Town have confirmed that Chris Hutchings has joined the club as Paul Jewell’s number two. The 53-year-old was Jewell’s assistant at Bradford, Derby and Wigan and was always expected to take a similar role at Portman Road, having been sacked as manager at Walsall early this month.
The new Blues boss all but confirmed the appointment last week: "I’m going to bring in a senior coach to work alongside me. That will happen next week.
"Chris is a terrific coach and we’ve enjoyed success both at Bradford and at Wigan. Chris is most certainly well in the frame.
"I’ve got a couple of people to speak to and hopefully I want to get it nailed down no later than Tuesday if I can.”
During his playing days Hutchings was a defender with Chelsea, Brighton, Huddersfield, Walsall and Rotherham, where he started his coaching career.
In addition to his roles working under Jewell, Winchester-born Hutchings also succeeded him as manager at Bradford and Wigan where he failed to match the former boss's success and briefly as caretaker-manager at Derby. He had been at Walsall for two years prior to his recent dismissal.
Last week Jewell added his former Bradford strike partner Sean McCarthy to his coaching staff.