The sort of big name players, for the Championship anyway, that would make our competitors sit up and take notice that we were THE team to be reckoned with this season. Where are they then?

Shola Amoebi, Angelos Charisteas, David Nugent and Danny Shittu are just some of the names linked with Town this summer, which would have ticked those boxes but none of them signed.

It seems that for all the hype and hyperbole that the Blues were going to be big spenders, there is still an Ipswich 'old school sensibility' about the way we have gone about out business in the transfer market.

Instead, our signings have been sensible rather than 'sexy'.

Richard Wright will be welcomed back into the fold with open arms and although unlikely to reach the heights of his previous spell, he has the potential to be the top keeper in the division.

Jim finally got his man with centre-back Gareth McAuley and he looks to be a perfect no-nonsense replacement for Jason De Vos.

Like most fans, I was underwhelmed with the arrival of Kevin Lisbie, who after 12 years of injuries and bench-warming at Charlton, appears to have been bought on the basis of one good season at Colchester - Jamie Cureton Mk II?

But ignoring Lisbie's past, £600,000 for a player who scored 17 league goals for the worst side in the division last season, seems a bargain compared to £2.25 million for an untried striker like Nicky Maynard who has played little more than 50 games in the lower leagues.

If the last campaign taught us anything, it was spending millions on new players does not guarantee success. Sheffield United, Watford and Charlton splashed the cash last summer and they failed to match the exploits of the more prudent trio of Hull, Stoke and Bristol City.

Fuelled by picking our Fantasy League teams, most of us simply think the recipe of success is buying the best players and throwing them on the pitch.

But the less glamourous ingredients of vibrant team spirit, an appetite for hard work and steady organisation, which are nurtured on the training ground and in the dressing room, are just as important in bringing a team success.

On the surface we don't look to have the players that would get Gullit purring but it will be their substance that will determine whether we are celebrating in May.