Ipswich Town boss Mick McCarthy has revealed that he was very close to signing one of the stars of the Championship season, Brentford attacking midfielder Alan Judge.

Following their fifth-place finish in 2014/15, it’s been a season of disappointment for Brentford and they arrive at Portman Road placed 14th in the table.

Judge has still managed to be a stand-out player in a much-changed team though, scoring 14 goals and providing 11 assists in the league.

“Judgey, who we had in the door here, and spoke to, and who we thought we were signing – he’s the one who seems to be ripping it up for them,” McCarthy let slip in his interview with Ipswich Player.

Judge moved to Brentford from Blackburn in the summer of 2014. Town did sign one player from Brentford last summer, skipper Jonathan Douglas joining on a free transfer and recently starting his 30th league game to trigger an automatic extra year on his contract.

– See tomorrow’s EADT for full match preview.