Town boss Paul Jewell has praised chief scout Steve McCall for the extensive scouting network he has created at Portman Road over the last few years. The Blues boss himself has been spotted watching a number of lower league games in recent weeks, with Barnet and Huddersfield both having been eyed more than once.
Jewell, who added his former Wigan and Derby scout David Hamilton to the staff earlier in the year, said: "I think Steve McCall has boxed it off really well and I’ve brought a couple of scouts in that I’ve added to the group.
"We’re watching games, we’ve got quite an extensive scouting network that we want to spread as far as we possibly can to add the best quality as possible.
"But I also want myself and the staff to get out and get to games. It’s OK people recommending players to us, I want to be able to see them myself then you can put your name to them with greater confidence.
"If you’ve got a chance to watch players a couple of times, then you should. The only problem here is that every journey is at least a two-hour trip!”
The Blues boss has said he is looking for targets not just for this season but for future campaigns, seeing his time in charge at Town as very much a long-term project: "I want to be sat here in five years’ time in the Premier League, if not before. I don’t see this as a job which goes from game to game.
"I’ve got a good relationship with the owner and we’ve got a vision and a long-term plan but people don’t want to hear about that, they want results straight away. I understand that, it’s just trying to marry the two together to move forward.”