Omari Hutchinson believes his loan move to Ipswich Town was the ‘perfect’ temporary switch for his development with the forward returning to Cobham as a promotion winner.
Joining the Suffolk-based club last summer on a season-long loan, it was a hugely impressive breakout campaign from Hutchinson in the Championship with the 20-year-old helping his side finish second, securing promotion to the Premier League – Town’s first season in the top-flight since 2002.
Hutchinson became an integral part of the Ipswich team following a particularly noteworthy second half of the campaign which saw the twice-capped Jamaican international win the Championship Player of the Month in February, contributing with important goals including a late winner in added time against Rotherham United and two stunning strikes in an impressive win away at Hull.
Having recently returned to Cobham before preparing to go away for his summer break, Omari is extremely grateful for his time in East Anglia, where he notched 11 goals and six assists – earning himself Ipswich’s Young Player of the Season award.
‘It was a great season and a great year,’ Hutchinson began. ‘From the minute I stepped into the building, all the boys were on it. They gave me a lot of confidence when I was training that I would take into my matches. We showed relentlessness and ruthlessness, we stayed composed and we got to the Premier League.
‘The culture was about being humble, being willing to work for the team and the badge because it’s a community club. All the fans love the club and you have to represent the badge really well and show humility.
‘I’d probably say it was the perfect loan move – you couldn’t really get much better, could you? Getting promotion was the ideal thing. My intentions were to go into the team, get as many minutes and as much experience as possible from my team-mates and the manager – and that ended up being the case. I just wanted to help out the team as much as possible.’
The attacker also acknowledged how much he developed both on and off the pitch during his time at Portman Road.
Omari continued: ‘It was a big step up from Under-21s football. It was my first time living by myself which was different. I’m good within my personal space though and my family are very supportive. I always saw them at every game.
‘In men’s football, you have fans that are on your back when you’re not performing and you have the fans behind you when you’re winning. You’re on TV and there are loads of people watching. There is a big difference, but being in that winning environment is just so good for a young player to see and get that winning feeling.
‘I gained a lot of experience at Chelsea, but it’s not the same when you are in a first-team dressing room week in, week out. You’re watching what they are doing, taking part in extras and they are grown men. They have to look after themselves, how they eat, going in the saunas – those little details really helped me a lot.
‘Even just speaking to the older players and learning about their experiences from other clubs and what they had to go through and all the sacrifices they made was really important for me.’
Hutchinson explained that he had regular contact with Chelsea during his time with Ipswich.
He added: ‘I had Andy Myers looking after me before he went to Millwall. He was a great guy who would always call me here and then and check up on me to see what I could improve on or where I was doing well.
‘Then Carlo Cudicini took over and did the same thing, and he’s another great guy. He would send me clips about where I could improve on and he would tell me just to keep going.’
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