Blues boss Mick McCarthy says meeting Town owner Marcus Evans was key to his decision to join the club as manager last month. Monday is the fifth anniversary of Evans's takeover at Portman Road.
McCarthy says the club’s 49-year-old owner made a significant impact upon him when he met him: "A very big impression, he was very important in me coming here.
"When I went to see him I had designs on taking a Premier League club. I didn’t have any designs on taking a club which was bottom of the Championship.
"But when I spoke to Paul [Jewell] and other people, I was suitably impressed enough to go and speak to him.
"And having met him, that convinced me that it was the right thing to do. I knew about the club within reason, but he impressed me.”
He says Evans confirmed that there will be money to spend in January: "That was discussed at the time. There’s no chance I would have come here unless there was a chance of being competitive.
"There’s all sorts going to happen this year with Financial Fair Play, that’s going to make it difficult for everybody, but if we can get this place rocking and get 20,000 people here, that will make it better because we’ll be one of the more competitive clubs in terms of crowds and how much we earn.
"Marcus has backed his other managers and convinced me that that would be the same when I came in.”
McCarthy says former boss Jewell has been in touch to congratulate him on his excellent start at Town: "I’ve heard from him, I’ve had text messages from him, just saying ‘Well done’, which is lovely. It’s refreshing actually, when you come in and take someone else’s job.
"But Paul was looked after and it was all dealt with properly and he’s a mate of mine, so I’ve no doubt he wishes me well.
"We used to speak on a fairly regular basis when we were both scrapping away trying to get a result. It’s very nice of him.”