Town manager Paul Jewell is expecting an electric atmosphere at Portman Road for tonight’s near sell-out East Anglian derby. The 46-year-old, who watched November’s 4-1 defeat at Carrow Road while away watching the Ashes in Australia, will be experiencing his first Town-Norwich game as Blues boss.
Jewell said: "It’s going to be electric. I have to say that the support since I’ve been here has been magnificent. We went to Bristol City on Saturday for what was in essence a mid-table game and took 1,000 people, which was terrific and it’s appreciated, certainly by myself and the staff. It’s great to see.
"We’d love to see Portman Road sold out for all our home games next season - that would mean that we are doing OK.
"They will have a huge part to play, whether there are 30,000 there or 10,000. There is no club without the supporters and it would be nice to give them something to cheer about against Norwich.”
The Merseysider says he knows what derbies mean to fans having been a regular at Anfield as a child, but says as a manager he is ultimately looking beyond just the one match, as important as it might be: "I know what these games mean to fans, having grown up as a Liverpool supporter as a kid, but at the same time our plan is longer term than that.
"It would be wonderful if we could beat Norwich, but my job’s about trying to get Ipswich in the position where they are next season. We’d love to beat Norwich, not because it’s Norwich, but because it’s the next game.
"I know that the first thing that the fans do when they get the fixture list is look at the two derby games, I’m aware of that.
"I’m not cold and think it doesn’t mean something different, it does. It means more to the fans and probably a little bit more to us, but we only get three points for it and they only get three points if they beat us and we both want to get the points.
"Without being cold about it, we’ve got to be up for it but keep a clear head at times in the game when you can let the occasion get to you.”
Jewell, who was joined for his pre-match press conference by coach Sean McCarthy, says he watched the away game, in which the Blues fell to a heavy defeat after Damien Delaney had been controversially red-carded, with no idea that he’d be in charge the next time the sides met: "I didn’t dream that a few months later I’d be the manager. I was out in Australia watching the cricket in a barmy army pub somewhere.
"The game was slipping away from Ipswich. Every mistake we made we seemed to get punished for. It obviously hurt the supporters, obviously hurt the players and also the manager at the time. People say we owe them one but we owe ourselves as much as anything.
"We’ve got four games left and if we can finish the season on a good little run it will put us in good stead for next season.”
The soon-to-be Town manager spent time in Brisbane and coincidentally played golf in the town of Ipswich close by before doing some coaching down the Gold Coast.
Jewell says the early part of this week was spent resting after Saturday’s exertions at Bristol City and that the management team began to look at Thursday’s game more in depth — including talking about the Carrow Road match — yesterday.
"The last two days have mainly been recovery because in the heat against 10 men it was a sterling effort. We’ve been trying to give them a bit of rest and today we’ll start preparing for Thursday,” he said.
"We’ve got one or two injuries and we will speak about what went on at Carrow Road and how we can avoid it this time. "
Grant Leadbitter could still play despite suffering a head injury at Bristol City on Saturday, while Mark Kennedy is back training with the physios after his hamstring problem and is in contention but appears unlikely to replace Darren O’Dea at left-back.
Leadbitter and Kennedy will be assessed this morning along with a couple of other unnamed players who have minor niggles, one perhaps Gareth McAuley who hurt his ankle in the first half at Bristol City. Lee Martin is suspended.
As of last night Town had around 300 restricted view seats left, available on the phone and to personal callers to the Ticket Office from 9am on a first come, first served basis. A crowd close to 30,000 expected at the first evening East Anglian derby for 13 years.