jussi Jääskeläinen’s achievement of still featuring regularly in the Championship at the age of 41.
The pair will be reunited tomorrow at Wigan, where the experienced Finn with more than 750 senior games in England behind him, will be doing his best to deny Ipswich the away win they crave.
Bialkowski, 29, said: "When I was a young boy back home in Poland, watching Premier League games on television, Jussi was always there and he’s still playing, so fair play to him. I hope I can do the same and carry on playing into my forties.
"He is an amazing goalkeeper and I remember when I was at Southampton I went to a summer training camp for goalkeepers with Malcolm Webster, who used to work with Bolton, and Jussi was also there.
"It was so good to see him training. He clearly loves football to still be playing and, like I said, I would love it if I was still playing when I get to that age.”
Had things worked out differently Bialkowski might well have been playing for Wigan, who were a top-flight club when they invited him over for a trial.
He added: "I would have been about 17 or 18 when I went there but it didn’t work out for me for whatever reason, although it was a good experience as a young boy going to a Premier League club and training with the first team squad. It was just before I went on trial to Hearts and then joined Southampton.”
Bialkowski’s main priority is to help Town to win at Wigan and start to climb the Championship table, but he admitted his dream to play for Poland is very much alive.
But he is so intent on turning around Town’s season that he added: "Let’s not talk about the Poland team. That seems too far away for me at the moment because we have so many good goalkeepers.
"Obviously, it is still my dream to play for my country but it’s not up to me and it will only happen if I am playing well for my club.
"It has been a good 2016 for me but there is always room for improvement. It is absolutely true to say there have been times when I could have done better.
"I’m a goalkeeper and I play in the Championship but even the very best goalkeepers occasionally make mistakes. The mistake against Cardiff last week wasn’t my first and it definitely won’t be my last.
"Staying positive is very important. You cannot let yourself down and get low in confidence going into the games. That gets you nowhere. You need to focus on good things, the things you have done well in training and in the previous game. That drives you on, I think.
"Someone told me a while ago that even in a training session, if you make 100 saves with two or three mistakes don’t even think about them, only the saves you made. I’m trying to think that way.
"Before each game I try to imagine how it is going to go. I am picturing moments and doing my best to stay focused. But unfortunately the mistakes will happen and it has always been like that.
"Even outside football there are people making mistakes — making bad choices — and they think about how they could have avoided them.
"The other players were very supportive about the mistake against Cardiff and there were no hard feelings. They know how football works and last week it was my turn. Next time it will be somebody else but that’s just the way it works and we play every game as a team.
Positivity is essential. If you are going to start doubting yourself you aren’t going to go anywhere.”
Bialkowski has also issued a vote of confidence in young Town keeper Harry Wright, who travelled with the senior squad to Birmingham in midweek after second choice Dean Gerken, who was eventually declared for bench duty, had been unwell for a couple of days.
He said: "Harry is doing really well. I played with his dad, Richard, at Southampton when he was on loan there and to be playing with his son is really good.
"He’s a hard-working kid and it’s good to see. His dad was amazing, a really top goalkeeper, but I think he just wants to be known as Harry Wright, rather than the son of Richard.
"He has his own style and I see him improving every day. Harry and the other young keepers are hopefully learning from me and Dean, just as I learned from Richard and another former Ipswich goalkeeper, Kelvin Davis, when I was at Southampton.”
Meanwhile, Bialkowski has been working with academy keeper-coach Darren Smith along with senior coach Webster in training recently, with the veteran former Cambridge United and Arsenal stopper having been suffering with a foot problem.
"Obviously Smudge has been here for a while,” Bialkowski said. "He’s just a good goalie coach and him and Mally have a good partnership.
"Mally is taking the sessions but Smudge is serving [the ball]. He’s always been serving for us so it’s just good.”