New boss Kieran McKenna says he’ll be excited when he walks from the tunnel to the dugout as he takes charge of the Blues for the first time when they face fifth-placed Wycombe Wanderers in front of a Portman Road crowd of around 26,000 on Wednesday evening.
McKenna, 35, will be managing a senior side for the first time having previously been first-team coach at Manchester United after spells as the Red Devils’ U18s coach and time at Tottenham in the same role.
Wednesday's match is the second of the #PackOutPR promotion which saw more than 29,000 fans watch the 1-1 draw with Sunderland the attendance against the Chairboys is likely to be only two or three thousand below that figure.
"I think I’ll be excited,” the Northern Irishman said when he was asked how he’ll feel as he makes the walk from the dressing room along the front of the Magnus Group West Stand to take his seat prior to kick-off.
"The crowd that’s expected and the atmosphere in the ground if we can have the sort of atmosphere before the Sunderland game and during the game, I think that was a big boost for the players, so I’ll be excited to feel the atmosphere.
"But really, once you’re there, to be honest in terms of coaching or managing the team, you’re thinking about the game and thinking about how we start the game, the instructions we’re giving, how we carry that out, issues we might have in the game and any changes we might need to make.
"I think once it comes close to kick-off for me, it will be all about what’s happening on the pitch and the decisions that need to be made and making sure that we can do everything we can to try and get a good result.”
McKenna has had a longer than expected wait to take control of his first match with the Gillingham game, in which he was expected to make his management bow, called off due to Covid issues at the Kent side.
"Obviously, I came down, and we were getting ready for Gillingham and watching a lot of videos and preparing the players for that, and then that got postponed, and you have a little bit of room to breathe,” he said.
"So yes, it’s felt like, certainly for this time of the season, as long a period as you can probably have between games.
"We’re waiting for the game now, everyone is excited for it and it’s kind of come around quickly, and then we’re looking on to Lincoln.
"I think it’s important, this period that we’ve had. We know in the league the games will come thick and fast, so when you have a training period when you have a chance to spend some time with the whole squad and work with them on the pitch, it’s important to make the most of that.”
While a win is obviously the main aim, what else does he want to see from his team? "The baseline for me, and I’ve spoken with the players very clearly on this, the baseline for me will be our intensity, our running, our effort, our collective spirit to be aggressive against the ball, to press in the right moments when can, to win challenges and duels and have a real intensity and aggression about us.
"That would be the base level of expectation. Obviously, we know with Wycombe it’s a tough game, they themselves are very aggressive, very direct, very good on second balls, they don’t give you a lot of chances to regain the ball high up the pitch because they play over the press a lot.
"They like to break the game up and play direct and want to play in your half, so we know the challenges the game is going to bring.
"But we want that base level of effort and running and aggression and all the simple fundamental things that make up a football team.
"On top of that, we want to get the ball down, we want to express ourselves, we want to have good movements and penetration going forward and try and create some chances and score goals and hopefully excite the crowd and give them some exciting moments and some good play to get behind and support.”
Second-guessing McKenna’s first Town team is all but impossible but Christian Walton would appear set to continue in goal.
Town played 3-5-2 against the Black Cats in their last game and it’s not impossible that McKenna could continue with that system having reportedly advocated Manchester United switching to it earlier in the season along with fellow Red Devils coach Michael Carrick before the idea was vetoed by then-manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. The new boss has also spoken about not changing too much too quickly at Town.
That being the case, George Edmundson would again have Luke Woolfenden and Janoi Donacien to his left and right respectively in the back three.
Wes Burns and Matt Penney would probably continue as the wing-backs with two from skipper Sam Morsy, Lee Evans, Tom Carroll and Idris El Mizouni in the centre of midfield with Sone Aluko probably ahead of them.
James Norwood, who has scored in his last two league games, could continue alongside Macauley Bonne, who won’t need reminding that he has now gone nine games since netting the last of his 11 goals for the Blues in the 4-1 win at Wycombe in November.
If McKenna switches to a four-man backline, then Donacien could move to right-back and Burns into midfield with Aluko potentially also going out wide.
McKenna may prefer to name just the one striker, which could see Conor Chaplin or Scott Fraser come in as a number 10 and one of Norwood or Bonne drop out.
Wycombe go into the match unbeaten in their last five, three wins and two draws, having previously gone on a six-game winless streak in all competitions, including the loss to the Blues at Adams Park.
Speaking a couple of days before Christmas, Chairboys boss Gareth Ainsworth admitted he wasn’t sure what to expect from the Blues.
"We have no idea what's coming,” he told the Wycombe official website. "They've got a new manager who's highly regarded in football circles, so it's very up in the air how they're going to play. But we'll be working on what we're good at.
"These are some fantastic fixtures coming up and we want them to go ahead because we'll be well up for them.”
Town and Wycombe will be meeting at Portman Road in a competitive game for only the second time.
The Blues are unbeaten against the Chairboys having won one and drawn two of the three competitive meetings, all in the league.
Early last month, Bersant Celina scored twice and Bonne and Burns once each as the Blues came from behind to win for the first time this season as they defeated Wycombe 4-1 at Adams Park, ending the Chairboys’ 100 per cent home league record.
David Wheeler gave the home side the lead on 17 but Town hit back with Celina’s first 10 minutes later.
Bonne made it 2-1 six minutes after the restart and Burns added the third on the hour, before Celina added the fourth in injury time to add the icing to a brilliant Town victory over one of the sides making the early season running.
The November 2019 match on Suffolk soil was the first ever competitive fixture between the sides.
Town had a goal controversially ruled out just before half-time and Tomas Holy saved a second-half penalty as what was a top-v-second clash ended 0-0.
Just before half-time, Luke Chambers’s header was diverted into his own net by Curtis Thompson but referee Alan Young wrongly disallowed it having consulted linesman Aaron Farmer with the players already lined-up for the restart.
In the second half, Holy stopped Joe Jacobson’s spot-kick after Chambers had fouled Wheeler.
Blues right-back Donacien spent a short spell on loan with Wycombe between August and September 2015, making two starts.
Wycombe stalwart Matt Bloomfield, 37, came through the Town academy and made one senior appearance as a sub before joining the Chairboys in December 2003.
The Felixstowe-born midfielder has now made played more than 500 games for the Buckinghamshire side but has made only one Papa John’s Trophy appearance this season.
Wycombe have two former Town keepers in their squad, one-time loanee David Stockdale and Adam Przybek.
Regular starter Stockdale was with the Blues from Fulham during the first half of the 2011/12 season making 18 appearances, while Przybek spent two seasons with Town before being released last summer having played one Papa John’s Trophy game.
The former Wales U21 international has made five cup appearances for the Chairboys.
Wednesday’s referee is Samuel Barrott, who has shown 82 yellow cards and no red in 21 games so far this season. The West Riding-based official will be refereeing the Blues for the first time.
Squad from: Walton, Hladky, Vincent-Young, Donacien, Clements, Penney, Edmundson, Woolfenden, Burgess, Morsy, Evans, El Mizouni, Carroll, Fraser, Humphreys, Chaplin, Aluko, Bonne, Pigott, Norwood, Jackson.