I wish I could have been there when Mick McCarthy first tasted it. The look on his face. The glint in his eye. The dawning realisation that this was the missing ingredient in the promotion recipe he's been formulating ever since arriving at Portman Road.

"Yeah, 'tis alright that," Mick no doubt shrugged as he downed a can of Red Bull in the dark days following Town's play-off defeat last May. "What's it for? Wings? What're they? Oh right, yeah, wings. I remember them. Think we had one back at Millwall in 1993."

And so it began. A summer of transfer activity that's as good as any I can remember at Portman Road since George Burley's day. Out went Mings, in came the wings. Ryan Fraser, a regular in the team that won the division last year, in on a year-long loan. Ainsley Maitland-Niles, a hot prospect from Arsenal, in on a year-long loan. And now, Tommy Oar, an Aussie international with 25 caps, in on a free.

I don't know whether it really was the Red Bull, whether it was playing too much FIFA 99, or whether Mick actually got round to watching a DVD of one of those many Town games last season when he'd played two out of Jay Tabb, Paul Anderson, Darren Ambrose and Stephen Hunt in the wide positions and digested the results.

See, there was a reason Ipswich got labelled as a 'long ball' team last season. It's because we were a long ball team. In football, to get the ball into the opposition penalty area, you have to do one of two things. Use your midfield, or punt the ball over their heads. Through most of 2014-15, Town's midfield, on the whole, got neck ache.

That the Tractor Boys secured their highest league position in a decade with only a semi-functioning midfield is astonishing. We have Murphy and Berra to largely thank for it. Now imagine how successful we might be with actual wingers who can run and cross. Thanks to Mick's summer transfer miracle, we don't have to imagine. It's happening.

At least two goals have been scored in all seven games played so far this season. Either Fraser or Maitland-Niles has been man-of-the-match in four of those games. And Cole Skuse's neck is now almost fully recovered.

Of course, the wingers aren't the only story of Mick's transfer activity this summer. Town have signed the captain from a team that finished above us in the table in Jonathan Douglas. We've signed a proven and experienced goalscorer in Brett Pitman. We've signed a Danish international full-back in Jonas Knudsen. We've signed some guy from Poland who sounds like he might be handy. Every position on the pitch has been strengthened.

Mick's been so busy in the transfer market this summer he's even managed to pull off a massive Coke deal and then get an Alabi just to cover himself should the cops get wind of it.

Of course, the defeat at home to Brighton has shown it will be far from an easy ride to promotion, but with the quality in our squad, the wings, the strikeforce, I'd be staggered if Town didn't at least improve on the points tally from last season.

And if we can do it by actually using our midfield as more than merely a tennis net to hit the ball over, we may even get some credit for it.

Mick, thank you.

tractorgrl added 17:53 - Aug 31 Great blog, enjoyed that!
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SpiritOfJohn added 19:39 - Aug 31 Enjoyable read. Few would argue we have greater strength in depth this season. However, we look more vulnerable to the long ball ourselves without the pace of Mings to cover. The first half on Saturday showed that lumping it to Pitman isn't going to work when the wingers are marked out of the game, so we need the guile of Bishop or McG. Hope Murphy gets fit soon as we miss his power at both ends of the pitch.

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carsey added 20:35 - Aug 31 Particularly liked the Coke Alabi line. On a serious note I think we have the making of a good team and great season ahead of us. COYB
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rickw added 09:40 - Sep 1 Nice one!
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Guthrum added 15:38 - Sep 1 I think he tried it last season with Henshall and Stewart, but they simply weren't up to it, had to fall back on Anderson, Tabb and attacking FBs. Now we have wingers who can actually do the job.
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MedwayTractor added 15:50 - Sep 2 Interesting comment at the end about last season's points tally. In all 20 of the 46 game seasons, our total of 78 points is the highest for teams finishing 6th. In fact, only in 1997/1998 did the team finishing as high as 5th have more points - and that was us! If stats mean anything and this blog's conclusion is correct, we must be nailed on for the play-offs. As for top two, two or three wins better than last year might do it, four makes it almost certain! Mmmm....

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BuckieBlue added 17:41 - Sep 2 Hi Medway, teams usually need to average 2 pts per game for top two....obviously we're doing that just now- but quite a stretch for us to keep that up all season, I'd say. However with Berra back; if Murphs gets somewhere near last year's form; keeping that thing called momentum; MM/TC's experience and not a massive amount of quality elsewhere in the division, from evidence so far, you just never know!

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awayfan added 17:45 - Sep 2 Excellent blog and "bravo!" for the Coke Alabi line.
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Pessimistic added 18:52 - Sep 2 I share your possiivity and I think we are indeed for a cracking season!
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ntoms97 added 10:46 - Sep 22 Few blogs I Read at all even fewer I read all the way through, well written blog, it had humour, opinions, everything an enjoyable read should have.
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