For the last seven years of my life I have made the trip to see Ipswich Town every other Saturday. Every August, I hope. Every Saturday at 2:55, I hope. This season, for a very much welcome change, these hopes may not be shattered.

The day I was born Ipswich were third in the Barclays Premier League, six and a half years later, as I made my own sort of debut at Portman Road, we were 14th in the Coca Cola Championship.

Over the next year I witnessed a fantastic season, I attended nearly every home game, saw us lose once and smash in 65 goals at Portman Road. As a seven-year-old when you see your team scoring goals for fun, getting large attendances, and rarely losing; I couldn't help being attached. We finished seventh and just a couple of additions could see us launch ourselves into the Premier League.

Over the next five years I was to see four managers come in and out of the door, us be dragged out of the relegation zone numerous times, and our arch-rivals Norwich get two promotions and enjoy life in the top flight of English football. That was before Mick McCarthy.

He built, he built, and he builds. Mick McCarthy has, without doubt, created a superb squad. He has developed surely the best back four in the division, with three fantastic centre-backs fighting for a place week in, week out. We also have possibly the best up and coming left back in the Championship; Tyrone Mings’ attacking play has drawn the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea to Portman Road in recent weeks. At right-back, a defensively secure, and offensively exciting player in Jonny Parr.

We now have excellent depth across the midfield; despite their criticisms Luke Hyam and Cole Skuse are excellent at breaking up play. Jay Tabb, Stephen Hunt and Paul Anderson all have an excellent work ethic, and have a certain class about them.

The black hole that was that creative midfielder has been fixed with the unearthing of talents Teddy Bishop and Kevin Bru, and with the loan addition of Jonny Williams, McCarthy now has an embarrassment of riches across midfield. We are still yet to see what Jack Collison, Cameron Stewart, Alex Henshall and Darren Ambrose can offer to the first team.

But the area that excites Town fans the most surely is the striking partnership between Daryl Murphy and David McGoldrick, last year they scored 29 goals between them, this time around they are over halfway there already. Question marks do remain over back up strikers, but if they stay fit Murphy and McGoldrick will provide at the very least thirty goals between them.

Despite both making some errors this season, Bartosz Bialkowski and Dean Gerken have shown signs of top-class keepers and there is competition for the number-one jersey.

If this is not a squad capable of a promotion push, what is? Coming off the back of an excellent week with three wins, two against teams challenging for promotion, Town now face very tough away trips to Bournemouth and Charlton. If the Blues can come out of these games with points in the bag, who on earth could doubt our promotion credentials?

Mick McCarthy’s first full season was the best in half a decade. Could this season be the best in 14 long years? Could it be the best since we shocked England with a fifth place finish in the Premier League? Who knows. One thing is for sure however, as a 13-year-old growing up with what at times could be described as dire football, these are for certain the best weeks I have ever had following Ipswich.

cbower added 21:45 - Nov 13 Well written young man! Ipswich fans of your age have had precious little to cheer about and it must be soul destroying to hear people of my age harp on about the past. Let's hope Mick and his squad can provide us all with some new memorable moments. Enjoy!
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Blueastheycome added 22:01 - Nov 13 Very well written and an interesting piece, top marks young man
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PJH added 22:21 - Nov 13 Excellent piece. By the time that I was 13 I had seen Ipswich Town crowned Champions of England.Although those heights are never likely to be reached again it is good to know that someone of your age is optimistic that we may be heading part of the way back.It would be nice if fans of your generation could talk in years to come about their glory years just as fans of my generation and to some extent the generation in between still do.

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Toronto_Tractor added 22:43 - Nov 13 Well done lad! Funnily enough I was your age when we were third in the league. I was lucky to enjoy several great seasons as a youngster and I hope that one day you too get to experience seeing ipswich smash the budgies 5-0, beat Inter Milan, etc. It was a lot easier for me to fall in love with the club when I was a kid so I applaud your commitment to the cause as you've had a rougher ride than most! It does feel however, that it is time for change!

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JohnStirk added 13:02 - Nov 14 Good piece. Enjoy the success - you deserve it.
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DanLyles added 15:23 - Nov 14 An good read, I would particularly agree with your comment regarding the back up fire power in the squad, it's our only real weakness in my opinion. I was hoping we would get Danny Graham, but Wolves have sneaked in :(
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tractordownsouth added 08:01 - Nov 15 Top piece, mate. I particularly agree with the comments about the back four, and that we need a back up forward. Who would be your preferred choice? Let's hope us young 'uns can finally have something to cheer about!
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bennettrdblue added 13:56 - Nov 16 Very good read. Amazing coming from someone so young, i've been very lucky born in 1967 i've watched the blues beat Arsenal in the fa cup final and win uefa cup final against A Z Alkmar ( not sure on the spelling on that ) also the 5-0 against the scum but recent years has been grim, but like you I think the future is looking good.
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carsey added 09:09 - Nov 17 I love the optimism of youth and sometimes wish I wasn't so old and cynical. I was fortunate enough to be 8 when a certain Mr Robert Robson arrived in the town and the rest is history. I'm not convinced we will ever reach those giddy heights again but MM has certainly got a good group of players playing well together. They are even playing with the ball on the ground occasionally which really makes me smile. I certainly agree if we can take points from our next two games it will show we are real contenders for promotion to the promised land. A cracking good article and I hope you get to experience half what I did at a young age.

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NoCanariesAllowed added 16:38 - Nov 17 Your writing style is impressive for someone of your age. Keep it up! In many ways, I can sympathise with you in having missed out on witnessing the good times of the past at Portman Road. I'm twice as old as you, but I only started supporting Town 13 years ago. 2004/05 remains the best I've experienced, and even that I dare say is too early for you to recall much about it!

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rfretwell added 20:56 - Nov 17 Well written therealtractorboy. Among my fantastic memories, the great Gordon Banks in goal for Leicester at PR, as a mere 7 year old cheering Andy Nelson, Ray Crawford and the rest of Sir Alfs title winning squad as they held the league trophy proudly aloft on the Town Hall balcony; triumphing over WBA in that incredible Highbury FA cup semi final with Local boy Brian Talbot a blood spluttered all action midfield hero then to go on and take the mighty Arsenal apart in a truly magnificent Wembley final performance. 1-0 to the Ipswich Town, and years more success around the corner. Slowly but surely Mick and his staff are building another formidable squad and this one is for therealtractorboy and all your young mates!

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