In part 23 of the series, Kieron Dyer catches up with former Blues keeper Bartosz Bialkowski, who selects the best XI from his time playing for Town before Dyer assesses his selection.
Goalkeeper Bartosz Bialkowski - Tough choice between myself and Richard Wright but had to go for myself.
Right-back Luke Chambers (c) - Played as a right-back in the play-off season even though he’s a centre-back. Proper leader on and off the pitch. Future Ipswich manager.
Left-back Tyrone Mings - Played as a left-back under Mick McCarthy. Good on the ball and going forward. Loved a tackle and you could see at the time that he was going to go and achieve great things somewhere else. Great guy off the pitch as well.
Centre-half Christophe Berra - Solid as a rock. Just loved playing with him, you just knew what to expect from him.
Centre-half Adam Webster - Could easily play as a centre midfielder, great on the ball and dominant in the air.
Centre midfield Cole Skuse - Not sure how he never managed to play in the Premier League.
Centre midfield Tommy Miller - Great on the ball and could see a pass. Scored few great goals for Town as well.
Left wing Ryan Fraser - On loan from Bournemouth at the time. Unbelievably talented footballer. Very quick and direct.
Right wing Martyn Waghorn - Tough call between him and Gio Dos Santos. Went for Waggy in the end because he works hard for the team. He’s got great left foot. Fantastic set piece delivery.
Attacking midfield David McGoldrick - Fantastic footballer, strong, technically very good. Very pleased for him that he’s playing so well in the Premier League now.
Striker Daryl Murphy - My target man. Absolutely goal machine during the play-off season. Everything he touched was in the back of the net - left foot, right foot, header, volley, half-volley. Unstoppable.
Kieron’s View
Bart’s picked himself in goal. When you win Player of the Year three years on the trot you can’t really argue with that too much but it’s a really good debate - Richard Wright or Bart, who had the better Ipswich career?
At the centre of the defence Bart was close to picking Gareth McAuley - who he was with at Town during his 2009 loan spell - ahead of Adam Webster.
What we’ve seen in a lot of these XIs is players picked who played at Town and then went on to bigger and better things and have fantastic careers elsewhere.
For instance, I’ve been picked in some teams and Jermaine Wright hasn’t been. Yes, in the two years I was at Ipswich I did a lot of good things, I was on the England bench, so I must have been doing something right, but Jermaine Wright was in the period when the club won promotion and they had a successful season in the Premier League, so Jamma should maybe be in front of me because of what he achieved with the club.
Similarly, I look at Webster and you can’t really argue with him being picked because you see what he’s gone on to do, he’s gone to Bristol City and he’s now playing in the Premier League with Brighton and he went for big money. But I think Gareth McAuley should be in the team ahead of him just because of what he did in his Ipswich career. He was more consistent over a longer period of time at the club.
Christophe Berra speaks for himself, he was one of Mick McCarthy’s favourites, he played week in, week out, you knew what you were getting.
I really wanted to get Mark Venus and Titus in my team so I played three at the back and it looks like Bart definitely wants Chambo in his team so he’s put him at right-back where he maybe could have gone to three at the back so they’re all playing in comfortable positions.
Then again, the season when we got to the play-offs under Mick, Chambo played right-back all year so he must have been doing something right. I know Chambo doesn’t like to play right-back and I think he’s a better centre-half but Bart’s gone for four at the back with him at right-back.
The Cole Skuse-Tommy Miller central midfield partnership has popped up in a few teams. Skusey and Chambo from the current era are ever-present in the XIs picked by their team-mates so far.
I think Skusey and Tommy would complement one another well because Tommy’s got an eye for a goal and likes to get forward a lot more.
Bart was only at Town with Tommy Miller during his loan spell in 2009, so that goes to show that Tommy had an impact given the short period they were together. I said the same about Jim Magilton for both me and Bobby Petta, we both had him in my teams and we only played with him for half a season.
So Tommy, a dark horse, must have been an unbelievable trainer or unbelievable in the games to be picked in nearly all the teams named by his team-mates.
It’s good to see these players that were on loan progress from their spells here. Ryan Fraser wasn’t getting a sniff at Bournemouth and now he’s one of Bournemouth’s most potent attacking players, one of their most important players.
They’ve struggled a bit this season because he hasn’t shown the form that he showed the season before. That just goes to show how influential he is for Bournemouth. He was a key, key player for us and a fans’ favourite.
I said before that one of the ‘what-ifs’ for fans is how the play-off season might have gone if David McGoldrick hadn’t got injured. We had a chance to back the manager in January but that was never going to happen and if Didz had stayed fit, who knows?
Bart’s picked Martyn Waghorn on the right, he’s probably better playing through the centre but he could certainly do a job out there, he did really well for us out there sometimes as well.
It’s a strong team. Teddy Bishop might have been another contender for a place in midfield. I know he hasn’t really had a consistent spell in the team in the last few years but in the play-off season it looked like he was going to go on to be bought by one of the Premier League boys. It’s a tough one because he hasn’t had the consistency but that one season was exceptional.
I know Joe Garner was a fan favourite, was he close to getting picked? Maybe not because of the success Daryl Murphy and Didz had. Bart also played with Freddie Sears but you can’t really criticise that front four, they brought goals and consistency.
The only argument I’ve got about the team is McAuley not playing and I would maybe have changed the formation a bit so Luke Chambers is in his preferred position.