Cole Skuse has stressed the important role played by skipper Luke Chambers and underlined his immense value to the club — both on and off the field.
Skuse and Chambers are more than just team-mates. They are a similar age, born just six months apart, and together with their wives and young families are close away from Portman Road, living in the same part of town and seeing a lot of each other outside normal working hours.
Chambers may not be every fan’s favourite player — he has taken more than his fair share of criticism this season — but no one can question his commitment, amply illustrated in recent weeks when he has soldiered on with one broken rib and another cracked, the painful after-effects of scoring with a brave header early in the 1-1 draw at Brighton.
Skuse admitted that he and his colleagues would not like to see him depart, as was almost the case on the last day of the January transfer window when he was close to rejoining former club Nottingham Forest.
"It was made public and everyone knows the situation — Chambo was close to going to Forest and his contract situation is a little bit up in the air,” said Skuse.
"But it wouldn’t be right for me to speak to you on Luke’s behalf about his contract situation. That’s something you would have to speak to him about.
"We are very close as team-mates and we talk a lot. While we give him plenty of stick in general — just for being Chambo — none of the lads in the dressing room want to see him leave.
"He’s an unbelievable captain — the best I’ve played under — and I’m sure a lot of the lads would say the same. For him to leave would be a massive blow, not just for us but for the club in general.”
Chambers, who was signed by former boss Paul Jewell in July 2012, will be out of contract in the summer, although the club have a one-year option on his services and manager Mick McCarthy dropped a strong hint that they will at least exercise that right.
Prior to the Forest development the player spoke about his disappointment at not being approached about a new, extended deal to extend his time in Suffolk, where he has always insisted he is happy, regardless of the fact that the majority of his time has been spent at right-back rather than in his preferred role as a central defender.
Recently, of course, McCarthy has switched to a 3-5-2 formation and Chambers has relished the opportunity to play in the middle, with Skuse also paying tribute to his friend and colleague for the way he tackles the role of club captain.
Skuse added: "Let me give you an insight into being Chambo. People with kids will know it’s tough and I’ve got two of my own.
"There are times when I come in for training in the morning and I might have been up through the night and then up early again in the morning to make them breakfast.
"There’s the feeding — giving them bottles — and changing dirty nappies, and there are times when you think ‘Jesus, this is tough’.
"Well, that’s not the case with Chambo and he’s got three young kids. He comes in every morning like he’s just drunk 10 cans of Red Bull. He’s Mr Hyper and Mr Positivity rolled into one and never has a down day. He’s the loudest around the changing room.
"One of his responsibilities is the players’ tickets. He’s in charge of giving them out and he makes sure every last person is looked after before he sorts himself out.
"He also arranges nights out for the lads to get together and have a bite to eat. It’s everything about him — he’s the most vocal before every game and in the pre-match huddle his speeches are always very, very good. He’s just an all-round good character.
"Another good trait of Chambo’s is that he is approachable. There were times when I was a young lad and I was a tad scared of going to the team captain to get things off my chest.
"That would never be the case with Chambo. Any of the younger lads would be able to go to him — it wouldn’t even have to be an issue at the football club, maybe some off-the-field problem.
"They wouldn’t be afraid to go and ask for his advice. They would find him willing to listen and he would try to help.”