Blues winger Wes Burns says Town boss Kieran McKenna and his international manager Craig Bellamy “come from the same football school”.
Burns is currently away with the Wales squad along with teammate Nathan Broadhead and came on as a half-time sub to win his ninth cap in Friday’s 2-2 Nations League draw with Iceland in Reykjavik. The Welsh take on Montenegro at the Cardiff City Stadium on Monday.
It was Burns’s first game under Bellamy, who took charge in the summer, having missed the September internationals due to a hamstring injury, as did Broadhead.
"There’s so many similarities between how he wants to play here and what I usually play like for Ipswich,” Burns said.
"It seems like they are cut from the same cloth. It’s like they’ve come out of the same football school.
"Both want to play a good style of football, possession-based, try and score on every attack if possible.
"Then if we lose the ball there’s an instant reaction to win the ball back as quickly as possible and swarm teams.”
He continued: "I was at home doing rehab [during September’s internationals]. To see the style of play instantly was good.
"Seeing so many similarities in set-up and formation to what I'm used to, I was already champing at the bit to get into the next camp because I knew I'd fit in straight away.
"Going over the meetings in the first couple of days, there's been a lot of recap of what has gone before in the last camp.
"Although they're going over it for a second time, I'm playing a little bit of catch-up in terms of the little details on defending and attacking stuff.”
Burns was a big fan of Bellamy when growing up and has been impressed with the former Wales, Norwich City, Newcastle, Liverpool and Cardiff City forward’s knowledge of the game.
"His football brain is mental, so I don't really want to go toe to toe in terms of talking too much football with him because his knowledge is through the roof, but I'll try and pick his brains every now and then,” he said.
"I used to love watching him, he was my style of player to a tee. Aggressive, front-foot football, [he] scored goals, feisty, loved a tackle, so I think there's a different respect for someone when they cross that line and go to the manager's side.”
Burns suffered his hamstring injury on the opening day against Liverpool, a recurring problem throughout his career and one which he has had investigated.
"I’ve seen a number of specialists, especially after my last time, to get on top of why it kept happening,” he added.
"There’s not really much I can do to prevent it. Sometimes with sprint athletes, even GB athletes, it happens.
"They run in a straight line and it can still happen. A game of football, there’s so many variations, someone can knock you off balance when you’re running at high speed.
"It can send stresses through your body that don’t usually go there, and that’s where injuries happen.
"I’m trying Pilates every morning, so hopefully that takes the edge off it. It’s tough because I’m not that flexible.”
He added: "I've played fairly regularly since I've been back, I've started all games bar one, and I'm adjusting to life in the Premier League quite well, I think. It's a very physical league, the quality of player is through the roof.
"Every team has got a squad that's more than capable of giving anyone a beating in the league, so it's mentally tough as well.”
Reflecting on his climb from League One to the top flight with the Blues over the last couple of seasons, the 29-year-old added: "I’ve played in every league in English football from the Conference to the Premier League, so I’ve learned a few tricks along the way and that may help me as the season goes on.
"It’s been some journey. Maybe if I looked back three or four years ago I probably thought my dream of playing in the Premier League was near enough over.
"My time at Fleetwood was coming to an end and I was looking around for other clubs to kick-start my career again.
"I walked into an Ipswich transition that could go one of two ways, it can keep going downwards or we were going to spike like we have done.
"Luckily I found a manager that got the best out of me and has propelled me back to where the club wanted to go – but not only that, has helped me achieve my dreams.”