With the departures of Clinton Morrison and Dougie Freedman in the summer and the long term injury to Shefki Kuqi, Warnock was left without a recognised striker in the early stages of the campaign.

And so he moved firmly to secure the services of Ipswich striker, Alan Lee on a three year contract.

The 30 year old Republic of Ireland international has proven pedigree at Championship level and his goalscoring ability saw him become a big hit at Portman Road, with a total of 31 goals from 91 games.

Lee started his career as a trainee at Aston Villa but was moved out on loan to Torquay United and then Port Vale, scoring twice for both clubs.

He then signed a permanent deal for Burnley where he struggled to make any sort of an impact with no goals from his 15 appearances. So, he moved on to Rotherham, making a loan deal permanent in 2000, and soon found a rich vein of form.

In over 100 appearances for the south Yorkshire club, Lee scored a total of 37 goals before making a big money move to Cardiff City three years later.

Goals followed him at Ninian Park and he went on to score 10 goals in 47 starts. But limited opportunities with the Bluebirds restricted his form and he decided to sign for Ipswich in 2006.