Town boss Paul Hurst says he’ll be very proud when he and his team walk out at Portman Road on Saturday for his first Championship game in charge against Blackburn Rovers and hopes that by the end of the day the Blues will have picked up their first three-point haul of the campaign.
"I’m excited,” Hurst said when asked how he feels ahead of the match at Thursday’s press conference.
"I’m sure on the day I’ll be very proud to walk out with a team that I want to go out and give a good account of themselves, play with energy, play with a little bit of freedom and get the fans on side.
"It’s a new start for everyone, everyone’s talking about optimism and a new era, that’s great. We’ve got to try and get that going as I’ve said from the start.
"We’ve got to try and produce, we’ve got to try and give the fans something to shout about.
"The opening day’s always exciting for everyone, everyone turns up. I’m sure there’ll be chats along the lines of, ‘Can get promoted? Can we do this, can we do that?’.
"And rightly so, that’s why we love football because you’re never quite sure. There are things that can be in place, you might have the biggest budget that should get you a great chance of getting promoted, but they don’t always go hand in hand.
"From that point of view, I think that’s why we all love football because you’re never quite sure what’s going to happen and, for me, we’d love to get off to a winning start.
"For me, that’s the ultimate aim, it’s to try and be sat in the dressing room or speaking to the media after the game on Saturday with our first three points on the board.
"But we know we’re going up against a team that have been used to winning and will want to put their mark on being back in the Championship.
"I’m really looking forward to it and we’ll see how it pans out. There’s not long for us all to wait now.”
Given all the ongoing transfer business, Hurst has had a busy week off the training field but says it's been one which has gone well on it.
"Genuinely at home I’ve had texts and calls past 10 o’clock, 11 o’clock, which isn’t really normal,” he said.
"Some of them are relevant in terms of things you’re trying to do. Others, whether they’ve got in from the pub and think I’ll just text a manager and let them know my player’s available, I’m not sure.
"I don’t expect that to be my normal life once we get into September but overall I have to say we’ve had a really good week.
"But it counts for nothing. Sometimes you have a great week’s training and then are rubbish on game day, others vice versa, sometimes it goes hand in hand.
"But I feel like we have had a good week’s training and I think the players are aware that the game’s coming, that the start of the season is upon us.
BLACKBURN (H): Tickets are selling well for tomorrow's game. There is expected to be a crowd of 18,000+ inside Portman Road for Paul Hurst's first home league game. #ITFC pic.twitter.com/x3s836FXJm– ITFC_PlanetBlue (@ITFC_PlanetBlue) August 3, 2018
Tickets can be purchased online at https://t.co/rzRvVnRcyt, with an option to print your ticket from your confirmation email. This will secure your seat and save unnecessary queuing tomorrow. #ITFC– ITFC_PlanetBlue (@ITFC_PlanetBlue) August 3, 2018
"We were going through the shape today and were talking about some of the Blackburn players and that starts to bring it home.
"It’s an interesting time from the point of view that everything’s nicey-nice, if you like. I’m not upsetting anyone if they’re not in the team yet.
"We’re now getting to that point where I’ll be interested to see how a few players react. Do the toys come out of the pram or do they just knuckle down and think, ‘OK, fair enough, I’m going to force my way into the team and if I get the opportunity from the bench I’m going to go on and show you should have played me from the start’ and want to be part of it?
"While it’s been good getting to know the players, I think the scenario of matchday squads, really competitive games and picking a line-up, that throws something different into the mix in terms of getting to know the players.”
He says he’ll tell the players the team today: "Probably [on Friday]. That’s not set in stone but on this occasion I will probably name it tomorrow.
"They’ll have rough idea from what we’ve done [in Thursday training], although I changed a few players around.
"Some days I don’t tell them [that early]. We’ll have done the shape or there’ll be occasions where we don’t do that if I don’t feel it’s necessary. Sometimes it’s a case of me naming the team at half-past one.
"But everyone will know in terms of what’s expected of them. But I think for this one it’ll probably be tomorrow.”
Hurst says he can't wait for the season to get under way: "Sitting here now, speaking to yourselves [the media], I’m kind of a bit disappointed that we’ve got training on Friday because it just feels like it’s getting in the way before we start.
"We’ve got some set plays and things to go through on Friday, so it will be a worthwhile day, but in general it’s a lot lighter session and we get them home as soon as possible to get rested up.
"A big effort will be needed if we’re going to get the result that I think everyone in this room and I think everyone in Ipswich will be looking for.”
Bartosz Bialkowski will be in goal while Hurst has a decision to make in his defence. Youngster Luke Woolfenden has partnered Luke Chambers throughout pre-season but the Blues boss could opt to give Janoi Donacien his debut alongside the skipper with Jonas Knudsen at left-back and Jordan Spence at right-back.
Hurst will line his team up in the now familiar 4-2-3-1 system with Cole Skuse back after the thigh injury which kept him out of last week’s friendly against West Ham.
The Bristolian is likely to be partnered by either Trevoh Chalobah or Flynn Downes with Hurst having said he has concerns regarding Andre Dozzell’s fitness at present, although the 19-year-old, who missed all but the opening day of last season with a torn cruciate knee ligament, seems certain to appear from the bench at some stage.
Freddie Sears looks set to start on the left with Gwion Edwards making his debut on the right, while Hurst said yesterday he was undecided on whether to include Martyn Waghorn with last season’s 16-goal top scorer expected to leave the Blues - probably for Derby or Middlesbrough - before Thursday’s deadline.
If Waghorn isn’t involved then Tristan Nydam is likely to play the central role in the three behind lone striker Ellis Harrison, who will also be making his Town debut.
Tayo Edun, whose loan from Fulham is set to be confirmed in time to be involved on Saturday, could be included on the bench.
Grant Ward will serve the final game of his three-match ban for his red card in the home game against Aston Villa last season, while Joe Garner, Emyr Huws, Teddy Bishop, Danny Rowe and Tom Adeyemi are all not yet ready to return following their injuries.
Blackburn midfield duo Ben Gladwin and Jacob Davenport are unlikely to be involved due to knee and hip problems respectively.
Kasey Palmer, who has signed on loan from Chelsea, may not be involved from the start due to a lack of games during pre-season.
The game sees former skipper, coach and caretaker-manager Tony Mowbray return to Portman Road and he believes he knows just what to expect from Hurst’s new Blues having locked horns with his Shrewsbury side in League One last season when they drew 1-1 in Shropshire before a 3-1 Rovers victory at Ewood Park.
Blackburn finished second to jump back into the Championship at the first attempt, while Shrewsbury were third and lost out in the play-off final to next week’s opponents Rotherham.
"They have a new coach, one we know well from last season,” Mowbray told the Lancashire Telegraph.
"Paul did an amazing job at Shrewsbury Town and I’m sure he will have Ipswich working just as hard as he did Shrewsbury.
"I think the managers dictate everything at football clubs, how the team plays and the demands they put on them.
"I don’t think Paul is going to change what he wants from his teams. I watched the game against West Ham last week and it was a really good performance, high energy with a lot of young players who have a lot of talent.
"I know Jason Dozzell very well, his son Andre plays in the middle of midfield picking lovely passes, Ellis Harrison we know from Bristol Rovers, he scored against us at Ewood and is their number nine, running, jumping and chasing things making life difficult.
"Gwion Edwards who played so well against us in that first half in the televised game against Peterborough, so there’s a few players who know who have given us problems in the past at Ipswich.
"They have some experienced footballers so it will be a tough game. Portman Road, there will be a good crowd.
"They’ll be running, working and organised as Paul’s teams are but it’s one we have to look forward to and one we’re looking to get the job done and get the points.”
Town have had the upper hand on Rovers over the years, winning 19 games (16 in the league), losing 15 (14) and drawing 17 (16).
Blackburn have won only one of their last 14 league games at Portman Road, a Premier League match in November 1994 which ended 3-1.
The teams last met in January 2017 when Tom Lawrence scored twice - the second a brilliant 30-yard strike - and Christophe Berra once as Town beat Blackburn Rovers 3-2 at Portman Road.
Man of the match Lawrence opened the scoring with a low freekick before Hope Akpan pulled a goal back for the visitors just before half-time.
Berra restored the lead soon after the restart, Lawrence made it 3-1 with his stunner, prior to Danny Graham pulling one back from the penalty spot for the Lancastrians.
In October of the previous year, Town stretched their goalless and winless run to five games as their visit to Ewood Park ended in a 0-0 draw.
However, the Blues will have felt they had enough chances to have won it with Adam Webster, Luke Chambers and Lawrence all going close in the first half, while the on-loan Leicester man had the best opportunity after the break.
Blackburn’s 25-year-old Irish defender Derrick Williams regularly trained with the Town Academy during the school holidays as a youngster but ultimately opted to join Aston Villa as a scholar. He moved to Ewood Park from Bristol City in the summer of 2016.
In addition to boss Mowbray, another former Blues defender, Mark Venus, is Blackburn’s assistant manager and ex-Town striker David Lowe is their first-team coach.
Current Blues striker Joe Garner was born in Blackburn and was a youth player at Ewood Park but without making a senior appearance.
Saturday’s referee is Andy Davies from Hampshire, who showed 104 yellow cards and six red in 31 games last season.
Davies’s last Town match was the 1-0 home defeat to Cardiff in February in which he booked only one Bluebird.
He also took charge of the 0-0 home draw with QPR on Boxing Day last year in which he dismissed visitors midfielder Josh Scowen in the closing stages for a second yellow card and booked Knudsen.
Davies was also the man in the middle in the game between the Blues and Rangers at Loftus Road in September last year when he booked Callum Connolly, Downes and one home player as well as making an error for Rangers’ opening goal when he failed to spot an obvious handball by Massimo Luongo as the home side ran out 2-1 winners.
A month earlier he refereed the 2-1 Carabao Cup defeat at Crystal Palace in which he again booked Downes but otherwise kept his cards in his pocket.
Before that he took control of the 3-0 loss at Nottingham Forest on the final day of 2016/17 in which he cautioned Christophe Berra and Josh Emmanuel.
He was also in charge of the 3-0 home victory over Wigan in April 2017, in which he yellow-carded Ward, Myles Kenlock, Toumani Diagouraga and two Latics, and the 2-0 defeat at Huddersfield three months earlier in which he booked Berra, Kevin Bru, Tom Lawrence, Jonathan Douglas, Paul Digby and no home players.
Davies has only taken charge of two other Town matches, both of which ended goalless and saw the opposition reduced to 10 men.
He officiated in the 0-0 draw with Brighton and Hove Albion in September 2016, in which he showed eight yellow cards, two of them and then a red to Seagulls midfielder Dale Stephens. Chambers, Emmanuel, Douglas and Lawrence were the Town players cautioned.
Prior to that, he was in charge of the 0-0 home draw with Huddersfield in October 2015 when he red-carded Terriers striker James Vaughan for a second bookable offence in the final minute.
Squad from: Bialkowski, Gerken, Spence, Emmanuel, Donacien, Knudsen, Kenlock, Chambers (c), Woolfenden, Skuse, Downes, Chalobah, Dozzell, Edun, Sears, Edwards, Roberts, Nydam, Waghorn, Harrison.