Town boss Mick McCarthy says he has been impressed with new addition Steven Taylor since he joined up with the Blues on Monday, particularly with his vocal approach to the game and his organisational qualities. Former Newcastle man Taylor, 31, has agreed a contract to the end of the season.
"He went over to Portland Timbers and he’s been fit for 12 months and played his games for 12 months,” McCarthy said.
"I tried to sign him at Wolves, but that was probably more in his pomp when he was playing well in the first team [at Newcastle].
"He’s come to us, he’s been available after coming back [from the US]. I think he’s hungry to get back in and play.
"He’s had two days in training with us, he’s a really good voice on the pitch, an organiser, pulls people around him, knows how to do it, defends properly, likes to defend.
"He got clattered a couple of times yesterday, once with the ball and one a tackle and he got up and he wants to protect that goal.
"There’s no doubting his ability, it was really about seeing him train. And he’s trained really well. I think he’ll be a really good voice in the dressing room.
"The one question I asked him was ‘What happens if you don’t play? What happens if I never pick you?’. And he said ‘That’s football, I’ll be here ready to go, supporting the rest of the lads’.
"I don’t want that said to me and then that’s not the case, I need that and I need that positive influence and need him to train and I think that’s the case. I was impressed with him.
"That is always the problem, people come in, who’s to know, we might go and win on Saturday and win the next Saturday and he’ll never get a game, and he’s coming to play. But I was impressed with him, I was impressed with his personality, actually.”
He added: "He’s come in, there’s no agent. He’s brought himself down. He said to [physio] Matt Byard ‘I’ve got to go and see the gaffer, I might get a custard pie today, I’ve no idea’.
"He came down and he trained and there was none of that ‘What if I get injured?’. He’s come and trained, he’s committed to it and he did really well.
"I think in the two sessions the lads were impressed with him as well, the voice on the pitch, the organisation and we don’t have a lot of that.”
Saturday's game will come too soon for Taylor with international clearance required by midday Friday as his last club was in the US. The former Newcastle man is also unlikely to be available for Tuesday's home game with Derby.