Today’s visit of big-spending, ambitious West Ham to Portman Road will serve as an ideal way to round off Town’s pre-season programme and prepare for the real thing a week later when Blackburn are the opposition on the first day of the new season.
That is the view of experienced defender Luke Chambers, who is about to start his seventh campaign with the club following his move from Nottingham Forest in July 2012, and he sees the much-changed Hammers under new boss Manuel Pellegrini as the perfect challenge.
Chambers, 32, said: "It’s come as a bit of a surprise to me what’s happened there. It was an eye-raising appointment when David Moyes got the job and I thought he did a very good job of keeping them up.
"They have found some money from somewhere and they are trying hard to get the fans back on board because it wasn’t a happy place last year.
"They’ve had a good result against Aston Villa this week so it will definitely be a different test to what we’ve faced so far.
"It’s the sort of game you want to play in. We haven’t had too many glamorous home friendlies since I’ve been at the club and the last one of pre-season is the one you look forward to most because it means there’s only a week to go before the season starts.
"It’s one to get yourself really at it and we’ll have to raise our game to play against them, especially with all the players that they’re going to bring down here.”
Chambers is nearing the end of a demanding pre-season under new boss Paul Hurst and his backroom team, different to what he had grown accustomed to in several seasons under previous manager Mick McCarthy, who remains keen on a return to management but is still without a club as opening day looms.
He added: "It wasn’t easy under Mick but obviously people have different ideas about fitness levels and where you need to be. It’s no secret that Shrewsbury were one of the fittest teams in the league last season.
"You can put stats any way you like but he’s come in and wants us to be at the level he wants.
"It has been a shock to some of the boys but it’s one they have embraced and we’re all trying to get to where the gaffer wants us to be.
"Ultimately, he is making the decisions and he’s organising us in a way that is pretty clear.
"We’ll be playing in a way that gives us the best possible chance of winning games. The message has been pretty clear — ‘This is what we’re doing and if you’re not on board then off you go’.”
Chambers addressed the media after the club’s successful Open Day and was asked about how things had changed from the previous regime. He replied: "The sports science has changed. We’re all wearing monitors and we haven’t had them before, for whatever reason.
"Maybe it was just felt they weren’t needed. But every staff in the country will be looking to gain an edge and the people we have brought in here have decided their way, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
"Other changes? We’re working a lot harder and we’re doing a lot more off the pitch in the way of strengthening work.
"Everyone has said it’s the hardest pre-season they’ve had in a long time, yet we’re still pretty injury-free in terms of lads who have been at it from day one and we’re continuing to train, which means we’re getting stronger and the muscles are getting stronger.
"I think the gaffer and his staff’s record at Shrewsbury, in terms of soft tissue injuries and little pulls and stuff, has been minimal, so if we can gain an advantage from that it will make a difference from where we’ve been at over the last couple of years.
"I feel fitter and really, really good. I feel strong and I think the other boys will say that too. We’re heading up to the gym now — we have a session this afternoon — so once you’re in that groove of doing things every two days it just becomes the norm.
"If it’s going to get us to where we want to be, the lads are fully prepared to lift those extra weights and run the extra miles. If we do the things we are being asked to do it will get us the results.”