Gathered in a crowded media room for his pre-match media duties, the first question put to Ipswich Town captain Sam Morsy is exactly what you’d expect ahead of the final day of the Championship season.
“You’re on the cusp of being a Premier League footballer - how does that sound?” a reporter asked.
“It sounds good, yeah,” the midfielder replied, followed by a short chuckle.
Based on that, you could be led to believe that he’s spent time imagining himself playing at Anfield or Old Trafford, but you’d be mistaken, and he quickly brought the topic of conversation to the upcoming game against Huddersfield Town. He knows that his side need to avoid defeat to guarantee a place in the Premier League.
“It’s been a really good season,” he added. “Up until this point, we’ve done really well, we’ve competed really well.
“We’ve got another big game tomorrow. It’ll be a tough game, nobody’s going to just say ‘here you go, here’s three points’. We’re going to have to fight for it, we’re going to have to earn it, and we’re going to have to do what we’ve done for a few seasons now.”
Morsy prefers to look back rather than forward, albeit admitting that guiding the Blues to the top flight after 22 years away would be ‘incredible’. It’d understandably rank towards the top of his achievements in football.
“One of the biggest things for me was making my debut in the Football League – it’s very competitive to be a footballer, so that was huge,” he reflected.
“You look back at your career, you look back at the younger days as your best days, believe it or not. Obviously, representing Egypt was incredible, playing at the World Cup.
“Of course, I’ve had promotions, but to get a club to the Premier League would be amazing. Everybody’s worked hard, the fans have taken to us. Everyone works hard on a daily basis to get us here, so now we need one last effort.”
The 32-year-old looks relaxed, much more so than any of the people sat opposite him in the press conference lounge at Playford Road, most of whom are thinking about what could lie ahead.
Morsy knows that the outside noise is there, fans talking on X [formerly Twitter] or online forums, building up to what could be one of the biggest days in the club’s history. He wants to block it out, but how does he do that?
“If you turn your phone off, you get away from the noise! That’s the reality, isn’t it?” he argued.
“Everything is spoken on social media. The majority of the lads train, go back to the house, might do a little bit of shopping, might have a haircut. Other than that, you slow down on all the socials and don’t want to hear all the noise.
“We obviously know the expectation level. We had a great win [v Coventry], we had a couple of days to build into it, which was really beneficial as well.
“We’ve had good days to recover, good days to prepare, and now it’s time to give everything we’ve got on Saturday.
“You don’t really want to fall into the trap of what might be because you’ve got something in front of you, you’ve got a game of football in front of you.
“Huddersfield are a good team, they’ve got good players and a really well-respected manager. They’ve got professional pride – no team is going to say ‘go on, here’s three points, we’re not going to try today’. It just doesn’t work like that.
“We’re going to have to fully respect their threats, we’ll have to respect that they’re professional, they’ve all had good careers and you get to that level through being disciplined and dedicated.
“We know that we’ve got it in our hands and we’re fully aware of that.”
It’ll be tough to block that out tomorrow, and that’s when Morsy wants to embrace the occasion. Blue Action have arranged for fans to welcome the club coach to Portman Road in the morning, as they have done for significant home games in the past. The Egyptian international is really looking forward to it.
“We’ve had a couple of amazing ones – the Exeter one, the Norwich one,” he recalled. “I’m sure it’ll be the same again, which is an absolute privilege.
“One day, we’ll all retire, and we’ll look back at games like this and think ‘oh wow, what a welcome’. It doesn’t guarantee that we’ll win the game, but it’s amazing that the fans love us this much and are willing to do this much.
“It’s special and it’s there to be enjoyed.”
For Morsy, there’s time to reflect on the season while also focusing on the task at hand. He knows that Ipswich have performed above and beyond any expectations to reach this point, and that’s down to everyone at the club, even those who don’t feature on the pitch week in, week out.
“I’m incredibly proud because it’s an every-day process,” he said. “We’ve had lads that, while being at the club, have been written off. Lads being written off last season, this season. Everyone has slowly improved and got better. When you get written off, it can be hard.
“To get to a good place, it’s about improving every day, working every day, taking setbacks. That’s what the journey looks like. It’s never straightforward.
“I’m really proud of the players, even the lads who haven’t played as much as they’d like, like Dom Ball and Cameron Humphreys. These guys have been absolutely brilliant, really supportive team-mates.
“Cam Humphreys is really young, but it’d be incredible for him because of the way he trains every day, the way he applies himself. He’s one of the most professional players.
“Then you’ve got older players like Sone [Aluko] as well, who probably would’ve liked to have played more, but again, he’s had a fantastic influence on the squad.
“I’m proud of everyone really, because everyone has come together and everyone’s given their best shot.”
Being the man to lead Town back to the Premier League would clearly be a dream for Morsy. He knows that, if his side can take a point at home to the all-but-relegated Terriers, he could wear the armband against some of the best teams in the world.
But none of those thoughts will take an active place in his mind, and he’ll only allow them to take over if Ipswich can get the job done.
“You can get into that and think ‘wow, I can be a Premier League player and play against Man City, if I do that and if I do that and if I do that’. Then come Saturday, you’ll have no energy,” he argued.
“I’m old enough and experienced enough to realise that. In your younger days, it’s very easy to get ahead of yourself. It’s not really about that.
“If you ask me the same question on Saturday evening and we’ve got the job done, it’s a different question, but all the focus is going on this game. We need to reserve every bit of energy for it.”
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