Town manager Paul Jewell says he’s under no pressure from owner Marcus Evans to reach the Premier League in his first full season in charge, unlike some other Championship bosses. Ahead of the opening game of 2011/12 at Bristol City on Saturday, the Blues chief, who took over from Roy Keane in January, is asking fans for patience as he develops a team capable of winning promotion to the top flight.
Jewell said: "I’m under no pressure from our owner to get to the Premier League this year, but I’d love to get to it. That’s why I’ve come here.
"I haven’t come here to improve every year in terms of place, I’ve come here to get in the Premier League and I feel it’s a realistic goal, given the right amount of time and improvement of the squad.
"The only pressure on me is the pressure I put on myself to try and win a game,” he continued. "But we want to get there as soon as possible.
"I’ve been here six or seven months, I haven’t got a magic wand and things take time. We’re building for the future. We’ve got some experienced players, we’re looking to bring in some young players and develop those young players and hopefully they’ll be here for years to come and be part of a successful Ipswich Town Football Club.”
The Liverpudlian is aware that greater pressure is being put on other managers, particularly at West Ham: "I’ve got a two and a half year contract and hopefully at the end of that contract we’ll extend it. If by the end of it we can improve and be somewhere near [getting back to the Premier League], that’s the goal.
"I know Sam Allardyce said that if he doesn’t get promotion this year he’s going to get the sack. If his owners have said that at least he knows where he stands! My owner definitely hasn’t said that, not to me anyway!
"I think that as a manager — or whatever job you do — if you’re improving the product as time goes on, you must being doing OK.
"In football we live in a world where sometimes improvements aren’t enough for some people who make the decisions, whether that’s owners or whoever.”
Jewell was at pains to stress that turning Town — who he felt looked like a relegation-bound side when he took over - into a Premier League team is no short-term job and asked fans for patience, even if he’s as keen for return to the big time as they are: "I’m asking fans for that, but I don’t feel any myself!
"As long as people can see that it’s a work in progress. I don’t want supporters not to renew their season tickets because we’re being defeatist. We’re not, we’re just being realistic.
"We’ve got a chance, but there are probably about 15 or 16 teams in this league who think they’ve got a chance of getting in the top six.
"My experience is that it takes time to stamp your style on a place. We don’t just want a first team which is successful, we want a club which is successful.
"The vibrancy and the family feel is already here, we just need to add winning games and get the feel-good factor back at Ipswich. That’s what we’re after.”