Manager Mick McCarthy says this summer’s player recruitment will be crucial if Town are to challenge at the right end of the table in 2013/14. The Blues ended this season’s successful battle against relegation with a 2-0 defeat at Burnley on Saturday.
McCarthy took Town from bottom when he took over on November 1st after Paul Jewell’s departure to 14th in the Championship with the Blues sixth in a league table which started on that date.
He says pushing on during the next campaign will depend on his close season business: "See what we do in the summer, recruitment will be key.”
While Andy Drury, Arran Lee-Barrett and Lee Martin are set to move on, McCarthy is understood to be willing to listen to offers for Michael Chopra and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, who have been on the fringes of the side throughout the Blues boss's time at Portman Road. The pair have a year left on their Town deals.
Former loan striker David McGoldrick will sign a two-year deal when his Nottingham Forest contract is up at the end of June and another loanee Jay Tabb, whose Reading terms are up next month, is similarly expected to join permanently, while the Blues are believed to have agreed a three-year deal with Bristol City skipper Cole Skuse.
Striker Daryl Murphy is another loanee who could join permanently and McCarthy has also said he would be interested in keeping Guirane N’Daw, although the Senegalese international looks set to weigh-up options elsewhere and may receive more lucrative offers from French clubs.
It would be no surprise if Patrick Kisnorbo was offered a contract having impressed the Town manager despite his lack of games, but Aaron Mclean and Reece Brown are unlikely to be offered the chance to extend their time in Suffolk. Recent short-term signing Jason Brown is also set to move on, we now understand.
McCarthy would ideally like to keep Richard Stearman at Portman Road but agreeing a fee with Wolves for the defender, who has a year left on his contract, may not be easy and there could be interest from elsewhere.
The Blues are understood to be the favourites to sign Notts County winger Alan Judge, who is a free agent, having held talks with the Irishman, and St Mirren’s Kenny McLean is believed to be another target, while Wolves striker Kevin Doyle has, perhaps inevitably, already been linked with a reunion with his old boss McCarthy at Town.
Regarding the game at Burnley, McCarthy felt the lack of intensity was inevitable and wasn't too disappointed that the season ended in defeat.
"It was Burnley’s day, they got the deflected goal, then they got one from a corner, they brought [veteran keeper] Brian Jensen on [for the final minute]," he said.
"It’s the end of the season. It was just one of those days when it was relief all round, we can all enjoy it. I’m not happy that we got beat, I’m certainly not happy that we conceded from a corner kick. But it’s not going to bother me all through the summer.”
The Blues boss felt his side deserved a point and wasn’t going to be too hard on his players: "In no way shape or form am I going to come in and start criticising them and giving out to them.
"They have been fabulous, they have been amazing to get 53 points from the games that we’ve had and I can’t knock them.
"We had that objective and once you’ve reached that objective it’s a little bit hard to keep your foot to the floor. It’s a fair achievement to end up where we’ve ended up.”
McCarthy also had praise for the travelling Blue Army: "Fabulous support we’ve had. It’s a great club with great support. The away support has been terrific. I think they accepted it today that we’ve done our job, that’s the nice side of it.
"They’ve not come and given out because we got beaten in the last game, they’ve accepted that we’ve done our job and they’ve been fabulous.”
The Town manager didn’t keep an eye on the other scorelines on the Championship’s final day with neither the Blues nor Burnley having anything to play for: "No, not bothered. I’ve had that before when I’ve been involved in all that and it’s a trying old time.
"I’ve just got told them coming off, I’m delighted Barnsley have stayed up, that’s really pleased me. I’m disappointed though for [Peterborough manager] Darren [Ferguson] because I think he’s done an amazing job having lost the first seven. I like him. I think he’s a good guy.”
However, he feels the sides which have taken the drop are the ones who have deserved to do so: "It’s not unlucky. They’re the three worst teams in the league, that’s what they are. I’m telling you, if I’d have gone down with 54 points I wouldn’t be thinking I was unlucky.
"We knew it was going to take more, we knew at Christmas it was going to take more because we were all beating each other. And the ones who have got out of it have deserved it by hook or by crook.”
McCarthy says the Championship remains as tough a division as ever with the struggles of last season’s three relegated Premier League sides illustrating the point: "Bolton are not in the play-offs, Blackburn have just avoided relegation, Wolves didn’t.
"They’ve all got good squads. Put them in [the Championship], they don’t always flourish, do they? It’s a bloody tough league to get out of and I think the quality’s decent, except [the teams are all] just a bit closer. There’s not anybody that’s run away with it.”
Should the teams relegated from the Premier League this year learn from how those clubs handled the drop?
"I don’t know how they’ve handled it,” he said. "All I know is is that this league requires, as all of them do, a real 100% commitment to toughness and resilience because you play Saturday-Tuesday, Saturday-Tuesday, the games come around quickly, there are lots of them.
"And we’re all of a similar ilk. There’s never an easy game. How they’ve handled it, I’m not sure, all I do is praise my lads for handling the 30-odd games we’ve had and the way we’ve done it and maintained their standards.”
McCarthy wasn’t keen to say too much about his former club Wolves after their relegation to League One was confirmed - "I’m the manager of Ipswich” — but was sorry for the Molineux staff: "I feel for all the good people that work there that I knew, from the cleaners to the cooks and groundstaff, coaching staff.
"I had a wonderful time, so I do feel for them because they’re the ones who are really going to get affected. I’m not really good with sympathy though, I have to be honest.”
Meanwhile, today is the 35th anniversary of Town winning the 1978 FA Cup final by beating Arsenal 1-0 at Wembley.