Boss Mick McCarthy says he would happily have taken Town’s current situation when he took over at Portman Road on November 1st with Town bottom of the Championship. The Blues go to Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday all but safe in 13th place on 56 points, although still only five from the drop zone.
"I sure would, I’d take it now, it’s a good position to be in,” McCarthy said. "What are there, 12 teams below us? There are a lot of teams who have got to play each other.
"We’re not mathematically safe, which is bonkers at 56 points. It’s been a ridiculous season and the league table would be on its head in terms of teams who have been winning — Barnsley, Peterborough, ourselves, Huddersfield had a spell, Wolves won three on the bounce.
"But I’ll take the position that we’re in. It’s a good place to be at the moment when we were rock bottom in November.”
Since taking over after Paul Jewell’s exit when Town were on just seven points from 13 matches, McCarthy’s Blues have picked up 49 points from 30 games and would be fourth in a league based on results from November 1st onwards.
The Blues would also be fourth in a table which started on December 1st, 11th since January 1st, third since February 1st and second March 1st.
He admits he couldn’t have wished for better progress: "It’s gone as well as I could have hoped for. I didn’t come in with any expectations, I came in and, as I’ve said before, in the first week I was here nobody had a good word to say about anybody. I was thinking of doing a U-turn!
"But that’s not been the case. There’s such a good bunch of fellas here, staff and players, it’s been a good experience and at the moment we’re in a good position.
"But we want to go and get something at Sheffield Wednesday and try and make sure that in the last two games we’re not wanting points. I don’t want to be wanting points going up to Burnley on the last game because they might be, and it would be a huge game.”
He says he’ll have learnt something from going through a Championship relegation battle: "Yes, but don’t ask me what!
"It just adds to your experience, your own emotional, physical portfolio, not anything you can share with anybody, it’s just there, it’s within you and you learn how to handle things, manage things at a given time during what might be happening.
"It’s not something that I’ve ever done. I joined Sunderland with nine games to go and we had 19 points and we ended up with 19 points.
"Different league, a different set of circumstances and as has been proved, nobody’s ever done that. Nobody’s ever inherited that sort of team and kept them up. This is different, it’s the Championship, but I’ve learnt, I always do.”
He says younger bosses involved at the wrong end of the table will ultimately find the experience beneficial: "They’ll benefit by being in the Championship next year, that’s the first benefit. Then they’ll benefit after that from having experienced being in a scrap.
"When things are going well for you and everybody’s patting you on the back and it’s all nice and rosy and there’s no pressure, it’s a doddle because you come in, you put sessions on, you do it.
"Nobody’s really knocking on your door trying to find out why they’re not playing because they know why they’re not playing - because the team’s winning.
"You come in and do the press and it’s all nice and benign and nobody really bothers you. You go out in the street and to restaurants and people all shake your hand and say hello.
"But if you’re suddenly swimming around in the shark pool at the bottom and you might be getting relegated, it’s ‘Why am I not playing?’, owners or chairmen are in your earhole asking why you’re not doing this or not doing that, fans are as well, media are, that’s just the way it is.
"That’s the life of football managers and they will benefit from it. If they survive it.”
This season’s turnaround at Town is unlikely to have gone unnoticed elsewhere and it would be little surprise if other clubs were taking notice, but he insists he is enjoying life with the Blues, who he is contracted to until the summer of 2015.
"I hope they are,” he laughed. "I’m ambitious to be at the top of the game, but I’d love to be here and do it, having enjoyed what I’m enjoying now.
"That’s my ambition at the moment, and you can only change that if someone comes [in for you], the same if you’re a player, it doesn’t matter what job you’re doing. If you just settle for what you’ve got, there’s something wrong with you. Enjoy what you’ve got, but always try and get better.”
Overall, McCarthy appears more than content: "I’m kind of happy in my life. People see me on the pitch and people judge me on how I played and all that.
"Although I’m not walking around with a coat-hanger in my gob, I’m a happy person that’s kind of secure with his lot, with his life, with my family and I enjoy the job.
"And I hope that’s reflected in how I go about my job as well. I haven’t got any rabid insecurities with anything at all.”