Former Town skipper Luke Chambers is looking forward to returning to his old club this evening with Colchester United in the Carabao Cup and says the backing the Blues have been given by the new owners has been brilliant.
Chambers was released by Town shortly after last year’s takeover when he joined the U’s, with whom he has now made 50 appearances and has been skippering in former Blues teammate Tommy Smith’s absence through injury.
The 36-year-old is one of a number of former Town players who will be back at their old club tonight.
Ex-vice-captain Cole Skuse, Freddie Sears, Alan Judge, Tom Eastman and Frank Nouble could all be involved, while another former Town central defender, Wayne Brown, is now the U’s head coach. Like Smith, one-time Blues midfielder Emyr Huws misses out through injury.
Chambers spoke to Saturday’s Life’s a Pitch on BBC Radio Suffolk (3hrs, 12mins, 36secs) about tonight’s game and his nine years at Portman Road, most of them as captain.
"I think it’ll be a decent local game,” he said. "I think the two clubs have got their own agendas, their own plans and aspirations for the season and it will just be one of the back stories of the game that a few of us have played there before and will be coming back.
"And if people want to come and watch a good game of football, I’m sure that’s what it’ll be.”
It will be Chambers’s second return to Portman Road since leaving Town having played in last year’s Papa John’s Trophy tie which Town won 4-3 on penalties after a 0-0 draw.
"It was a quick turnaround for me,” he recalled. "Time has gone by over the last year, it’s gone by in a flash. I’ve taken a little bit of stock about how things came about and where the club is now and my personal situation.
"But I’ll be absolutely delighted to come back, I’m really, really looking forward to it and to seeing some familiar faces and a lot of new faces now. It’s a completely different look of a football club to the one that I left a year ago.”
With news of his exit having come after the end of the 2020/21 campaign, Chambers never got to say a proper goodbye to the Blues support.
"Football moves quickly, it’s a forever turning table so it was one of those things,” he reflected. "Yes, in an ideal situation it would have been nice to leave with a full stadium and the support that I always received there, but that wasn’t to be and it’s out of my control.
"I was there last season for a few of the games and at the end of the day it’s going to be my club moving forward for the rest of my days.
"At the moment my allegiances lie where I am, trying to win games of football at Colchester, but I’ll always keen an eye on what’s going on at Ipswich because that’s where I spent the majority of my football career.”
Chambers made 395 starts and one game from the bench for the Blues, scoring 19 times, and is ninth in the all-time appearances list, an achievement he is proud of.
"Tremendous record that I managed to get,” he added. "I just look back on everything with pride, I always tried to do everything to the best of my ability to the benefit of the football club, sometimes to the detriment to my own personal stuff.
"But at the end of the day if I can be remembered as a good person and footballer, hopefully that will go hand in hand. It’s just one of those things, if I’ve left a mark on those things, hopefully a positive one.
"Yes, we went through some tough times but what club doesn’t? I’m looking forward to seeing how they get on moving forward. The investment’s been second to none, the ground improvements, just stuff that’s needed to be done for a long, long time and fortunately it’s now happening.
"Hopefully, that will coincide with some success on the pitch over the next year or two.”
Frustrating that he was at Town at a time when money was tight? "Every football club is different and everyone has different agendas and everyone has different budgets to work to and fortunately for Ipswich Town at the moment there’s a really, really positive side to that and the backing that’s being given is brilliant.
"That’s been matched hand-in-hand with the support off the pitch, the numbers we’re seeing in terms of season ticket sales, the matchday sales, the support everywhere you go.
"That is what the club, the town demands, they’re deserving of that sort of surrounding now, the stadium [improvements] and stuff like that that’s been given.
"Everything’s set up for the team to be successful now, there’s a tremendous young manager, so I’m just always keeping one eye on what’s going on.”