Town defender Luke Woolfenden says the squad have not set any targets ahead of the upcoming Championship season but admitted he is quietly confident about the team’s prospects.
The Blues are preparing for their second-tier return after a four-year hiatus following last season’s promotion out of League One, with Woolfenden highlighting they are not there to simply make up the numbers.
"I think we're all confident,” Woolfenden said following the 2-1 pre-season victory over Maidenhead United. "I don't think we've set any targets. We’re two weeks in [to pre-season] and we're just looking at getting the gaffer’s ideas on board, implementing them and then seeing where it takes us.
"I think as a group we're pretty confident that we can do well this season and so that’s what we’re looking to do.
"The gaffer’s spoken about it, we don't want to go in there and just survive. We want to go in there and thrive, we don't want to go there and hang on and just be comfortable that level. We want to push ourselves and that's why we're working so hard.”
Town are preparing to fly out to Austria for the first of two separate overseas training camps, where they will take on Slovakian side Spartak Trnava as well as Admira Wacker.
Woolfenden believes travelling away with the group helps players settle, including new signing Jack Taylor, who he says has fitted into the squad nicely since his arrival from Peterborough United.
He said: "You’re living hand-in-hand in everyone’s pocket for a week, so you obviously become closer as a team. I'm sure they’ll have some team bonding exercise out there which the boys will enjoy. Like I say you’re just all together so I think it does help.
"When you live with someone for a week you get to know them better. I’m sure it will help Taylor settle in, which he’s done quite well. It’s good for new signings but also good for the boys that have been here a while.
"I think we've seen tonight [against Maidenhead at Needham Market] with the gaffer tweaking a few things about pushing the midfielders on and we saw tonight he’s making runs in behind. Hopefully they’ll come off during the season and he can get a few goals.”
The second visit to Austria, which was announced by the club yesterday, will see Town take on German Bundesliga sides RB Leipzig and Werder Bremen in the Innsbruck Cup, an exercise which Woolfenden is excited for.
"We’ve done it when Paul Lambert was here,” he said. "We went to went to Germany and played a Bundesliga team [Fortuna Dusseldorf at the Interwetten Cup in 2019]. The way they keep the ball, obviously every league has their own styles and set-ups, which is good to see and good to play against. To test yourself against foreign opposition in the top leagues, Leipzig, Werder Bremen will be enjoyable.
"The games get harder as pre-season is going on. You know that the standard of opposition is stepping up and it will stand us in good stead when the season comes around.
"We've had two really good weeks and we're ready to have another good few weeks out there.”
Woolfenden says the intense training schedule played a part in the Blues making hard work for their victory over Maidenhead in their second pre-season outing at Needham Market last night.
He said: "It was a tough game. We’ve spent all week working really hard, which is obviously not what you do during the season when we tailor it to the games. It's about getting the leg work in and we done that again tonight with 45 minutes for pretty much everyone in the squad.
"You work really hard so you’re not going into the game feeling fresh, you’re feeling leggy, but you see flashes of what's to be expected during the season.
"It's about just putting the hard work in and then eventually you'll see more as the pre-season games go on that we’ll get into our stride.
"Positive signs for us. Despite the hard work that we're putting in and probably how tired everyone in the group is feeling, we're still putting flashes in and still making good moves together.”
He added: "It has been tough but I think the boys will say that it's been really enjoyable as well. It’s been a lot of football-based running, I suppose. I've had a few managers where you just run around the track for four minutes, which is obviously not what anyone wants to do. It’s been tough but enjoyable.”
While manager Kieran McKenna was seen to be making some tactical tweaks to his side, Woolfenden does not expect his own role to differ too much from usual by the time the season begins next month.
"I think that's down to the gaffer,” he said. "I think my role has pretty much been the same throughout since he came in and I’m enjoying playing that.
"You can see the little tweaks that he’s making and I think that probably comes with the territory of the new season.
"You can’t go into every season playing the same way and doing the same thing because you become predictable. Even the top teams change every year, whether that be personnel or tactics, it has to keep evolving.”
Woolfenden is keen to test himself at Championship level for the first time as a senior defender after playing 154 matches for the Blues across four seasons in the third tier.
On his previous Championship experience, Woolfenden said: "I think I’ve played three. I started at Reading, played against Middlesbrough and Blackburn too. One start, two subs. No losses!
"It's been something that I've always said how much I wanted to do with Ipswich. It’s a level that I think I can play at and the coaches have faith in me to play that level as well. It's exciting times and I can’t wait to get going.
"You can get some grounds in League One where the pitch is tight and you're just fighting for 90 minutes, which obviously I can do. I think the Championship probably suits my style more of reading the game, stepping in and playing out from the back.”
Woolfenden has been subject to interest from Championship sides in recent years, something the 24-year-old is more than aware of but is pleased to have remained at Portman Road throughout.
He said: "There's been a fair bit of interest over the last few years, but I think I've always shut it down pretty quickly with regards to signing deals early into the summer and getting my head focused.
"There's been times where it was close but never really materialised and I'm glad it didn’t.”
Woolfenden says the division is relentless and highlighted how the promotion of Luton Town last season shows that success is achievable.
"It's probably the closest league that you ever come across,” he said. "QPR started last season and were flying and everyone's tipping them for promotion. Fast forward 15 games and they’re down the bottom of the league.
"It’s one of them leagues where you’ve got to be at it every game and you've got to focus. Look at Luton, they worked their bollocks off and now look at them, it just shows that listening to the gaffer and putting in hard work, you never know.”
On the feel-good factor that has returned to Suffolk over the last year, Woolfenden said: "Yeah, it's been a miserable place to be around for the last however many years. When the takeover happened there was optimism and then it kind of tailed off with how poor the performances were.
"But now we've kickstarted it and we're ready to carry on and ride that wave and keep it going.”