After reading blogs from other young fans, I thought now was the ideal time to throw my view into the mixing pot.

At 18, I do just about remember the last trip to the promised land. The play-off final against Barnsley. THAT touch by Richard Naylor for Marcus Stewart to score the third goal. That glorious season finishing above Chelsea in their first season of riches. The UEFA Cup. And then, the relegation and stagnation within the second tier of English football.

For many a year now I have began each season with the standard optimism of every fan that it may FINALLY be our year. And I will be the first to admit, I was naive enough to think that under Paul Jewell, his signing of Michael Chopra and then his brace against Bristol City, that he may have been our 25+ goal-a-season man, and we could dream of playing in the top flight once more.

How wrong I was. My optimism was again premature and we faced another season of struggling to survive in a league to which we had become accustomed. And then the inevitable happened. Mr Jewell was relieved of his duties and our new heroes were appointed.    

I'm not sure you will find a Town fan that does not think Mick McCarthy and Terry Connor are perfect fit for our club at this time. This summer has been one of the most productive I can remember in terms of securing quality players early to give them all time to gel and be ready for the start of the season on August 3rd.

We have kept our better players (Aaron Cresswell and Tommy Smith) that were linked with Premier League clubs throughout the summer, and brought in players that in my opinion are quality Championship players to get us out of this league.

David McGoldrick has shown throughout pre-season that he will be our key attacking force this year, and hopefully will bring creativity, and more importantly goals to our solid, resolute team.

Paul Anderson, although has had his doubters since he joined, I can assure will be the winger we've been crying out for, he is fairly quick, doesn't mind getting chalk on his boots, and has a quality delivery, which with someone like Daryl Murphy finally on our books, is just what we need.

Cole Skuse is a tireless ball-winner that will protect the defence and give Hyam the freedom that MM and TC want him to have. The likes of Dean Gerken, Christophe Berra and Frederic Veseli will provided competition for places and hopefully bring the best out of the rest of the team.

Paul Taylor will also be like a new signing and will be that injection of pace and freedom that our midfield has been lacking recently.

This league has increasingly become more difficult to get out of. Parachute payments and the quality of the sides coming down. As well as those coming up who have momentum from last season.

I live in Dorset and Yeovil are my local team and so I had the opportunity to follow them throughout their campaign last season. I know everyone is writing them off, but I can say from personal experience, they will not be the pushovers that everyone expects.

Doncaster and Bournemouth have both been here not so long ago, and so know what to expect and have strengthened accordingly (the most noticeable being Doncaster signing Harry Forrester from Brentford),

Many fans from other clubs see us as a mediocre Championship side and having been the team in this league for the longest period time, you can see why.

But, this season will be different. I for one genuinely believe that this year we have a chance of challenging and can dream of returning to where we belong. For the first time in years, we have good reason for optimism and I just hope this time its not premature and we will have something to celebrate come May. 

I thought I would finish with a couple topics of discussion, by listing my starting XI for Reading, and my prediction for the top six and bottom three.

Starting XI

GK Loach

RB Veseli

CB Chambers

CB Smith

LB Cresswell

RM Anderson

CM Skuse

CM Hyam

LM Tabb

ST McGoldrick

ST Murphy

Top Six

1. Notts Forest

2. Ipswich

3. Reading

4. Bolton

5. Watford

6. Wigan

 Bottom Three

22. Middlesbrough

23. Charlton

24. Bournemouth

I know many of you will think it is with bias that I put our club second, however, it is my genuine opinion given the pre-season and the signings, as well as last season's performances.

I hope my first attempt at a blog was OK and you all enjoy reading it.

irishtim added 10:03 - Aug 2 Enjoyable read. Well done. Hope your prediction of 2nd comes true.
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NoCanariesAllowed added 10:26 - Aug 2 Loving your optimism with the 2nd placed finish. It would be a wonderful surprise if it happened. Also surprised to see Middlesbrough in your bottom 3. I think it's a season that could go either way for Boro on the back of the up-and-down campaign they had last year, but I would be shocked if they were one of the worst three in the division.
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bbkingsumday added 11:06 - Aug 2 An excellent read and agree it does feel like genuine optimism this year! Would have Millwall in place of Boro in the bottom 3.
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Jimmys_Law added 11:25 - Aug 2 A good first blog. 2nd place finish would be fantastic, and why not go for it. I don't necessarily agree with the promotion/relegation predictions but then again, who knows what will happen. It's a lottery. As for the starting XI, I think that is a good team listed although I'm not sure who will be favoured at RB out of Hewitt and Veseli. Plus I think Anderson prefers to play on the left so there could be a few options on the wings with Edwards returning and Wordworth's and Taylor's ability to play out wide. I expect the team will change throughout the season with injuries, players form and the opposition tactics all playing a part in MM's and TC's decision.

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Blueray added 14:58 - Aug 2 Good read this, and appreciate the optimism which every fan is entitled to at the beginnging of the season. I hope the optimism remains after a difficult start, because I do think we are a good bet for top 6 and that we will come good this season. As per for the team selection, I can't argue too much there either...although would like to see Taylor involved a little more... COYB

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Blueray added 14:58 - Aug 2 Good read this, and appreciate the optimism which every fan is entitled to at the beginnging of the season. I hope the optimism remains after a difficult start, because I do think we are a good bet for top 6 and that we will come good this season. As per for the team selection, I can't argue too much there either...although would like to see Taylor involved a little more... COYB

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Blue041273 added 14:08 - Aug 3 Love the optimism Charlie and hope your faith is rewarded. I have long since lost the optimism of youth and my hopes/expectations for this season are somewhat more pragmatic. I think that we need to give the new team a period of time to gel. This may be a season of consolidation again, albeit hopefully with real progress in the terms of style and football competitiveness. With luck we might be well placed to challenge in the seasons to come. While I would love us to be real achievers this season, and I readily accept the signs might suggest that we might be, my 'sensible head' keeps reminding me that pretty much every other team in the league has the same aspirations and their supporters have the same hopes as us, and their expectations for the season ahead dare much the same as ours. Hey ho, we all start equal. All I want is for us to be a better team than last year, to win more games than last year and to be widely acknowledged as a force in the League, a team against which others have to be at their best to get anything from. Anything else in terms of league placings would be a welcome bonus. I don't wish to cast a cloud on your dreams Charlie; I wish with all my heart that we might enjoy a successful season again. Whatever keep the faith; our time will surely come. And soon!

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Pessimistic added 12:48 - Aug 4 Nice blog. I have been supporting Town for over forty years and like you I still have that sense of optimism when a new season begins - no matter who is in charge! Disappointing result yesterday but the team played well and were a bit unlucky it would seem. C.O.Y.B.!
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poggie added 13:54 - Aug 4 I enjoyed reading your blog. I have been supporting Ipswich for around 30 years, since i was a little girl, and share your optimism for this season. However, I'm predicting we will finish 3rd and ultimately miss out in the play-offs (ironically to Reading)!!
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ITFCOYB added 17:43 - Aug 7 Great read, thanks. Thanks for taking the care to write proper English in real sentences, it makes your points much more persuasive! COYB. Second place would be lovely.
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