Boss Paul Jewell has admitted that both he and owner Marcus Evans have got things wrong since they came to the club as the Blues come to the end of their 10th successive season in the Championship no nearer a return to the Premier League after another lower mid-table finish.
Jewell, whose side could register the club’s lowest finish for 55 years if they drop from their current position of 15th to 17th after Saturday’s final game at Doncaster, admits it’s been a poor last decade for the club: "It is a depressing record, I guess, but you have to ask why we have we been in this league for 10 years. There might be a few things.
"Obviously there’s been a lack of a winning culture, sometimes a lack of investment, sometimes too much investment, sometimes expectations have been unrealistic.”
He says that in football, historic reputations or large followings aren’t what win you promotions or trophies: "Ipswich has got a great name in the game, but, as I’ve said before, as we were getting promoted with Wigan from League One up to the Championship up to the Premiership and getting to the cup final, people kept talking about ‘traditional football clubs’.
"About how Sheffield Wednesday deserved to be in there, how Derby, Ipswich and this club and that club have got massive fan bases.
"That means a great deal but the most important product is getting it right on the pitch and for whatever reasons, we haven’t got it right on the pitch this season and for the last 10 seasons.
"We have to earn the right to be at the top end of the table,” he added. "Being a good team in the past buys you nothing.
"You only get out of this game what you put into it now and sometimes we look back too far. That’s life. It’s not all looking back, we’ve got to look forward.”
Jewell believes the foundations are in place at Town but feels mistakes have been made, both during his time at the club and beforehand: "The infrastructure is here, the owner’s been here four years now. It was a brand new project for him and I think maybe just throwing money at stuff doesn’t always work. You’ve got to have a structure, you’ve got to have a plan.
"I think this year I’ve been guilty of not planning enough by signing too many experienced players. Experienced players are important but getting the blend is vital and I’ve got the blend wrong this year.
"I will take full responsibility for that but life’s about learning from your mistakes. I’ve made a few mistakes.”
Owner Marcus Evans has spent plenty of money since he took charge in December 2007, not least last summer when Jewell brought in 13 new players, but the Town boss says a model of greater stability is what he will be looking towards in future: "Marcus is new to football and maybe he thought we’d throw money at it. When I was at Derby, no one knew who Marcus Evans was.
"Everyone thought that Ipswich were throwing serious money at it and all of a sudden players wanted to go to Ipswich because they were paying [big] wages. That hasn’t worked as yet and I think stability and structure and building is the way we want to go.
"Last year we brought in 13 players but I want to get to the situation where I’m really happy with the group of players that I’ve got and I need two or three players just to tweak it.”