Town manager Paul Jewell says this season’s team never deserved to be anything other than a mid-table Championship side. Nevertheless, the Blues boss insists that there are some very good players at the club and that despite another disappointing season there are reasons to be positive.
Jewell said: "We’ve never been a team this season which has been good enough to get in the play-offs. We’ve got the maximum from the players, I think they’ve given the maximum they have since January. We’re comfortable, but we’re looking forward to next season.
"Look at our game against Preston on Saturday, that probably typified our season. It was a decent first half, we could have been a couple more goals in front, then in the second half we were hanging on.
"It’s been synonymous of us really, we haven’t really been able to put 90-odd minutes together. Next season, hopefully, we’ll have the players that we’re looking for to improve our squad.”
The Town boss can’t wait to have a side capable of finishing higher than the Blues' current position of 12th: "I’m really looking forward to getting a team which can be competitive. I think where this team has finished was about right. I always think that after 46 games you finish where you deserve to.
"What we’ve got now needs help in key areas to hopefully make the players who want to be here successful.”
Despite yet another mid-table season, Jewell says there are plenty of reasons to be positive at Portman Road: "I’ve inherited a lot of good things here. Let’s not be negative, there are a lot of good things. This club’s got an awful lot going for it — great stadium, great support, great facilities and a lot of good players.
"There are some really good players here, talented players. But it’s obvious that we need goals in the team. We’ve got to start scoring goals on a regular basis.
"We’ve got to start being a goal threat to stop putting pressure on our back four. At the same time, we have to defend better as a team, as well as attacking better as a team.
"We need to get to the situation where when we go a goal down, we still think we can win the game. At the minute when we go a goal down you get the feeling that we might nick a draw, but are we going to get two or three goals? At the moment, the answer to that name is no.”