New Blues boss Gary O’Neil says his short stint in charge of Ligue 1 Strasbourg gave him experiences which will be valuable in his time at Portman Road.

The 43-year-old’s appointment at Town was announced yesterday having left the French side after taking charge in January following former Blues loanee Liam Rosenior’s departure for his ill-fated spell at Chelsea.

Reports in France claim the Blues have paid Strasbourg €5 million (£4.3 million) for O’Neil and his staff.

“I don’t think words will do it justice really,” he said when asked about his time with Les Bleu et Blanc. “Firstly, the opportunity I was given in Strasbourg because it is a big football club and it was an important moment for the club in Europe, and they trusted me with that, so I appreciate that.

“And I know how many good coaches are out of work and are available without having to go through another club to get a coach out, so I appreciate the work that was done and the backing that Mark and the club have shown already to give me this opportunity.

“As you can probably tell, I’m very excited to get going. I’m disappointed that we don’t start training instantly, but the lads need their break, so we’ll give them the next few days to make sure they’re ready.

“And there will be plenty for me to do between now and that moment - get to know everyone, lean on some of the staff that have been here a while, figure out where we’re at, what might be needed and then a big six-week run-up at being ready for a Premier League season.”

Reflecting further he added: “I wasn’t there for as long as expected, but to go and experience something else outside of England and outside of the Premier League has definitely helped me and I think we have to earn our opportunities.

“I’ll be doing my best from the moment I’m here, from this moment onwards to make sure I represent the club fully. It’ll get everything I’ve got, everything. Once I’m in, I’m fully in, I’ll live this now, this is all I do.

“Until the moment I leave all I care about is how many points we get at Ipswich and how the team looks.

“So that’s what I’m going to give. I want to take the fans on an incredible journey with us, the next stage of the journey and see if we can create something special.

“You can feel it already when I was sitting in the box up there and I was looking down on the pitch, you can already feel like those Premier League games are going to feel like, and especially if we can get ourselves right in them and in people’s faces and create something, I feel like we can have a very special season.”

Strasbourg made good progress in cup competitions before eventually bowing out in the semi-finals of both the Coupe de France and UEFA Conference League.

“It added some fantastic experiences,” he continued. “The European journey to being in the quarter-final, away against Mainz, the semi-final, those atmospheres, how big those games feel.

“To learn a little bit more about different cultures because if you look at the Premier League now, we are going to need to recruit players from all over the world and I’ve worked with so many different nationalities, even at Wolves - Brazilians, [South Korean Hwang] Hee-chan, go to France, loads of the French-African boys, loads of South Americans.

“So I have a good understanding of how to get the best out of people, not just domestically but from people from all around the world. It’s a strength of mine, the connection that I can make with the players, and that’s going to be important for us here.

“It’s going to be important because we’re going to have a fairly busy recruitment window with players from all around the world and we’re going to need to be able to gel them all together and produce a team that can be competitive in the best league. I feel like I can add some key skills to that.”

O’Neil dismissed suggestions that working under BlueCo, who own Strasbourg and Chelsea, might have been somewhat chaotic.

“It wasn’t, to be honest,” he said. “They’re a good group, they’re fully committed to both clubs. They gave me a fantastic opportunity. They’ve allowed me to come and take this opportunity as well, which is good of them.

“I really enjoyed my time there. And if an opportunity as good and as special as this hadn’t have come up, I’d have been there and I’d have still been working away.

“But just the nature of Ipswich Town Football Club, the ownership, the area, the fans, the Premier League. When you put all of that together, it was just too good an opportunity for me.

“I enjoyed it, it was great, it was a talented group. We had a good go at trying to win something last year. We fell a bit short but I really enjoyed it.

“But I have to say now, the moment I walk out of this room, all my focus is just going to be on how we do this job, how do we get this place to where it needs to get to and we’ll be working night and day to make sure that we do.”

Photo: TWTD