Boss Paul Jewell is confident that failing to beat his former club Derby County at Portman Road this evening won’t see owner Marcus Evans end of his time with Town. However, the Blues manager is well aware that he needs to pick up some victories soon if he is to save his Town career.

Jewell, whose time as boss at Pride Park coincidentally ended after a 1-0 home loss to Town, said: “Having spoken with Marcus on Sunday, no. But I desperately want to win, of course I do. I desperately want to win every game, I desperately want to win every training session.

“I don’t think [I need to win to keep my job], but it doesn’t strengthen my position if we don’t win, that’s for sure. So, we’ve got to try and make sure we win the game.

“The most important thing tomorrow is that the players go out with a positive attitude and a willingness to run around and get a result for the fans.”

But he admits he’s well aware of the reality of the situation for any manager: “If AVB doesn’t win for the next 12 games, he might be under pressure, so we’re all so many games from the sack, it’s just that some of us have got more time than others.

“If it happens to be me tomorrow, or Saturday or on Wednesday I would accept it because it’s not as if I’ve had two minutes at the job, I’ve been here 20 months or so now.

“I’m disappointed with the progress that we haven’t made, but that’s just me being honest. I’m not going to hide behind anything. I’ve been here a long time, but we just haven’t been able to get a run of game or some momentum going throughout this season and last season.

“But it’s been happening for five or six seasons at Ipswich, it isn’t just something which has happened since I’ve been here.”

He admits he weighed up quitting at the weekend but feels that he can still be a success at Portman Road: “I considered it and decided not to.

“I spoke with Marcus and my staff, some players came and spoke to me and people in the game and I just reflected on what I’ve achieved in the past as a manager - I’ve had success and I’ve had failures.

“But I want to do my best and I don’t want to just walk away and then regret it. I’m going to give it a bit longer and hopefully we can turn it around.”

He says he now regrets making those post-match comments at Hull: “We say things in the heat of the battle that afterwards we wish we hadn’t. I wish I didn’t have to do an interview after the game. I wish I didn’t have to do a press conference even now, but I’ve got to do it.

“You’ve known me for long enough now to know that I’ll always be honest and I don’t hide adversity, I don’t hide behind referee’s decisions or injuries. I say it as I see it and that was exactly how I felt. I might have been wrong to say it but that’s me.”

Asked whether he was doubting himself, Jewell says everyone does at some time or another: “Have you ever had any self-doubts? If so, then you’re a human being. I know you’re a press guy, but you’re still a human being!

“If you don’t have self-doubts or question yourself you’re living in cloud cuckoo land. Anyone who doesn’t admit to having self-doubt or a loss of confidence is telling lies.

“Of course I’ve got self-doubts, but I look back at my record and think, ‘Well, I got Bradford promoted and kept them in the Premier League. I was part of the Wigan set-up that went from League One’.

“I’ve done a lot of good things in my career and the last couple of seasons with Derby and Ipswich have been tough, I accept that. But in a way that makes you more determined.

“I have self-doubts because I care. I care about my job greatly, I’ve got huge pride and it’s really, really tough at the moment. But they say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

He says he believes he has a squad capable of being much higher up the Championship: “You want players in the group who are prepared to stand up and fight, and I think we’ve got that.

“We didn’t play well on Saturday. If you ask me if were we lucky or unlucky, I thought we were very fortunate to go in 1-0 up at half-time on Saturday.

“But in six or seven games that we’ve played this season we’ve been really unfortunate. We haven’t been played off the park, we’ve always been in games.

“I’m not saying we’re in a false position because we’ve had 11 games now, but I believe we’ve got more than enough in our group to climb the table.”

The Liverpudlian refused to blame owner Marcus Evans or chief executive Simon Clegg for the club failing to land several of his targets during his time at Portman Road: “I don’t think any manager at every club can always get every player he wants. I’ll take responsibility, I’m the manager, I picked the players, I picked the team.

“We would have liked some other players to come in, but you don’t get everything you want in life, never mind football. I’m here to take responsibility.

“We could have had Charlie Austin, we could have had one or two others. We had him here and we couldn’t agree a deal [he subsequently joined Burnley] and there are plenty of other players that have slipped through the net.

“But we’ve also brought in what we think are some good players as well, so I’m not going to sit here and say it’s because I couldn’t have this player or that player. We’re in a situation, I’ll front it up.”

If his time at Town is to come to an end after the Derby match or the visit of another of his previous clubs Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday, he says it won’t be for the want of trying: “I don’t think anyone could ever accuse me of not working hard enough.

“I love my job, I love coming into training, I love coming into work and whatever happens it won’t be through lack of effort. If I fail it won’t be through a lack of effort or caring.”

Photo: Action Images

Norwichbeater added 08:34 - Oct 23 Nice guy but living in the past and clinging on. The first thing the new manager will focus on will be teaching defenders how to defend and maybe bring in a specific coach. Motivation and self belief will be high on the agenda and if he has some kind of tactical ability then we will really start to move!!! some kind of long term plan would be also be good as well as being able to get the right players in but more importantly getting the most out of what we have got. Persuading Evans to dispose of Clegg would also be a step forward. Perhaps if Jewell didn't have such tunnel vision he would have addressed some of these issues. He appears to be stumbling along even if we win a couple of games the old pattern will return again.

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raycrawfordswig added 08:35 - Oct 23 Feck your career .Get out of our club.
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Mystified added 08:36 - Oct 23 You have had 20 months to assemble a decent squad of players. Where are we today? We are a shambles, an embarrassment, and thats putting it politely. Stop coming out with excuse after excuse, you are not the right man to take us forward and in my opinion have never been the right man for the job from the start. Do the right thing PJ and leave ITFC. Marcus and Simon - if your reading this you should also take some responsibility of this mess that we find ourselves in, sort it out!

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otleyp16 added 08:38 - Oct 23 Same as my post yesterday this just proves how little the people running our club care for it and the fans there is no point in protesting tonight either because they do not care at all what the fans think to them we are just a source of income sad really sad
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Karlosfandangal added 08:41 - Oct 23 No one played for Keane as he was nasty and no one plays for Jewell because he is nice Evans and Clegg appointed the managers so getting rid of Jewell does not mean they will get it right this time or is it 3rd time lucky.
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RegencyBlue added 08:41 - Oct 23 I really am fed up listening to the rubbish spouted by this man. If your're not going to resign at least do us all a favour and shut up!!!
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Bob7881 added 08:43 - Oct 23 Regarding Players that Jewell has missed out on, im under no illusion that players want as much money as possible. Has anyone considered that players meet Jewell listen to his vision and Nah not for me you dont inspire me. I as a fan feel that way towards him.
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LFCITFC added 08:45 - Oct 23 one thing is becoming clear........Marcus Evans is a feckin Idiot! I like PJ, but even I can see the club is going nowhere fast with him in charge
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Drew added 08:46 - Oct 23 Please for the love of god play 4-4-2, none of this 4-5-1 rubbish.
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alfromcol added 09:14 - Oct 23 We still need 2 decent full backs who can defend and until we get them we will leak goals from counter attacks
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muhrensleftfoot added 09:25 - Oct 23 He's a decent man, but he makes far too many mistakes. If he was a goalkeeper, he'd be letting in at least 3 each game! Last season he was saved from the sack when he paired Hyam & Drury in midfield. That wasn't brilliant tactics from PJ, it was pure luck, forced on him by injuries & suspensions. Why doesn't he do that again? I don't want to see Wellens & Reo Coker in our midfield unless they are committed long term. Forget n'daw, luongo etc, they're not ours. PJ's in such a mess he doesn't know his a**e from his elbow anymore. Needs clear thinking, and I think he can't handle the pressure. Time for a new manager before it is too late

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brittaniaman added 09:25 - Oct 23 Lost for words !!! So arrogant Jewellio is,, to say that if we do not defeat Derby tonight he will still be here !!! what the heck did Evans say to him Sunday ?????? I do think we have the players to turn this around, BUT NOT with Jewellio at the helm !! Tactics, positioning, substitutions not his strengh,, as we the fans know ??? I would love us to beat Derby tonight,, but I think it will be another draw ??

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nitroblue1970 added 09:38 - Oct 23 OK so he's not going to leave....so give us something to back you PJ! Make a bold statement with your team selection, get the team playing the flowing football we love, galvanise the squad, make them work hard, make them give a sh*t.....show the fans you want this!!!! In nearly three years, sadly you haven't so I don't have any hope you can now!
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TractorRoyNo1 added 09:46 - Oct 23 ummm, with 5 mins to go, and we are 2 down, and the crowd start the 'ole, ole, ole' when derby string 3 passes together for the first time - THEN we will see how strong / stupid / soft the owner is with jimmy jewell
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Special_A added 09:50 - Oct 23 This is the first time I have ever said this about itfc, but I sort of hope we get turned over by 5 goals tonight so that we can put an end to this slow death. That way everyone would clearly see it is the end of road and time to move on.
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rollercoastertown added 09:51 - Oct 23 After weighing up his future at the weekend, what was the evidence he found that suggested he could still be a success here. Maybe his accountant gave him enough evidence to not walk and wait to be pushed???
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gibbo added 10:02 - Oct 23 Stand up if you want Jewel out, stand up if you want Jewel out
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SFox91 added 10:26 - Oct 23 What an earth is happening to this club. It hurts so much to see this going on. Football today is all about the money and it gets me so angry knowing there are fans like us who care so much about the club and the players could not give two sh**s about what happens as long as they pick up there pay check, if we get relegated at the end of the season so what because they will just move on. So Paul please play the younger, home grown and hungry players who want to put our shirt on. Most people i know just take the piss out of the club and its just become a laughing stock of the country.

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essexitfc added 10:37 - Oct 23 Why are we giving him these two games to turn it around? If he is sacked it won't be based on the last few games, its based on his whole time here. Too many loans and pensioners last year and this year theres still too many loans. This is a joke, I agree some sort of protest needs to be done tonight no matter what the result is, the people at our club at the moment are a joke. I have never felt this low about Ipswich before, no optimism whatsoever about the situation, why should we have?

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Lennyboy added 10:40 - Oct 23 Read between the lines or maybe its obvious, this is all about saving his job and career; because if he is sacked at town no club would entertain him. He doesn't really care about twon, its about saving his own arse.
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Lennyboy added 10:41 - Oct 23 big thumbs...should read town
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TractorJed added 10:55 - Oct 23 Just hope we put in a gritty winning performance tonight, need 6 points from next two games to avoid being cut adrift. Come on you blues!!!
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BYRNE_16 added 10:57 - Oct 23 do people really think on this website that anyone cares enough about us to make us a laughing stock? the only people really laughing at us are the budgies. We are just another club going through difficulties. There are or have been plenty of other clubs in a worse position than us. Lets count ourselves lucky that we still have plenty of time to pull this around.
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WorcesterBlue added 11:03 - Oct 23 Very worrying I am afraid on all fronts. Manager who has lost it (not that anything he has done in 18 months suggests he ever had it imo), Cheif Executive who is aloof, arrogan, complacent and apparently has no knowledge of football administration whatsoever and an owner who's motives are unclear. There should be a plan and we should know what it is so we can buy into it. Jewell changes his mind (and midfield) every 5 seconds and makes bizarre signings often in areas where we don't need it. Its an absolute mess and if he had any integrity he'd walk (and drag Clegg with him). I do agree however that ME is likely to make another rubbish appointment - don't discount Megson everyone aaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh come back PJ!

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portmanteau added 11:04 - Oct 23 clegg has said there is a tipping point so he and the owner obviously have a particular one in mind. from jewell's comments they don't appear to have told him! is it after one more defeat this week or after another 11 games without a win? a statement one way or the other might just concentrate a few minds on and off the pitch.
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