Boss Paul Jewell is confident that failing to beat his former club Derby County at Portman Road this evening won’t see owner Marcus Evans end of his time with Town. However, the Blues manager is well aware that he needs to pick up some victories soon if he is to save his Town career.
Jewell, whose time as boss at Pride Park coincidentally ended after a 1-0 home loss to Town, said: "Having spoken with Marcus on Sunday, no. But I desperately want to win, of course I do. I desperately want to win every game, I desperately want to win every training session.
"I don’t think [I need to win to keep my job], but it doesn’t strengthen my position if we don’t win, that’s for sure. So, we’ve got to try and make sure we win the game.
"The most important thing tomorrow is that the players go out with a positive attitude and a willingness to run around and get a result for the fans.”
But he admits he’s well aware of the reality of the situation for any manager: "If AVB doesn’t win for the next 12 games, he might be under pressure, so we’re all so many games from the sack, it’s just that some of us have got more time than others.
"If it happens to be me tomorrow, or Saturday or on Wednesday I would accept it because it’s not as if I’ve had two minutes at the job, I’ve been here 20 months or so now.
"I’m disappointed with the progress that we haven’t made, but that’s just me being honest. I’m not going to hide behind anything. I’ve been here a long time, but we just haven’t been able to get a run of game or some momentum going throughout this season and last season.
"But it’s been happening for five or six seasons at Ipswich, it isn’t just something which has happened since I’ve been here.”
He admits he weighed up quitting at the weekend but feels that he can still be a success at Portman Road: "I considered it and decided not to.
"I spoke with Marcus and my staff, some players came and spoke to me and people in the game and I just reflected on what I’ve achieved in the past as a manager - I’ve had success and I’ve had failures.
"But I want to do my best and I don’t want to just walk away and then regret it. I’m going to give it a bit longer and hopefully we can turn it around.”
He says he now regrets making those post-match comments at Hull: "We say things in the heat of the battle that afterwards we wish we hadn’t. I wish I didn’t have to do an interview after the game. I wish I didn’t have to do a press conference even now, but I’ve got to do it.
"You’ve known me for long enough now to know that I’ll always be honest and I don’t hide adversity, I don’t hide behind referee’s decisions or injuries. I say it as I see it and that was exactly how I felt. I might have been wrong to say it but that’s me.”
Asked whether he was doubting himself, Jewell says everyone does at some time or another: "Have you ever had any self-doubts? If so, then you’re a human being. I know you’re a press guy, but you’re still a human being!
"If you don’t have self-doubts or question yourself you’re living in cloud cuckoo land. Anyone who doesn’t admit to having self-doubt or a loss of confidence is telling lies.
"Of course I’ve got self-doubts, but I look back at my record and think, ‘Well, I got Bradford promoted and kept them in the Premier League. I was part of the Wigan set-up that went from League One’.
"I’ve done a lot of good things in my career and the last couple of seasons with Derby and Ipswich have been tough, I accept that. But in a way that makes you more determined.
"I have self-doubts because I care. I care about my job greatly, I’ve got huge pride and it’s really, really tough at the moment. But they say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”
He says he believes he has a squad capable of being much higher up the Championship: "You want players in the group who are prepared to stand up and fight, and I think we’ve got that.
"We didn’t play well on Saturday. If you ask me if were we lucky or unlucky, I thought we were very fortunate to go in 1-0 up at half-time on Saturday.
"But in six or seven games that we’ve played this season we’ve been really unfortunate. We haven’t been played off the park, we’ve always been in games.
"I’m not saying we’re in a false position because we’ve had 11 games now, but I believe we’ve got more than enough in our group to climb the table.”
The Liverpudlian refused to blame owner Marcus Evans or chief executive Simon Clegg for the club failing to land several of his targets during his time at Portman Road: "I don’t think any manager at every club can always get every player he wants. I’ll take responsibility, I’m the manager, I picked the players, I picked the team.
"We would have liked some other players to come in, but you don’t get everything you want in life, never mind football. I’m here to take responsibility.
"We could have had Charlie Austin, we could have had one or two others. We had him here and we couldn’t agree a deal [he subsequently joined Burnley] and there are plenty of other players that have slipped through the net.
"But we’ve also brought in what we think are some good players as well, so I’m not going to sit here and say it’s because I couldn’t have this player or that player. We’re in a situation, I’ll front it up.”
If his time at Town is to come to an end after the Derby match or the visit of another of his previous clubs Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday, he says it won’t be for the want of trying: "I don’t think anyone could ever accuse me of not working hard enough.
"I love my job, I love coming into training, I love coming into work and whatever happens it won’t be through lack of effort. If I fail it won’t be through a lack of effort or caring.”