Defender Leif Davis has confirmed his delight after deciding to drop down two levels when he agreed to leave Leeds United, then in the Premier League, and join Ipswich on the eve of last season’s successful League One campaign.
The left-back said: "I always felt confident that I was making the right move, even if it was two leagues down at the time I joined. I was 100 per cent right to make the move and I’ve never regretted it.
"I’m not just happy here, I’m very grateful to the club for bringing me here and I will always do whatever I can for them.”
Davis’s delight is not just down to the Blues winning promotion to the Championship at the end of his first season on board, along with the team’s red-hot start to the current campaign, and believes Town are geared for further success in the not-too-distant future.
He added: "It’s incredible how the infrastructure has improved since I’ve been here – the stadium, the training ground, have both been given a makeover – and it underlines the owners’ commitment.
"Then you look at the playing side of things and we’ve moved up a level and are more than holding our own in the Championship.
"It’s the fans’ club as well and they have got behind us in bigger numbers. It’s massive what has happened in a fairly short space of time and when you think about it this is just the start. The club is soon going to rock it up.”
Davis is pleased with his own form this term, only missing one Championship game, the 1-0 victory at Southampton, as he nursed an ankle injury.
He said: "I’m just trying to do what I did last year – help the team to keep goals out and create some chances for us to score at the other end. I’m not doing anything different. I’m just trying to work as hard as I can and to keep learning in order to improve as a player.”
Brandon Williams became the 13th different Town goalscorer this season with his late point-saving header at Huddersfield on Saturday and admits he would like to be getting in on the scoring act himself.
"It would be very nice to get a goal at some point,” he said. "I got three last season and I’m trying my hardest when I get a chance.
"It’s still early days and it’s that bit harder in the Championship, but I’m still contributing. If I’m not scoring goals, I want to be providing assists and I’ve done that.
"But the main aim always has to be winning games and putting points on the board. I’ll do anything I can to help the team continue to do that.
"And remember I’m a defender, so if I’m helping to keep the opposition out, making goal-line clearances or last-ditch tackles, that’s me doing my job.”
Town’s ability to come back from going behind, even when trailing by two goals, has been a major factor this season and victories over Cardiff and then Wolves in the Carabao Cup last week were achieved the hard way.
"I don’t know why it happens,” said Davis, "but if we go a goal or two down it seems to get us going and we start playing our football, which we obviously should do from the start.
"We’re in a better league this year, full of better players and it’s going to be like that in some games – more so than it was last season in League One. We’ve just got to make sure we learn from it and try to stop it from happening again.”
It’s a hectic week in the Championship again, with Hull’s visit tonight being followed by another top five side in Preston on Saturday, and Davis agrees that he and his teammates will face to tough tests.
He said: "Both sides have started well, even if it’s still very early in the season. But they’re up there because they play good football and we never underestimate any opponent.
"They won’t be easy and we’ll need to work hard for anything we get from them. It will be down to us and how we play, as it always is.”
Finally, Davis turned his attention to the special Portman Road atmosphere these days, adding: "The level of support we have received last season and this season, while I’ve been here, has been incredible.
"The home games are virtually all sold out and we also have a terrific following on the road. The travelling supporters have been incredible as well, like for the midweek game at Southampton recently and then again on Saturday for another long trip to Huddersfield.
"The fans have been absolutely unbelievable this season. Every time I walk out at Portman Road I get goosebumps and for the Carabao Cup tie against Wolves we even had more than 20,000, although it still felt like a full house.
"It’s one of the best atmospheres I have experienced, 100 per cent. They are with you the whole game; they are singing at the top of their voices and if we go behind, they don’t switch off.
"They are enjoying it and they are also making an impact on what happens out on the pitch., no doubt about that. They are providing us with extra motivation and pushing us on all the time.”