Ipswich Town: Tommy Oar on his time at the Blues.

ROSS HALLS spoke with the Australian about a range of memories, including joining the club from FC Utrecht, his relationship with Mick McCarthy, making his debut at Old Trafford in the League Cup and his time at Portman Road as a whole.

In total, he made nine appearances for Town, scoring one goal, before leaving the club by mutual consent at the start of 2016.

He played with current Town star Massimo Luongo at international level for Australia.

JOINING THE CLUB IN 2015

“After five years at Utrecht, I decided to let my contract expire with six months left and see what my options were going into that summer.

“I was speaking with Ipswich for a long time, even from the very beginning of that summer and to finally get it over the line it did take a couple of months.

“It probably took a little longer than I liked because I actually missed the first five or six games of the season and probably more importantly than that missed pre-season.

“When I joined, the boys were flying and to come having not trained with the team for about two or three months into that environment takes you a little bit of time to catch up.”

HIS DEBUT AT OLD TRAFFORD IN LEAGUE CUP

“I went to Ipswich to sign the contract and I had to leave straight away for two and a half weeks for national team duty, but then came back to Town and had the debut against Man United.

“It was a crazy first couple of weeks in hindsight which you know that’s the nature of football as you had to pinch yourself at the time as one minute I didn’t have a club and the next I was playing at Old Trafford.

“I played on the right which I actually hadn’t played too much in my career as I was very much a left winger so to play in a position against that opposition was a good experience.

“It’s a fond memory of my career playing in that game because they put out a really strong side with the likes of Wayne Rooney, Bastian Schweinsteiger and these types of players.

“I actually thought we gave a pretty good account of ourselves in that game because all the pressure was on them.”

TEAM-MATES WHO HELPED HIM SETTLE

“To be fair I got along with the whole team really well, but obviously Luke Chambers as he was the captain, a larger than life character and really helped me settle in.

“Jonathan Douglas helped me find a place to live, we also bonded over music as we have a similar taste in music, plus Ryan Fraser helped me out a lot.

“Jay Tabb as well, I used to room with Adam Federici with the national team and they played together at Reading, so when I signed with Ipswich, Adam said you should go and have a few coffees with Tabby and he was a great guy.

“I don’t really keep in contact with him as much as I would like but back in when I first joined those were the main players that really helped me settle in.”

RELATIONSHIP WITH MCCARTHY 

“He was a fantastic man, obviously it’s well documented that from a footballing sense my time there didn’t go the way that we both would’ve liked.

“We had a very good relationship and were both very honest with each other all the time, he would always tell me the reasons why I wasn’t playing.

“I don’t really have anything bad to say which I think might surprise a lot of people.

“In the six months at the club, I had a few injury problems and I was just trying my best to get over that which I wasn’t quite able to do.”

“Ryan Fraser had one of his breakout season at Town that year and when I joined five or six games in you’re not going to take a player out like him that was doing so well and that’s the way that football can go sometimes.”

ADAPTING TO CHAMPIONSHIP FOOTBALL

“I think the challenge for me wasn’t necessarily a reflection of Mick and how he played the game, but I think it was more that I was coming from the Dutch league where it was very technical.

“The Championship is very frantic and the pace is so high which is the reason why it’s so entertaining.

“In the Eredivisie, it’s much more measured in their approach and the instructions that you’re given before the game are much more comprehensive which isn’t to say that’s necessarily for better or for worse.

“So for me in that period, I probably found it more difficult to adjust than I would have liked.

“I knew what I was getting into when I signed for Town and there would be some things I’d have to change about my style of play but obviously I wasn’t able to do that to the extent I would’ve liked.”

GETTING CONCUSSED ON HIS HOME DEBUT

“I remember it was against Huddersfield because my Socceroos team-mates Jason Davidson was playing in that game and in the national team we both played on the left side so we obviously had a pretty good relationship.

“I don’t remember too many specifics of the game itself obviously but that happening in your starting league debut wasn’t ideal.

“It’s just one of those things and to be honest I don’t really put down any failure I had at Town to that game because that can happen to anyone at anytime and it was the only time it happened in my career.

“To make my debut for Ipswich at Old Trafford and then get concussion in my first game in the Championship it was definitely a pretty wild start at Town for sure!”

ON HIS GOAL AGAINST PORTSMOUTH

“It was quite funny because I remember the keeper parried it and I took a touch before I finished it and Mick after the game told me I nearly gave him a heart attack because I didn’t finish it first time.

“I remember the bigger thing in that game was that we didn’t get the win and we had to do the cup replay, but obviously we went to Portsmouth and lost that game so that was more the disappointing thing.”

MESSAGE TO FANS AND LIVING IN THE AREA

“The fans were always amazing to me and they were too good to me to be honest. I probably didn’t give them much to cheer about on the field but off the field everybody was always so kind and polite and respectful to me.

“Living in Dedham was obviously a beautiful place to live. Got to know a lot of the locals who really took my girlfriend under their wing and made her feel at home there.”

“So I’m looking forward to going back to visit to be honest and coming to Portman Road to watch a game.

“I wish things from football sense turned out differently but you can’t always plan those kinds of things.

“I’m definitely a Ipswich Town fan now and hopefully can see them in the Premier League next season.”

LEAVING THE CLUB AND SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT

“I was still involved with the national team and I wasn’t playing as much as I would’ve liked at Town and then I would go to the national team, but due to not being match fit I wasn’t getting match minutes for Australia.

“There was a lot of talk in the Australian media at the time about me not getting the opportunities and am I still going to get selected for the national team so it plays on your mind because for me playing for the national team was probably the most important thing to me at the time.

“It all happened quite quick, so I remember there was a few whispers going around where my old team (Brisbane Roar) wanted me back and it was not something I was looking at that seriously.

“After a few months of not getting the minutes I would’ve liked at Town, one day I kind of just thought ‘I’m going to lose my spot in the national team here unless I do something about this.’

“I remember one morning before training, I had a chat with Mick about it and I sort of knew the reasons why I wasn’t playing, but it was more to just vocalize and so he understood where my head was at.

“I was never a player that was too interested on going on loan because I always thought that for me to play good football I needed to be really settled off the field.

“Obviously in the Championship loans were very common, but it wasn’t something I was ever interested in, so it was like what options does that leave you?

“The opportunity to go back to Australia to play was appealing and there were a lot of players in the Socceroos squad playing in Australia at that time, so I didn’t think that that was going to affect that at all.

“It was more just an opportunity to get playing again and recalibrate and then try and go back overseas. So that that was kind of the extent of how I saw the situation, and I acted on it, and that was kind of it.

“I wish things worked out differently but I don’t blame anyone and there’s no negative memories of the club.”

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT ON STORIES HE WAS HOMESICK 

“It was not the case because I lived overseas for five years in a country that spoke a foreign language so if I was going to be homesick it probably would’ve happened there I suspect.

“It was a crazy period after I ended my contract Town because I was still living there for a few weeks and there was all this stuff in the media about the homesickness which I don’t really know where they came from.

“Obviously you can’t just drop your bags and leave overnight because it takes a bit of time to move country so I was going through all that process and I just thought it was interesting how all that came out in the media.”

PLAYING WITH MASSIMO LUONGO

“Anybody that has played with Mass knows how good he is, in what he brings on and off the pitch, he’s someone everyone gets along with, he’s fantastic character and a legend of a guy.

“To see him doing so well at Ipswich and obviously back in the Socceroos is fantastic for everybody, I’m really pleased for him and long may it continue.