Town boss Paul Jewell insists that this summer’s much-vaunted look towards the long-term has not been abandoned, despite the total of loan players having risen to eight. He says that he would have preferred to bring players in on a permanent basis during the transfer window but for one reason or another deals — including those for some of the players he has now brought in on loan - couldn’t be done.
Jewell believess that sometimes it’s better for younger players to have the pressure taken off them when a side is struggling but says they won't be forgotten: "It’s not abandoned. We tried to get players while the window was open. I would ask the question ‘what do you want me to do now that the window’s shut?’ Not bring anyone in?
"We are in a difficult situation. We’re in a situation where we’ve got to put some daylight between us and the teams at the bottom, and if you put too many young players in, it can do more harm than good, both to them and to the team.
"We think Massimo Luongo’s smashing, we think Luke Hyam [is as well], but it’s a pressure situation we’re in and we’re just trying to get some players in who can deal with the situation to try and get us over this sticky spell that leads to a longer-term plan.
"But we’re happy with Luke Hyam’s progress this season," he added. "He picked up an injury which has knocked him back a bit. Massimo Luongo’s going to be a good player too.
"Sometimes when you’re in a situation like we’re in now, you can do more harm to the young players. Sometimes you’ve got to take them out and give them a bit of a rest, so that’s what we’ve done.”
He says that while his immediate priority is arresting the slump that has seen the Blues drop to 23rd, even that’s with a view to the longer term: "At the moment, we’re second from bottom of the league, so we’ve got to improve.
"Whatever we’re doing, however we’re playing - and I’ve looked at all the stats and we’re playing better football than we did last year, we create more opportunities, we’re passing the ball more - we’re losing games.
"So, we’ve got to try and get over this [spell]. To go long-term sometimes you’ve got to go short-term [in order to get there].
"Ever since I’ve come here there’s been a long-term plan. Every time we think we’re making strides, something happens, we get a knock-back.
"We’ve got some good young players here and we don’t want to harm them by putting them into game situations which they haven’t got the experience for.
"I know what people will say — you’ve got to learn. But if we can take them out of the firing line for a little bit and get experience and get results, then we can look further on.”
The Liverpudlian says that some of the nine players that have come in on loan or on a short-term basis were previously — and ultimately still are — permanent targets: "They’re not just here as loans. I tried to sign a couple of the players, and a lot of [other] players, before the window closed.
"But the Premier League clubs were saying ‘No, we’ve got to get ours in’, then all of a sudden at 12.05 after the deadline those players become available.
"It’s difficult for supporters to understand but sometimes it’s down to money, sometimes it’s down to other clubs, sometimes it’s down to players.
"Without going into each and every player individually, that’s why we find ourselves having to loan players. It’s not ideal. But the loan players we’ve got here are good people.
"We’ve got six domestic and two cross borders. It’s not ideal but we’d like, if it was possible, for those players to become Ipswich players. It’s not as if they’re ships passing through in the night.
"They’re good players and the couple of weeks' training that we’ve had, and the week we’ve had since the new guys have been here, have been really good.”
Ideally he says he’d like to get younger players in but says it’s not always possible: "We’d love to get a Danny Higginbotham at 23 but I have to tell you we’ve searched high and low for young centre-halves, ever since we’ve been here.
"Everyone’s looking for them and can’t find them. We’ve got Danny, who’s got the experience.
"You look at John McGreal and people like that who have been at this football club, Jason De Vos, they can play at the back for a bit longer. We wanted younger and hungrier players. We’d love to be getting Reo-Coker at 21 and DJ Campbell at 22, of course we would.”
He concedes that Spurs only sent Massimo Luongo to Town for the season in order that the Australian could gain first team experience, while Richie Wellens is here for just a month.
However, he says the Leicester man was someone he had previously been after and felt he was worth bringing in even if it was just temporarily: "Richie’s only come in for the short-term to play games. He’s a quality footballer and I don’t think anyone would doubt that he’s a quality footballer.
"We tried to buy him, we couldn’t buy him, then he got injured, then he became available. What do you do, do you take him or not take him? We’ve taken him.”
As for the other recent additions, Jewell says that although they are experienced, they’re hardly at the end of their careers "Reo-Coker’s 28, that’s not ancient, DJ’s 30, he’s sharp. I understand exactly what the fans must be thinking, but nothing’s been abandoned, however we have Plan B.
"It would be great to have a team which was 23 or under, but at the moment that’s not going to happen.
"But we do want to look long-term. We don’t want to fill the club with loan players. We don’t want to fill the club with 35-year-olds, we don’t want to do that, but for the situation at the moment, to lead us to a brighter future, I think we’ve got to go with quality players who have proven their quality at the level.
"The next question will be that we did that with Lee Bowyer, Jimmy Bullard and Keith Andrews. But with respect, [the players coming in now are a bit younger] — DJ’s 30, he’s quick, he’s strong, he’s got 100% record. Age becomes an issue only when results go against you.”
He says the striker is one he hopes might prove to be a longer-term signing: "DJ Campbell, his contract’s up in the summer, I’m hoping there might be something we can do there."
The three-month loan of Bilel Mohsni is another one which could become permanent and Jewell says was a good chance to assess the Frenchman over a longer spell: "He’s come here and it’s too good a deal not to have because he can play left wing, he can play right wing, he can play up front, he can play centre-half, he can play anywhere. He’s different and he can get six or seven goals.
"Guirane N’Daw, he’s here for the season. Then there’s Danny Higginbotham, who we will try and sign permanently, Daryl Murphy’s here for a year.”
Jewell dismisses rumours that Senegalese international N’Daw threw his toys out of the pram after being left out of the 18 for the Cardiff match: "He hasn’t thrown them at me anyway! Someone said he wasn’t at the game, but I saw him after the match.”
The Blues boss says that Marcus Evans’s funding of the recent deals shows that he still has his backing, despite the poor start to the campaign: "The owner has been right behind me, he’s backed me in really, really difficult circumstances and by bringing these players in has shown people that he has faith in me long term to do the job.”