Ipswich Town: Jacob Greaves on Portman Road switch and Premier League

That’s what Jacob Greaves had to face this summer, leaving Hull City to join Ipswich Town for a fee of £15 million. Born in Castle Hill hospital in Cottingham and based around Hessle, he began his journey in the Tigers’ academy at the age of eight. 11 years on, he signed his first senior contract at the club, and the rest is history.

Unsurprisingly, it’s been a bit of a culture shock for the 24-year-old, but he now feels that he’s adapting to his new surroundings.

“I’m really enjoying it,” he said. “At first it was a bit tough, getting to know a full group of new guys. I was obviously really comfortable at Hull, being from the area as well. I’ve come miles away from home to a new team, and you’ve obviously got the step up to play in the Premier League. It’s a big change.

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“I feel like I’ve settled in, I feel like I’m part of the lads a little bit more. I’m really loving it.”

Jacob Greaves left boyhood club Hull City to sign for Town Greaves is adamant that his love of golf has helped him settle in at Ipswich. He certainly isn’t the only one at the football club who plays it outside of training, which has allowed him to bond with his new team-mates early in the summer.

“It’s a hobby I love,” he admitted. “You can see the weather outside and it’s not great, so I’ll probably be dying down a bit more and not playing as much.

“I’m not playing as much and I’m not a member anywhere. I was a member at Hull golf club and I’m trying to find a membership down here somewhere if anyone wants to help me out.

“There’s a good group of lads. Harry Clarke, I played with him when I first came here. He was brilliant with me and I’m really good friends with him.

“Conor Townsend, I know him from Hull. He’s my partner when I play. I play with everyone really, it’s a really good group.

“It’s good for the new lads settling in to play something outside of football. I love it.”

Harry Clarke was an early golfing pal for Greaves at Town (Image: Steve Waller) It was Kieran McKenna who revealed his passion during his pre-Aston Villa press conference. The manager had joked that he’d like to ask for some tips given the fact that he had next to no time to play outside of his day-to-day work.

“I’m not really a golf coach, to be fair!” Greaves laughed. “I’ve never seen him swing, so I’ll have to have a look at it and see if I can help him.

“I watch a lot of golf YouTube in my spare time, so I tend to think I know a little bit about the dynamics of a golf swing. I probably don’t!

“I was playing with Harry Clarke and he was struggling with shanking it – this was the first time we played. I didn’t want to tell him what to do because I bet he would’ve thought, "who’s this guy?".

“I can try if he needs some help.”

Greaves clearly has a good relationship with McKenna. One reporter asked him to come up with a question for his boss, to which he suggested, “are there more wheels or doors in the world?”.

When pressed for his answer, he chuckled, “I can’t answer my own question! It’s too tough, I think. You just don’t know what goes on in other countries, the way they live and stuff. I’d say doors, personally, but I don’t know if that’s the right answer.”

Greaves says Kieran McKenna's training sessions are top notch (Image: PA) On the pitch, McKenna has helped him develop a lot in a short space of time. He’s enjoys training sessions and the extra details that have helped him improve.

“It’s been fantastic, really,” Greaves admitted. “The way that we train every day is so good, I’m really loving it. At first it was a bit different for me to get used to, but now I feel like I’ve done it a lot.

“Now the games are coming, you can see. The build-up to the games, we look at the opposition and ourselves in terms of causing teams problems.

“I think he’s been fantastic with me, the part he’s played in my role, how he’s spoken to me about where I need to be, the little details of the game which has helped.

“I’ve had my individual meetings after most games on where I can improve, what I’ve done well and what I can do better.

“I love that side, I love watching football as well. I think it’s been perfect for me, it’s been fantastic, and I feel like I’ve improved in a short space of time under him.”

He could get similar advice from his father, former Hull and York City defender Mark Greaves, but their bond has been built on enjoying football rather than analysing it. He still attends his son’s games and they talk about the highlights, but it’s certainly not the only thing they have in common, although it was an important part of his childhood.

“Growing up, I wasn’t in a football-mad home. We didn’t have football on all the time, but in terms of me playing, it was football all the time with my dad. We had a driveway on the garden where I used to live and we’d work out in the garden for hours, just smashing balls at each other and working on my first touch, things like that.

“A lot of stuff was focused on my education as well. He was really big on that stuff. He wanted me to revise a lot, but I didn’t do as much as I should have.”

Jacob Greaves says Town were the perfect club to take the next step in his career with (Image: Ross Halls) His dad was fully behind his move to Ipswich despite his family’s links to Hull. Ultimately, the chance to play in the Premier League was too good to turn down, but there was more to the decision than just on-field success.

“I think he thought it was the perfect opportunity to make the next step in my career, as I thought as well,” he said.

“As soon as I called him and mentioned the interest, he said that it’d be perfect. A massive club with an unbelievable fanbase, obviously a great manager as well. They’ve done such good stuff to get into the Premier League and keep that core value at its base.

“He thought that’d be a great club for me to come into, which was the right decision, I think. I couldn’t have asked for a better group to come into and have an opportunity to play in the Premier League.”

Greaves got a taste of what it’d be like to play for Ipswich when he lined up against them last season. In the first match in Suffolk, Town came out as comfortable winners, scoring three goals without reply. The defender believes that it was a turning point in Hull’s season, which showed in the reverse fixture at the end of the campaign, which ended in a 3-3 draw.

“I had a lot of discussions with the manager before signing about the games,” he revealed. “I think the game at Portman Road was a massive one for Hull’s season. We went man-for-man all over the pitch, but we kind of didn’t.

“It was a Tuesday night game, so we didn’t have much of a build-up to it. It was a little bit half-and-half in the way we pressed. That was the biggest lesson for us that season.

“I remember going in with Chappers [Conor Chaplin] into the right-back area, I was following him all the way and leaving massive gaps. I was going in with him a little bit, then I wasn’t going in with him. He’d turn and be able to dictate passes.

“Then forward for Hull, we put more emphasis on the way we defended against teams. That was a wake-up call for us and the tactics we worked on in the week. We went man-for-man with a lot of teams towards the end of the season and showed that we could do it, but we could only do it properly because we had that lesson against Ipswich.

Omari Hutchinson scored twice in Town's pulsating 3-3 draw at Hull City last season (Image: PA Images) “To be honest, it was probably the toughest game I’ve had in terms of getting popped off the park by Ipswich.

“Then the game at the KC was crazy, wasn’t it? I was passed out on my feet towards the end of the game. It was blow-for-blow and we both kind of needed to win.

“We were both going for the winner at the end of the game. I remember the blocks on the line, I think [Jeremy] Sarmiento missed that chance where it got blocked by me and Alfie [Jones].

“They were blockbusters to play in and I loved them. I’ve talked about it with the lads a lot of the time, we’ve joked about the games because they scored two worldies from the edge of the box. Then 2-0 down after 20 minutes at Portman Road isn’t a great place to be as an opposition player.”

Even if he wasn’t able to show his best qualities in those two games, it’s clear to see why McKenna wanted to sign him. A tall, aggressive, left-footed centre-back who’s good on the ball is hard to come by, but crucially, Greaves also loves the side of the game that he thrives in.

“I enjoy the art of defending,” he stated. “I love blocking shots and heading things away, I think that’s what I enjoy doing as a defender.

“Obviously the attackers love scoring goals and creating chances, I love blocking shots and heading things away. That’s what I feel is a real strength of mine.

“I do that as much as I can and I feel like it’s a strong part of my game.”