"A special place to be" - Cameron Burgess on life at Kieran McKenna's Ipswich
You don't have to be of an Ipswich Town persuasion to recognise that something special is brewing in Suffolk.
After years of false dawns and disappointment, the Tractor Boys have finally concocted a winning formula under the guidance of Kieran McKenna: the former Manchester United coach who has Portman Road daring to dream again.
At the heart of the team McKenna has constructed is defender Cameron Burgess; an imperious defender who has matched Ipswich's own ascent over the past 12 months.
After featuring for Australia at U19 and U23-level, Burgess was made to wait for his senior call-up. But after blossoming under the influence of McKenna at Portman Road, he won his first cap against Mexico last month. And just for good measure, he followed that up with an impressive appearance against England at Wembley during the recent international break.
"It was a really proud moment," Burgess tells Mirror Football ahead of Friday night's Championship clash against Rotherham. "It was a good experience to play against a pretty impressive team and good to get another cap. It was nice to mix it up with players of that calibre. I haven't had a chance to go up against most of them before, so it was a pretty cool experience."
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That appearance at Wembley was the culmination of a journey that started on the other side of the world when Burgess was just a kid.
Burgess was born in Scotland but emigrated to Australia at the age of 10 after his mother was offered a job overseas. Despite the move - and the soaring temperatures - Burgess continued to hone his craft while adapting to a brand new way of life.
"It just felt like a holiday for the first few months. Here you see housing estates where all houses are the same, all I can remember seeing in Australia is different houses; no two places were ever the same, so that straightaway gives you that sort of holiday feeling.
"The first thing you do is, 'Right, what team am I going to play for?'. There were a couple of lads playing in the street by a family friend's house, it was a case of 'What team do you play for? Cool, I'll play for them'.
"Training alongside school meant you ended up getting up at six in the morning for training because of the heat. Then it was off to school after. I did that pretty much until I came back to London at 16."
Burgess played for Australia against England at Wembley during the international break (Alex Livesey/The FA)As a teenager, Burgess impressed during a trial with Fulham, who offered the defender a contract - but the decision to move back to the UK was far from a straightforward one. With an eye on a career in architecture, Burgess was forging his own path away from the game after being offered a job as a junior draftsman.
But the opportunity to carve out a career in football was too enticing. After all, football was, as he puts it, "everything".
He added: "I was quite interested in architecture and I accepted a job. I had another year at school for my final exams and they offered to hold the position so I could finish school and make sure it was what I wanted to do. It was in that year that my dad organised a trial with Fulham and I ended up getting a contract.
"I didn't want to ring them up and tell them! But football was what I always wanted to do, so I had to ring them up and say, 'Remember that job you offered me? Well, I'm going to go and play football instead!'. You don't expect to make it as a player, but it all happened really quickly."
Burgess' career was already on an upward trajectory prior to joining Ipswich two years ago after spells across Leagues One and Two, but McKenna has elevated his game to new heights.
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Perhaps that shouldn't come as a surprise. After all, that's what McKenna does, isn't it? If anyone in the EFL has the Midas Touch right now, it's the Ipswich Town manager.
The Northern Irishman inherited a sleeping giant bereft of belief back in December 2021. In under two years, McKenna has constructed a slick, well-oiled winning machine that is blitzing its way through the second-tier at a canter.
Burgess is far from the only one to reap the benefits of McKenna's impact, but his verdict on the architect of the club's success speaks volumes. When asked about McKenna's impact, Burgess says matter of factly: "He's got me playing the best football I've ever played.
"I've said this many times before, the culture he drives and the detail he goes into in order to help us on the pitch is second to none. Everything works really well because everyone laps up what he offers as a coach. The other coaching staff are the same as well. I couldn't give him any higher praise. It's just a case of trying to take it all in.
"Little words [he drives] like standards, details and humility. Those are cliche words describing him and his staff and everybody involved with the club, but those words are how we live life. Some people might say that's cliche, but that is really what we do here."
Burgess has taken his game to new heights over the past 12 months (PA)Even though it's been years since an Ipswich Town team has truly embodied the history and stature of the badge on the shirt like this, the magic of Portman Road has not waned.
Burgess himself admits that no amount of research or even experience of playing against Ipswich could help a player fathom what it's truly like to play for one of English football's finest institutions. It's still something that takes him aback, even two years on.
"You can research a club's history and the size of the fanbase, but you don't really fully understand and know [how big the club is] until you're here. Until you come here and experience what it is to play for this club and feel the support of the fans [you don't understand].
"It never changes really, every home game when you come out of that tunnel, that noise is surreal. That will never go away. It quickly reminds you - not that you're going to forget - that this is a really special place to be."
Burgess may be underselling it. To put Ipswich's current rise into context, no other club in Championship history who have accumulated 27 points from their first 11 games have failed to win promotion. Back-to-back promotions - and a return to the Premier League - is very much on the cards for a history-rich club who have been starved of success for decades.
Kieran McKenna has made a huge impact at Ipswich TownThe fact that more and more clubs are shunning the conventional names and thinking outside of the box in a bid to unearth the next young coach in the McKenna mould speaks volumes about the seismic impact he's had in Suffolk.
Burgess believes the environment that's been fostered since his arrival has led to something truly special.
"I think there's an element of finding the right club, style and managers to bring out the best in you. It's a hard thing to have, as a player, that; to get all those factors matching at the right time.
"I know it sounds daft, but everything clicks. It's not a case of all of a sudden you've become a good player, it's just a case of being given that platform to do the best you can. Whether that's on the field things, off the field things, that's something the club has done really, really well.
"The way things have gone in the last couple of years has been [unreal] and we've gone from strength to strength. The lads we've got here, the area, the people involved with the club, the fans, the culture around the place...it was all top notch anyway, but it's gone to new levels. You have to try and take it all in as you go, because this is a special place to be."
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