Boss Kieran McKenna says the Blues’ live-on-Sky game against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on Sunday afternoon is a great fixture as Town make their return to the Championship after four seasons away (KO 5pm).
McKenna’s Blues go into the match still on a high following last season’s promotion from League One.
Town, who many have tipped to be among the challengers at the top of the division, will be aiming to continue their remarkable run from the end of last season in which they won 13 of their final 15 matches when they visit the Stadium of Light, where there is expected to be a crowd in excess of 40,000.
The Blues remain unbeaten in their last 19 in the league, the second-longest run in the club’s history and four off the record 23 achieved in 1979/80. They are also unbeaten on the opening day since 2013.
"We're really excited for us as a club and as a team,” McKenna said. "It's a great fixture first game back at the level against a big opponent in a big stadium.
"And we're really excited to get going. There are a lot of good fixtures across the weekend, there are a lot of good teams but I think this will be a really good game for both sets of supporters and also hopefully for the neutral.”
Quizzed on whether the Blues are ready for the step up, McKenna said: "I think we're as ready as we can be, really. Of course, we've got good stability and consistency from what we did last year, we've had six good weeks now with the players, we've come through a good pre-season where we've put the right challenges we think in the right places.
"And we've got a lot of confidence in how we work every day and we know the challenges. I’ve spoken about it lots during the season and we know it's a step up and we know every game isn't going to go our way.
"But we have a lot of faith in how we work, we've got belief in where the players are at from a mental point of view to go into the season and show their ability as players and show that they can make the step up, and that's what we all want to do.”
Reflecting further on what makes the Championship tougher than League One, McKenna said: "I think it's a big step up, there's no doubt about that - quality of the players, size of the clubs, grounds, of course outside interest, everything really.
"It's a big step up, but at the same time I think we have confidence in what we did last year and how we performed.
"We've got confidence in how we work every day and at the end it's still going to be 11 players versus 11 players.
"I know that I really feel that we'll go on to the pitch every week with the mentality to be brave, be positive, play our football, work extremely hard as a team and fight to get a result.
"And that's all we're focusing on internally, making sure that we do everything we can to be in a position every weekend to go out and show how we can play and try and fight to get points on the board.”
Does the higher quality of player in the Championship mean that there will be more of a concentration on individuals when preparing for games?
"No, to be honest. That's something that we paid huge respect to in our process in League One as well,” he said.
"[Assistant manager] Martyn Pert does a fantastic job with that with the defenders especially and it was a big big part of the process last year, to look at with our defensive players especially - the strengths of the other teams' forwards and how they get their goals, how they get their opportunities where they can be dangerous and take pride in being as well prepared as we can to try and stop those things.
"In the Championship, maybe there are better forwards, more high profile, maybe more eye-catching, maybe bits of one-v-one and things like that.
"But in League One, there are a lot of very effective forwards who score goals in that division and we worked really hard over the 18 months to respect that and do as well as we can as a defensive unit to stop that, and we'll have the exact same approach going into this weekend and every game this season.”
Sunderland were in Town’s current position a year ago having won promotion from League One through the play-offs and McKenna sees the parallels.
"There are some comparisons that you can make,” he said. "Another big club that had a few seasons in League One and didn't find it simple to get the promotion.
"Sunderland had to do it through the play-offs but kicked-on really well last season and individually some of the players took to the step up really well and performed really well in the Championship and I think as a club they naturally stepped back into that division well.
"They recruited well as they went up, they added to the squad, they kept a model of how they were recruiting and how they were trying to build the squad, and I think they took to that step up well.
"It's something that I think our players have looked at and have taken some encouragement from.
"But at the end of the day, our focus has to be on ourselves, every team, every club we face this season, they're going to have their own story and their own good players and good coaches and, of course, an excellent manager this weekend to face in Tony Mowbray.
"But for us, we have to keep our focus on ourselves and where we're at as a team and how we can keep improving and how we can just do everything we can each week to be as competitive as we can be in each match.”
McKenna says he got to know Blues legend Mowbray, whose assistant is another former Portman Road hero Mark Venus, during his time working at Manchester United.
"Tony Mowbray, when he was at Blackburn and I was at United, we had some friendlies against him, so we got speaking to him then,” he said.
"Two club legends here. Tony is a fantastic manager, a very experienced manager who has been successful in a lot of different clubs.
"He has always been associated with a positive brand of football that supporters would like to watch and I think players would like to play, so he's done that everywhere he's been. He’s certainly done that at Sunderland and I think did a fantastic job there last year.
"I'm sure they'll be looking to push on again this season and I think as an ex-Ipswich player, coach and interim-manager, apart from this weekend, of course, we wish them well.”
Among Mowbray’s summer signings is keeper Nathan Bishop, who joined from United and is well-known to McKenna from his time at Old Trafford.
The Blues boss says the 23-year-old’s addition is typical of the Black Cats’ current approach to building their squad with Jobe Bellingham, the 17-year-old brother of England international Jude, another signing having joined from Birmingham.
"Nathan Bishop was a goalkeeper there, a fantastic professional first of all, a wonderful trainer, a very good goalkeeper and hopefully a good step in his career at Sunderland,” the Blues manager said. "I'm sure he'll be a really good addition to their goalkeeping department.
"From the outside, and, of course, you don't get the full story, but it looks like they're trying to recruit from a younger model and develop players and put young players into their team and develop them and grow the team in that way, and they've done well with it so far you'd have to say.
"I think it's always good when you can see from the outside that a club has a plan, whatever that plan might be, but has a plan and tries to stick to it.
"We have our plan, other clubs have theirs and Sunderland have their way they're trying to go about it and good luck to them.
"They've added good players again this window and they have a good squad and a very good manager, so I'm sure they'll look to have another positive season.
"But again our focus is very very, very predominantly on ourselves and how we go and approach the game and how we go and perform as well as we can.”
In Christian Walton’s absence, Vaclav Hladky will start in goal, making only his second league appearance under McKenna, the other having been the 1-0 home win against Wycombe in the Northern Irishman’s first match in charge. New signing Cieran Slicker is likely to be on the bench.
With Harry Clarke suspended, although returned to training, Janoi Donacien looks set to start at right-back with Luke Woolfenden and Cameron Burgess the centre-halves and Leif Davis at left-back.
Skipper Sam Morsy will be in the centre of midfield with Jack Taylor perhaps handed his Town debut alongside the Egypt international. Massimo Luongo is training again after his groin injury but may not be risked.
Wes Burns seems likely to start in his usual right-sided role with Omari Hutchinson probably handed his Town debut from the bench, with Conor Chaplin in the centre and former Sunderland loanee Nathan Broadhead on the left behind striker George Hirst.
This season, managers will be able to name nine substitutes on their bench, using five.
Sunderland have left-back Dennis Cirkin available after an ankle injury sustained on the final day of last season which limited the 21-year-old to only one pre-season match, last Saturday’s 1-1 home draw with La Liga Real Mallorca.
Midfielder Jay Matete is out with a knee injury suffered in pre-season, while recent signing Jenson Seelt is out with an ankle problem picked up during the club’s US tour.
Striker Ross Stewart, defender Aji Alese and midfielder Corry Evans are long-term absentees along with Elliot Embleton, who is closing in on a return but won’t be ready to face Town.
Midfielder Bradley Dack isn’t expected to make his Sunderland bow until the Carabao Cup tie against Crewe Alexandra in midweek. You can read more about the Wearsiders' squad in this TWTD blog.
So far this summer, the Black Cats have signed defender Seelt from PSV, Bellingham from Birmingham, Dack following his departure from Blackburn, Bishop from Manchester United, centre forwards Luis Semedo, known as Hemir, and Eliezer Mayenda from Benfica and Sochaux respectively, and Australia U23 international defender Nectarios Triantis from A-League Central Coast Mariners. Another striker is on Mowbray’s wish-list.
Defender Bailey Wright, winger Leon Dajaku and midfielder Carl Winchester were among those to depart at the end of last season, while midfielder Amad Diallo returned to Manchester United following his loan spell and forwards Joe Gelhardt and Edouard Michut are back at Leeds and PSG respectively.
The Wearsiders were beaten 5-2 at Hartlepool in their final friendly on Tuesday, although it was a mix-and-match team with players fielded out of position. Nevertheless, Mowbray says those that faced the National League side might have played themselves out of contention for Sunday, hinting that his team will be similar to the one which drew with Real Mallorca.
Quizzed on whether he knew his starting XI for Sunday, Mowbray said: "At the moment, I do. If you'd been at Hartlepool the other night you would have seen that not too many of those players are going to be impacting the starting XI at the weekend.
"That might seem harsh and yet the reality is I say to my players that they are being judged all the time. To compete as well as we did against a team that finished in the top half of La Liga on the Saturday, that is a tough game and it was a real good test for us.
"Do I know my team? Yes. I've said before that we need to add a couple more players and we will do that, not by Sunday, but definitely by the time the window has closed.”
Mowbray is pleased that Town are back in the Championship and agrees with bookmakers and pundits suggesting the Blues could be contenders come May.
"I’m sure they will,” he said. "I think the coach is very bright. Watching them, they play attractive football, they finished off the season amazingly strongly and at times in their League One season it looks like they might be faltering and they dropped out of the top two.
"But they righted it, they scored lots of goals, particularly at home they were really dominant and it’s a great club.
"Ipswich is a lovely part of the world and I’m really pleased that Ipswich are on their way back. It’s a good test for them, this division. It’s a tough division this year, but I think they will be competitive.
"I watched them, they’re a well-coached team, Kieran’s come from a Man United background, he’s recruited well, he’s got them playing with a pattern and a shape and an organisation in possession and out of possession and they’ll be a test for us, I’m sure.”
Guest of honour at Sunday’s game will be former Blues and Black Cats striker Marcus Stewart, who was diagnosed with MND last year.
"It’s a horrific disease, I played with Stewie, my last ever game was at Wembley in the play-off final,” Mowbray recalled. "As I’ve told these lads [Sunderland local media] plenty of times, I scored that day and Stewie also score that day for Ipswich.
"He was a great lad to be around, he loved life and he played football with a freedom and whilst he wasn’t particularly fast or particularly powerful or particularly strong, he was a brilliant footballer, who had a great brain and made amazing double runs in the box to find space and find the ball.
"I remember his goal at Anfield in a 1-0 win in the Premier League season after the promotion.
"It will be great to see Stewie, I’ve spoken to his wife a few times in trying to organise some of the stuff and I’ve put them in touch with the people who can organise the day for them.
"It’ll be great to see him, a wonderful lad, a horrible, terrible disease and hopefully we can raise lots of money and raise awareness of MND.”
Historically, Sunderland just have the edge with Town having won 23 of the games between the teams (23 in the league) and the Wearsiders 24 (22) with nine (nine) having ended in draws.
The teams last met in the final game before McKenna took over as Town boss in December 2021.
The current Blues manager had been appointed and was watching from the stands as 29,005 fans watched as Town, led by interim-manager John McGreal, and the Black Cats - who would ultimately win promotion from League One via the play-offs - drew 1-1 at Portman Road.
James Norwood headed home Macauley Bonne’s cross in first-half injury time, the Blues having dominated before the break.
But Broadhead, then on loan with the Wearsiders from Everton, levelled five minutes after the restart with the Blues looking the more likely winners in the closing stages.
The previous month at the Stadium of Light, Paul Cook’s Town were left rueing missed chances as Sunderland struck twice late on to claim a wholly unlikely 2-0 victory.
The Blues had a number of opportunities before the Black Cats netted via Luke O’Nien on 85 and an Aiden McGeady penalty in injury time, their only shots on target, to claim the three points.
Town’s only win at the Stadium of Light came in February 2018 when Joe Garner and an Adam Matthews own goal saw the Blues to a 2-0 victory.
Black Cats boss Mowbray was a player with the Blues between 1995 and 2000, scoring in the 4-2 play-off final victory over Barnsley in what was his final game. He subsequently became a member of George Burley’s staff before moving into management and coming close to being appointed to the Town job on a number of occasions.
His assistant Venus, another member of the Wembley 2000 side, who was also one of the Blues’ top performers in the Premier League the following season. Venus was with Town between 1997 and 2003.
Blues forward Broadhead was on loan with the Black Cats during the 2021/22 season, scoring 11 times in 20 starts and seven sub appearances.
Sunday’s referee is Sam Barrott, who showed 118 yellow cards and four red in 40 games last season.
Officials are being instructed to add on World Cup-style levels of time for injuries, goal celebrations and other stoppages as well as clamping down on time-wasting and dissent during the new season. The multi-ball system is also to return to speed up restarts.
Barrott’s last Town match was as a late replacement for the 6-0 thrashing of Charlton in April after it had emerged that the official originally slated for the game, James Bell, was a fan of Sheffield Wednesday, who at the time were vying with the Blues for League One promotion.
The West Riding-based official showed yellow cards to Davis and four to Addicks, two to Ryan Inness, who was then issued with a red with two minutes left on the clock, his fourth dismissal of the season and fifth in just over a year.
Barrott previously took charge of the 1-1 draw at Cambridge in February in which he awarded the U’s a penalty after George Edmundson had clumsily felled Conor McGrandles, which Walton saved. Barrott also booked Edmundson, Morsy and two home players.
Coincidentally, he was also the man in the middle for the opening game of last season, the home game with Bolton Wanderers, which also ended 1-1, and in which he gave the Trotters a penalty, which was converted by Aaron Morley, after debutant Davis had tripped Conor Bradley. Lee Evans, Woolfenden and two visitors were booked.
Barrott was also in charge of Town boss McKenna’s first match in charge, the 1-0 home victory over Wycombe Wanderers at Portman Road in December 2021 in which he booked Morsy, Pigott, Matt Penney and one Chairboy.
Squad from: Hladky, Slicker, Donacien, Ball, Woolfenden, Burgess, Edmundson, Baggott, Davis, Leigh, Morsy (c), Evans, Luongo, Taylor, Humphreys, Burns, Jackson, Chaplin, Broadhead, Harness, Aluko, Edwards, Hutchinson, Hirst, Ladapo.