The position envisaged by the Guardian writers: 18 (NB: this is not necessarily Nick Ames' prediction but the average of our writers' advice)
Last season's position: 2nd, Championship
Perspectives
A generation of football fans had forgotten Ipswich City But one of the country's most famous clubs is back after a 22-year absence, full of life and confidence following an impressive rise through the divisions. It will be a big occasion when they host Liverpool, regular rivals for major honours during Town's heyday in the 1970s and early 1980s, to open the season and the hope in Suffolk is that the glory years do not seem so far away.
Portman Road is a unique stadium, one of the most atmospheric in the top two divisions and associated for many years with old-world politeness. White wine rarely ran out in the boardroom, to adapt a phrase coined by its former chairman John Cobbold; it was a pleasant and often charming place to visit, but for two decades that hospitality extended itself too far. Ipswich sank into League One, became hollow at its core, privately regarded by many rivals as a weak team. It would take a powerful jolt to shake them.
The warmth of yesteryear is still there, but this is a different club, one that has adapted to the modern era and has no intention of putting a cap on expectations. The ambitions are high, the limits a little harder, the achievement of securing back-to-back automatic promotions is unquestionable and a previously dispirited fanbase is energised. But now comes the hardest part of all: Kieran McKenna’s exciting side have arrived earlier than anticipated and the task of staying up, which will involve tactfully improving while asking the core of the team that got them here to reach new heights, is the toughest of his two-and-a-half-year tenure.
Pre-season has been long and decidedly mixed. There have been some surprises in the transfer market: highly-rated defender Jacob Greaves has been tempted away from Hull and Omari Hutchinson has answered McKenna's prayers by making a permanent move from Chelsea. Former West Ham right-back Ben Johnson is a shrewd addition, while Aro Muric and Liam Delap fit into McKenna's expansive, aggressive approach from back to front.
But they did not have enough players to surprise Borussia Mönchengladbach by sending an under-21 team to play a proposed friendly with the first team at short notice last week and the race is on to bring in more players. Nathan Broadhead, a key striker, will miss the first few weeks through injury and there are concerns that striker George Hirst also faces a drop-out.
At least one more attacker was already needed and an even bigger priority is finding a midfielder ready to challenge the outstanding, but ageing, duo of Massimo Luongo and Sam Morsy. Other current stalwarts such as Wes Burns and Conor Chaplin will be eager to make a quick impact but it is perhaps helpful that their first two games – a trip to the Etihad after the visit of Liverpool – are not among those that will decide their fate.
This season could prove too much for Ipswich, in which case they will at least be back on the map and have more than enough resources to try again. But under McKenna's brilliant stewardship, it would not be surprising to see them go straight in, tear through less established rivals and emulate Brighton or Brentford. Whatever the outcome, Ipswich will offer something both exciting and new and reassuringly familiar.