Mike Bacon: Already feeling good about next season, but should I?

I'm not usually one to think about 'next season' at the end of April. Quite frankly over the past decade or so, I've invariably been looking forward to a few months away from football, the Blues having done little for me to want more.

However, and while bizarrely the team sit slap bang in the middle of League One, a position that shouldn't be anything to get excited about, I'm sort of excited already about August.

Just one point from our last two games against the top two in the division, again, shouldn't really be anything to get too carried away about. But you know what I'm going to say... there are, there were, real signs.

Real signs of individual player progress, real signs of fans enjoying going to Portman Road again, real signs our new owners wanting so much. Even if on paper our league position of 11th appears to show little sign of progress.

Much is going to come down to Kieran McKenna, of course. It's that pressure bubble again, but he looks like he can cope with it.

He knows much is down to him, we know that. His current honeymoon period is still bobbing along okay and he will enjoy a deserved rapturous end of season lap of honour after the Charlton game.

But that's where a new chapter really does start for him and the Blues. Yes, another new chapter!

What's going to happen this summer? Who are Town getting in? Who is leaving? What has McKenna learned from his tenure so far? Just as importantly, will we ever win an FA Cup game again? Can we beat opposition on TV?

Conor Chaplin wheels away after levelling the score 1-1. (Image: Steve Waller)

Okay, so I jest a tad. But you can see where I'm coming from, there is much to ponder and look forward to already.... hurry up next season.

Because I like to think, no, I want to believe, McKenna has learned a great deal about his squad since he arrived. The good and the bad.

Let's make no bones about it, Town are still along way from the finished article, yet you feel just a few tweaks here and there, a couple or three new players and the Blues could suddenly be all over League One next season.

Look at recent games. James Norwood takes his early chance at Rotherham, Town defend better and stop Wigan's Will Keane on Tuesday night... One point could have been six, but the Blues just don't seem to have it in them right now with this squad to achieve that.

But are they close to it? I suggest they are.

So, let's get Crewe and Charlton out of the way and maybe a couple of weeks to recharge, but then let's really recharge! Portman Road has become a place to be again.

On another subject, it was good to see Mark Ashton over in the States planning meetings with Mark Steed and the Ipswich Town ownership group this week.

Janoi Donacien heads against Wigan. (Image: Steve Waller)

That's the type of thing fans want to see. Debate, planning and hope, real hope.

We want so much on the pitch, but what happens off it is just as crucial.

Because we've been talking too long about returning to 'our greatness'. There is so far still to go. It will be baby steps and they really must start in earnest next season.

As I said, I don't know about you, but I can't wait.