DAMIEN Delaney will use the frustration in front of his eyes to try and get another shot at the Premier League.

The Blues centre-back has pushed past 400 career appearances but only eight of those have been in the top flight – the last of which came 10 years ago.

Instead, he has been forced to watch rival clubs celebrate promotion parties and have pitch invasions, while his own Town team have struggled to break into the top half of the Championship in recent seasons.

He explained: “I have a real burning ambition to get out of this league.

“I was watching Reading’s promotion interviews (on Tuesday night) and I heard Jobi McAnuff (the Royals skipper) say he had waited so long for promotion.

“I was pretty happy for him when he said that because I know how it feels – I have been waiting just as long as Jobi. You are really trying hard and I was watching Jobi and thinking ‘I hope one day that will be me’. We will have to wait and see.”

It comes to something when Delaney’s dream this season was just to break into the top 12 of the Championship but he has had no choice after the Blues’ hugely inconsistent campaign.

He said: “I just want to see our name in the top-half of the table. When you are sitting at home with Sky Sports News on the telly and the table keeps flashing up and you are continuously in the bottom half, it grates on you.

“Just to get in the top half would be progress – that was a mini-aim for myself.”

Delaney, who last played in the Premier League for Leicester City in 2002, should form part of an Ipswich Town team who next season faces the unenviable run of being the longest-serving Championship club.

With Coventry City expected to be relegated this weekend, next season will be Town’s 11th in the second tier of English football.

The centre-back added: “I don’t think fans will be happy at that record.

“It is not where we would like to be, but unfortunately it has not panned out for a long time.”