Town forward George Hirst has played down any notion of bad blood against his former club Leicester City and says he will treat this weekend’s clash the same as any other fixture.
Saturday’s game against the Foxes will be Hirst’s second encounter against the club where he spent four years on the books, making just two first team appearances before a string of loan spells which culminated in his move to Portman Road in 2023.
His first reunion with Leicester in last year’s 1-1 Boxing Day draw came to a frustrating and premature end, having been forced off in the first half with a hamstring injury that subsequently kept him out of action for most of the rest of the season.
Despite that background, Hirst says he will leave any hype around facing his former club to the minds of others.
"I feel things like that are more for the fans,” he said. "Yes, there probably will be a little bit more – I’ll know a few of the lads who are there and they know me and the fans.
"I’m going to go and play as well as I can, no matter who we play against. If they want to make it a little bit more for that reason then I’ll let them carry on with that.”
Asked whether he felt frustration with how his time at Leicester unfolded, he replied: "Not so much frustrated. I think there were a lot of lessons learned for myself.
"I could sit here and say yes, I was frustrated I didn’t play more. But then did I deserve to play more? Maybe not.
"I went out on loan, some loans worked and some loans didn’t. Then I came on loan here and it just felt like from the second I came in the door, it was where I wanted to be. It just felt like home, really.
"Me leaving Leicester was never anything bad towards the club. There was never any bad blood there. It was just a case of I’d finally found somewhere I really enjoyed being, and I just want that to continue.”
Despite having missed the last meeting between the two clubs in the 1-1 draw at the King Power Stadium in January, Hirst says he and the Town squad are very familiar with Leicester following last season’s Championship promotion race, which ultimately saw Town finish just one point behind the title-winning Foxes.
"We know a lot about Leicester,” he said. "There’s a different manager there now from who was there last season, but ultimately there’s a lot of the same players. We’re also in a position where we got promoted, whether people expected us to or not. We added a lot of quality to our squad, as have they.
"I think it’s going to be a close game. We’re not naïve to any of their qualities, we’ve played them last season and they’ve showed their qualities no end. So it’s a game that we really have to be right up for.
"It’s a game that at Portman Road we feel like we can go and win for sure. And it’s just about going out there and showing the best version of ourselves. We truly believe that on any given day, if we go and show the best version of ourselves, that can lead us to the points that we want.”
One of the key ingredients in securing those points will likely be stopping the attacking threat of Leicester’s top scorer Jamie Vardy, who has four goals to his name already this season, and the 2016 Premier League title winner is a player Hirst admires.
"Without a doubt, he’s still someone that I will look at his clips and watch how he plays the game, and how he’s always played the game ever since he’s been playing in the top flight,” said Hirst.
"He’s one of those special players that came in a little bit later in his career to the Premier League, but when you talk about hitting the ground running, I think he sort of epitomises that.
"There’s a lot of things he does that I want to be as a striker – the work ethic, the energy, the nasty streak when you need it, and ultimately being clinical and scoring goals. For me personally, there’s not too many better out there to go and study and try to focus your game around really.”
Town go into this meeting as one of three sides still without a Premier League win in nine matches this season, while opponents Leicester have so far managed two victories since their promotion, recording back-to-back wins against Bournemouth and away to Southampton before a 3-1 defeat to East Midlands rivals Nottingham Forest last week.
Likewise, Town will be looking to bounce back from last week after the 4-3 defeat at Brentford – a game in which they had initially looked on course for victory during an impressive opening 40 minutes, and one from which Hirst says the team can take much encouragement.
"I think we’ve spoken about it being on the right track,” he said. "We’re an honest enough group and we’ve had conversations between ourselves about what the right track looks like and whether we’ve been on it as a team.
"I think that was definitely a step back to what we are and our identity as a team – high pressing, getting after people, second balls, running in behind, tackling, creating chances. I think we did all that, and on another day you go and win that game comfortably.
"It wasn’t our day, unfortunately enough. It was just one of those things that if you play that game again, I’d like to think we’d win it nine times out of ten. We know that, but no-one’s dwelling on it, no-one’s been sulking about it, no-one’s been mardy about it. Everyone’s been head-on that we’ve got another really, really tough game tomorrow, and that’s the main goal.”