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Portman Road Phone Lines Hot - Ipswich Town News

Town manager Paul Jewell says he’s had a few calls from people in football lending their support during the Blues’ struggles but agents have also been on the phone to the club offering potential replacements.

Jewell said: "I have had [had a few calls from people in football telling me to keep my chin up] and I’m sure the chief exec has had a lot of calls from agents as well, saying that my manager’s available and your manager’s no good!

"It’s a small world football and, let’s be honest, everyone is looking out for themselves because the football management game is a dog eat dog world, but a lot of people have been supportive of me and I’m grateful to them.”

The Liverpudlian says one agent offered the Blues someone to come into a senior footballing role at the club: "I know that one agent rang up and asked whether were looking for a director of football. It happens but the owner didn’t even tell me, someone else did. It’s a small world, football.

"That’s the way it is. It’s happened to me in the past, but that’s football. I don’t get upset by it because I know it happens. I might not like it and I would never get someone to ring up on my behalf and put me forward for a job.

"I’ve never done it. I’m not saying I haven’t been approached by clubs but that’s not something I’d want to put my name to. If someone wants to come to you, it’s a different kettle of fish than you going to them.

"I think what happens is that if there’s going to be a vacancy you probably need to know who you’re going to go in with. If I got the boot tomorrow and a new manager came in on Monday or Tuesday I think that’s the right thing to do because I think you almost have to have a contingency Plan B.”

If Town lose today, then it’s likely there’ll be dissent on the terraces but he doubts Evans is likely to be affected by calls for his head: "I understand people’s frustrations but [the mood] can also change if we win the game.

"I haven’t got a crystal ball. If that happens, that happens and I’ll have to deal with it. Hopefully we can give fans something to shout loud about and cheer.

"I don’t think this owner is going to be swayed but I see some owners coming on the TV backing their manager and saying all nice things about the manager, then a month later they’ve got a new manager on board.

"He certainly doesn’t want the publicity, he doesn’t need the publicity but he’s a fantastic businessman, obviously, and makes right decisions. You don’t get where you are and do what he’s done without doing your homework on people.

"I think he’s shown great faith in me and I really want to repay it back to him and the supporters over the coming years. I really don’t want to be here just for a year, I want to be here for a long time.”

Looking back on his 12 months in charge, he admits it’s been no bed of roses: "It’s been a tough year, no doubt about it. I’m not going to hide behind the fact we’ve had a lot of poor results.

"It is a work in progress as I keep saying. Hopefully it’s long job. We play Blackpool tomorrow and Ian Holloway is one of the best managers in this division and Leicester sacked him.

"Maybe if they’d stayed with him a bit longer, perhaps they wouldn’t have had to go through four or five managers before they got to Nigel Pearson.

Despite the situation, he insists there’s no crisis at Portman Road: "I’m asked that question most weeks here. I think it’s a club that’s having a tough time at the moment and I don’t really know how a crisis is described in the dictionary.

"Certainly, financially we’re not in crisis. We’ve got an owner who is fully committed to the club, we’ve got a great stadium, we’ve got great fans. We’ve got a team that at the minute that needs to do better, we’ve had poor results, but I wouldn’t say the club is in crisis.”

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