Blues right-back Kane Vincent-Young has stressed the importance of the relationship with supporters having been named the club’s PFA Community Champion for the 2020/21 season.
In March last year, following the Covid-19 outbreak, the Blues launched their Keep the Town Talking initiative which saw players, coaches and off-field staff call elderly season ticket holders.
Vincent-Young forged strong bonds with several of his callers and continued to have regular slots each week when he would get in touch and chat. He still continues to talk to at least two of those supporters now, including long-time season ticket holder and Naked Football Show stalwart Gerry, who he spoke to in a Zoom call released by the club.
The former Colchester man has also agreed to become the Junior Blues ambassador for the 2021/22 season.
"To be chosen for this award is really nice," Vincent-Young told iFollow Ipswich. "It’s important to have that relationship with the supporters so to be a part of that is great.
"We’ve seen during the pandemic that football is nothing without the fans. The stronger the relationship with the fans, the more it helps everybody.
"It’s a relatively small town compared to what I’m used to so you see it when you’re out; you see the flags everywhere, signs everywhere, people recognising you and giving you a smile on the street. It is very much a community club."
Regarding the Keep the Town Talking scheme, the Londoner added: "I thought it was a great initiative. Living by yourself, you can see in a pandemic how easy it is to become lonely or isolated. 10 minutes out of your day is nothing to cheer somebody up.
"I didn’t really think too much of it but it went from there. You have a conversation then you want to check up on them and it ends up being really nice.
"I only really speak to people who are my age or a few years older, not that kind of demographic. To speak to them was really nice, they had a lot of nice things to say about the club and their memories growing up.
"You want to make sure that they are alright because it’s testing times for everybody and before you know it, a year later you’re still talking! It did fly by but it’s been absolutely lovely.
"It’s great to be able to give back. It puts a smile on their face and puts a smile on my face as well. It was something that I was really proud to do. It did cheer me up. We had quite a lot of laughs.”
Speaking about his fitness having suffered a shoulder injury at the end of last season, Vincent-Young says he’s making good progress.
"It’s on the mend, thank you. I saw the surgeon yesterday and I’ve taken the sling off, which is really good, so I can kind of get back to normal, just build up and hopefully for pre-season I’ll be ready and, touch wood, that’s the end of the problems.”