Luke Chambers is delighted to see former club Ipswich Town in good health as he prepares for his Portman Road return tomorrow night.

The former Town skipper is back in Suffolk for Colchester’s visit in the Carabao Cup, a little over a year since leaving the club he represented nearly 400 times.

Much has changed since Chambers’ exit after nine seasons, which came in the wake of the club’s American takeover and was part of former boss Paul Cook’s move to completely rebuild the squad.

Chambers still lives in the town and has been a regular visitor to Portman Road since his departure and, having also played against Town in the Papa John’s Trophy last season, is looking forward to stepping out at his old home once again.

“Football moves very quickly and is a forever turning table,” Chambers said, speaking to BBC Radio Suffolk.

“In an ideal world it would have been nice to leave with a full stadium and the support I always received there. But it wasn’t to be and that was out of my control (due to Covid).

“I have been to a few games since I left and, moving forward, it’s going to be my club for the rest of my days. At the minute my allegiance is with Colchester and trying to win games of football but I will always keep an eye on Ipswich because it’s where I spent the majority of my football career.

“I will look back on everything at Ipswich with pride because I tried to do everything there to the best of my ability, sometimes maybe to the detriment of my own personal stuff. If I have left a mark, hopefully it’s a positive one.

“We went through some tough times but what club doesn’t? I’m looking forward to seeing how they get on moving forward.

“The investment has been second to none and the ground improvements are great – it's been needed for a long, long time and fortunately that’s now happening. It’s been matched with the support from the fans as well with season tickets and match tickets, which is amazing.

“Hopefully that will coincide with some success on the pitch over the next year or two. Everything is set up for the team to be successful, with a tremendous young manager, so I’ll always have an eye on Ipswich.”

Chambers already has more than 50 Colchester appearances to his name since his move down the A12, with the 36-year-old expecting a good game between the two sides at Portman Road on a night when Cole Skuse, Alan Judge and Freddie Sears could all feature for the visitors.

“It will be a decent local game between two clubs with their own agendas and plans, with the fact a few of us have played at Ipswich before just one of the back stories of the game,” he said.

“We played at Ipswich in the Trophy last season which was a bit of a quick turnaround for me (after leaving Town) but time’s gone by for me over the last year. It’s gone in a flash.

“I will be delighted to come back and play and I’m really looking forward to the game and to see some familiar faces and obviously a lot of new ones too. It’s got a completely different look to the club I left.”