Town manager Kieran McKenna says he and the players really appreciate the coach greeting fans’ group Blue Action will be staging ahead of Sunday’s East Anglian derby at Portman Road.
Blue Action’s raucous, smoky displays have welcomed the players for a few big games in the recent past, notably the 6-0 hammering of Exeter, which confirmed promotion from League One, and the 2-0 victory over Huddersfield, which sealed elevation into the Premier League, as well as Norwich City’s last visit in the Championship two years ago, a match which ended 2-2.
McKenna was asked whether as well as lifting the players, it can add a bit of pressure on what’s already a big day.
"I don’t see that perspective at all, to be honest. And that’s the truth, having felt that in games to get promoted, which are win-or-bust games that we’ve had, the biggest games in the history of the club a couple of them.
"And in the big derby match, I haven’t felt on any of those occasions that it’s been anything other than an absolute privilege for players and staff to feel that sort of support and that welcome.
"A real boost for us going into the game. I think we’ve won two of the games and had a top performance in the other one, so I think we only see it as a real boost.
"But we also know it isn’t going to win us the game. It’s not going to lose Norwich the game. We can’t rely on that to give us any extra motivation. It needs to be there already.
"I just think when I’ve experienced it, it’s been a real privilege. It gives you a great feeling going into the stadium and your excitement for the game just goes up another notch. We heard that supporters are going to do that again. We really, really appreciate it.
"I really look forward to the new players experiencing that and I think it will send us into the stadium with a really good feeling. And then we have to just focus down and be ready to go out there and try and do our jobs the best we can.”
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Reflecting on the previous Portman Road derby, he added: "It was a really enjoyable occasion. I think the staff this week who were here have been speaking about that amongst themselves, an incredible atmosphere.
"I don't go out for the warm-ups, but Martyn Pert and the other staff said it was certainly the best atmosphere they’ve felt in the stadium in the warm-up and we’ve had some really big games here.
"The welcome, of course, really sticks in the mind. It was brilliant. It wasn’t the first time because we had it for the Exeter game before we got promoted, but it had a different edge to it.
"And that was a brilliant experience to be part of, a privilege really to witness and to feel that support. And the players felt that as well.
"And I thought, it's a while ago now, but I thought we delivered a really, really good performance on the day, which gave me some satisfaction at the time amongst the frustration that we didn’t manage to get the result.
"But looking back on it again, I think there were some real positives in terms of the quality of the performance that we gave on that day against a Norwich team that had a lot of Premier League and Championship experience. And we were by far a better team on the day.
"There are things that we can take from that. In that game we gave away a couple of poor goals and we missed too many big chances, so we didn’t manage to get the win that we wanted.
"But I think, as an occasion, that was the first derby in five years or so at that point, it was a great occasion and privilege to be a part of, and our privilege to be looking forward to this one as well.”
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