Kieffer Moore has swapped non-league football for Town and would like nothing more than to emulate the last player to be signed from a similar background.
No one had heard of Tyrone Mings before ex-Town star Russell Osman recommended the then Chippenham player. But not only did he establish himself at Portman Road, he went on to join Premier League outfit Bournemouth for £8 million
Moore said: "Tyrone’s done brilliantly to get into the Premier League. Just because you are playing at a certain level doesn’t mean you are that standard.
"If you’ve got the hunger and the right attitude there’s no reason why you can’t be playing at this level, the Championship. I’m hungry. I’m raring to go and I’m going to give it everything I’ve got.”
It may not have been a transfer window move to set supporters’ pulses racing but Moore is happy to wait for his chance and then, hopefully, justify the faith that manager Mick McCarthy has placed in him.
One-time fitness trainer Moore added: "My memory of the Championship when I was there before is that it was very fast-paced with a lot of technical aspects to it and the players were bigger and stronger.
"I’ve been working on that myself for the past couple of years and I believe I’m ready for this.
"I had my first training session with the lads on Monday. It was brilliant and I really enjoyed it. It was really intense but I felt as if I got stuck in and made a good impression.
"Obviously, the training is going to be a lot more intense here and maybe I’ll need a little bit of time to adjust to that. But other than that my mindset is ready and I personally feel I’m ready for this.
"I always felt I would get another chance, I really did. I thought I just needed to go to a club where I could establish myself, get the games again and get the goals going.
"I feel I’ve done that and I’m very thankful for the opportunity to be back playing at this level again. I’m going to take it with both hands.
"I’ve improved as a player in recent years. When I had the stint in Norway with Viking Stavanger in 2015 I worked a lot with the coach and he improved me massively. And the time I’ve had in the non-league game has also helped.
"I believe I’m a much better player now that I was when I was last in the Championship. I’m also confident that there is a lot more to come from me.
"The move to Norway came about through my agent at the time. That came as a surprise to me but it felt like it was a good opportunity at the time to get some more experience of a different style of football.
"It’s very possession-based so they like to keep the ball a lot. I learned to speak a bit of Norwegian and I did my fair share of screaming for the ball at the time.”