Ipswich Town are heading for League One and even the most loyal fan couldn’t create an argument that would suggest otherwise.  

Paul Lambert has been unable to turn around the squad Paul Hurst assembled, and after 39 fixtures of the season, the Portman Road outfit have tasted victory on only three occasions.

Planning should be underway for League One and building for the future, with the club’s confirmation of Alan Judge’s new contract a positive and a sign that senior figures at the club are thinking straight.

Judge has signed a two-year contract at Portman Road, meaning he’s committed until the summer of 2021, with that deal having a 12 month option too.

The Irishman is definitely the type of player that Lambert can build a side around in League One, and fans should be delighted that the 30-year-old is buying into what the club want to do despite this season’s disappointment.

Looking back to the 2013/14 campaign, Judge went into former club Brentford in League One and made an outstanding impact to drag them up to the Championship. He struck seven goals to help them over the line, before an even better contribution in the second-tier helped establish the Bees.

He scored 18 goals and registered 24 assists in the Championship for Brentford, and although a horrific leg-break slowed him down, he was still a superb asset at Griffin Park.

Since that leg-break we haven’t seen the best of Judge, and that goes for his short spell at Ipswich too. But, stepping down into League One with Ipswich, which looks the likely scenario, could be crucial for the 30-year-old enjoying the latter stage of his career.

So, it is a move that both parties could really benefit from in the coming years, and from an Ipswich point of view, it is the perfect start to planning for life in League One.