Town manager Mick McCarthy hopes former Blues midfielder Josh Carson does well enough in the years to come to get back into the Championship, but says at the moment he’s not good enough to play at this level. The 20-year-old joined former loan side York City earlier this week, having left the Blues by mutual consent before the transfer window closed.
Carson broke into the Town side at the end of the 2009/10 campaign in a blaze of glory and looked set for an impressive Blues career, but McCarthy says the Northern Irish international didn’t hit those heights during his time in charge.
"I haven’t seen that, everybody tells me that, but I can only judge it on what I see,” the Town boss said.
"He went on trial to Bristol City with a view that he could go on a free transfer. He went on trial to Notts County with a view that he could go on a free transfer.
"He went to York on loan last year and did OK, from what I gather, and since he’s been given his free transfer he’s gone back to York.
"If [League Two] is the standard that he’s at at this moment in time, it’s not good enough for me and Ipswich.
"Good luck to him, if he gets back to this standard, I hope he does, because he’s a great kid, but he just wasn’t good enough for us at the time.”
Meanwhile, McCarthy was pleased to keep hold of left-back Aaron Cresswell as the transfer window slammed shut.
"Of course I’m delighted," he said. "I’ve got 18 outfield players and we’ve got Jordan [Adekunle] and Alan [Lee], but they’ve just been brought into the squad.
"The nucleus, the majority are that 18 and Cressy’s a really important one, he’s been terrific.”