Clarke: The Connection With the Fans is Really Special Friday, 17th Mar 2023 18:03 Harry Clarke has revealed how he sought permission from Luke Chambers to revive the former skipper’s popular fist-pump celebration that used to follow the team’s wins. Clarke said: “I was in town to get a haircut and I bumped into him in a car park. I’d never spoken to him before but he saw me and shouted over. “We had a little chat and he’s a top bloke. I mentioned to him that when I was tiny, I used to watch him playing and wait behind for him to do the fist pump. “I was always waiting for him to do it and cheering when he did. I asked him if he would mind if I carried it on and he was all for passing the baton on. The connection with the fans is really special and I’ve experienced it now from both sides. “I loved it as a fan and I’m loving it as a player. There’s even a bloke on Twitter that my mum has noticed and she tells me he actually rates my fist pumps. “I particularly enjoyed last week’s one after our win at Bolton. It’s a dream come true for me to be in the position I am now.” Town take on play-off hopefuls Shrewsbury at Portman Road tomorrow having created a brand new record after keeping six successive clean sheets for the first time in the club’s history — but Clarke claims that he and his colleagues don’t like to talk about it. Clarke said: “It’s a good record but we try not to speak about it too much. Obviously, it does get mentioned every now and again, and it is a special achievement for everyone involved. The defenders love a clean sheet but the forwards also play their part, so it has been a real team effort. “The aim is now to win our sixth game in a row against Shrewsbury at home tomorrow — and to make it seven clean sheets on the bounce. It would be nice to keep breaking records but the most important thing is our results and we want to make them good enough to win promotion.” Clarke, who was replaced by Janoi Donacien 62 minutes into the Blues’ 2-0 win at Bolton last week, was asked if the prospective new record might have been on players’ minds towards the end of a win that took them to within just two points of second-placed Plymouth in the race for automatic promotion. He added: “Well, I obviously wasn’t on the pitch by then, but I doubt if anyone was thinking about the record while the game was going on. “We should be going into every game thinking about a clean sheet anyway, but the records come with good performances and it was good to have the record confirmed once we were back in the dressing room.”  Clarke is looking forward to his first Ipswich goal and admitted: “When it comes along it will be very special for me, although I can’t say how I am going to react to be honest. I certainly don’t have any celebrations planned or anything like that; I just want to let the moment happen and hopefully it will before the end of the season. “But if it doesn’t, I won’t worry — I’d happily take no goals and a promotion if I had a dream world. The goal would be nice and I’m trying to get into all the right positions, but I have to defend as well.” The player brought back to Portman Road from Arsenal in January went on: “We’ve worked a lot over the last seven or eight games on me getting into the position where I’m not just ready to attack, but also where I’m in a position to stop the counter attack. “I’m not going to compare the coaching here with what it was like at Stoke when I was on loan there earlier this season because I don’t really like to do that. But I will say the manager here at Ipswich is absolutely amazing and I’m sure the other players will back me up when I say that in terms of the level of coaching we receive. “It is much better than anything else in League One, for example, and we are at a level training-wise and coaching-wise that we can not only go to the next step, but also the next step after that. He really is an amazing manager.” Clarke was asked if the Championship clubs he played against in the first half of this season were much better than what he has faced in League One since rejoining Town and he replied: “I think they are just different tests. We played the Championship leaders, Burnley, twice in the FA Cup a few weeks ago and they are clearly a very good football team. “We went toe-to-toe with them, the boys that played, and obviously it was close in both ties. We have different tests in League One, where it is generally more direct, but there are teams like that in the Championship as well. I think we’ve done well to deal with the two different aspects of the game.” Town’s chances of winning one of the two automatic promotion places have improved significantly after their recent run and he added: “I never lost faith because we’re a good enough team. “If we can keep putting the wins together it’s then down to other results. We keep the focus on us and don’t talk about it too much. We know we are in a good position and if we can keep winning, things will fall into place.” A large part of Town’s success can be attributed to the strong understanding between Clarke and winger Wes Burns on the right side of the pitch and he explained: “It’s natural that the more you play with someone, the more you learn about them — his strengths and where he wants to get the ball. “Wes doesn’t want it at his feet every time, so I want him running at defenders and getting in behind, and I’ve learned how to play alongside him and also Chappers [Conor Chaplin] coming across as well. We’re building a good relationship on the right side and hopefully we can keep doing that.” Luke Woolfenden revealed last week that he and Clarke attended school together, the latter confirming: “Yes, he was two years above me at East Bergholt High, so I’ve known him for years. It’s true what he said — we weren’t overly close — but he was at the Ipswich academy as well and we spoke on a few occasions. Since I’ve been back, we’ve become a lot closer. Small world, isn’t it?”
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