The roller coaster trip of Ipswich in the past three years has been well documented.
Back-to-back promotions from League One and the Championship, to the Premier League for the first time in 23 years and then back to the second layer. There has been excitement and drama at every turn.
And George Hirst has been there for everything.
After he came to the club from Leicester in January 2023, he helped the League One Promotion Cause with six goals and two assists in 21 performances and, after permanent signing six months later, he helped the championship promotion with seven goals and six assists in 26 performances.
During the latter he had settled as the Talisman of Kieran McKenna, but a torn hamstring, who required surgery, kept him outside for the first four months of 2024.
Knie injuries also denied him 12 Premier League matches in the past term, which means that since 27 April 2024 Hirst has managed only seven league games, with his other 22 league games all off the bank.
“It was difficult, more because I have the feeling that the injuries I have had been so inevitable,” he says Sky Sports.
“If I get injured as a result of something that I don't do, it is easier to tolerate because I can take it on the chin and say it was my fault. I just had really bad luck and there is nothing that I could have done in the weeks or months before to prevent them from happening.
“After you were just at the Premier League and then were injured, it was disappointing in the sense of not wanting to let that opportunity go. You never know in this game when that chance will come again.
“The hardest thing was to stay sober. I don't sit down here and say that every day was great; when you ask the staff, there were days when I came in that I was pretty difficult to work with! It was just about staying consistent, staying back, coming back and hopefully in a better form than before.”
However, it has not only been injuries that have kept him out of the battle.
Liam Delap excelled in his first Premier League season, scored 12 goals and eventually earned a move to Chelsea, who activated his £ 30 million release clause.
“It [being out of the team] Is difficult and it can feel as if the chance is missing, “admits Hirst.” But Liam was absolutely fantastic last season and made it quite difficult for me to get into the team.
“We got off the field very well and that can sometimes be a strange dynamic because we both fight for the same shirt. It was a healthy competition and we pushed each other to be better as we knew, if we dropped the ball, the other was ready to take over.
“I played a few games towards the end of the season and felt that I deserved to do this; in this game I have the feeling that you get the rewards for the work you have done. All you can do is work as hard as human is, that's how I see it. It comes in every day and shows the best version of yourself.
“I have always been the first person who looks at myself. If I don't play, there is ultimately something that I don't do or that someone is doing better than me.
“That is up to me to put that right, that is up to me to increase my levels, to give the manager a different choice. It's difficult, but competition is competition. It will always be in football and it's something I enjoy.”
In a team that uses a lonely striker, patience is the key. Hirst, who made his Senior Scotland debut in March, has demonstrated that in abundance and now has the chance to lead the border again.
Ipswich knows how important he can be for them and gave him a new four -year -old deal earlier this summer. He also officially received the No 9 shirt on August 5.
“I am the happiest I have ever been to a football club,” he says, struggling to keep a smile.
“For me, it doesn't matter how much happens behind the scenes, if I don't feel appreciated or desired by the club where I am, then it is probably best to continue at that time.
“I have never felt that here and that is the main reason why I wanted to stay.”
Later in the day there is time for a short conversation with McKenna. “Whether Liam was here or not, there would have been a major role for George,” he says. “It's a busy season and you need strong players. George is a really strong player and always improves.”
With four goals in four friendly matches for the season, it is safe to say that Hirst uses.
“It was a shorter off season, gone with Scotland and then started earlier when the championship starts for the Premier League season, but it helped me to come back in probably the best form in which I have ever been.
“I don't think I've been ready to attack for a season now than now. To be honest, how I feel.
“I understand the opportunity that I have to be Ipswich's no. 9, to be and be that Talisman, the center is something I have always thrive on. It is something I have the feeling that I really have the chance to do and I am at an age where I have the feeling that I can really capture that.
“The Scotland call-up and trying my utmost to be Scotland's no. 9, gave me another kick-up the back to really crack with what I did in the low season.
“I didn't have much free time, but I didn't play many matches last season, so I didn't feel that I needed the rest to be honest. It was a matter of enjoying the summer, but coming back with the fire in my belly that this can be a very big season for me.”
Ipswich is the favorites for the Sky Bet Championship title with Sky Bet, undoubtedly given that the majority of the players in their Premier League team are still there.
They start their campaign on Friday evening, when they travel to St. Andrew's to take on Birmingham, live on Sky Sports.
Hirst acknowledges that it is unlikely that it will unfold in the same way as 2023/24, when the newly promoted tractor boys stunned everyone to finish second with 96 points, only one behind Champions Leicester.
“The way we did it last time was so special,” he remembers. “I think this time we will be the hunted instead of the hunters, who will bring a different dynamic.
“We knew what brought us where we were a few years ago and as much as we had as much quality in that team, it was not just the quality that promoted to us, it was all the other things behind the scenes that people don't see that you see in a position on Saturday in a position to win a game. Those are things you can double.
'People will call it busy [to be favourites]But I think we are pretty happy and it is a position that we should bloom on if people call us. “