Boss Mick McCarthy says he loves his job at Portman Road and gets on fine with owner Marcus Evans, despite having had to work on a comparative shoestring since taking over at Town 17 months ago.
McCarthy says he and Evans get along well: "[There’s no tension] whatsoever, absolutely none. I have a great relationship with him and I do understand the gig.
"I’m not one of those that takes a job and then tries to change it because it doesn’t suit you and you throw your toys out of the pram.
"I took the job in good faith, in trust as what it was, I get well paid for doing it and I think I’ve repaid it well with the job that I’ve done. With the team and with the club and how the club is now, I think it’s a good place to be.”
He added: "I was asked at the End of Season Dinner about support. I’ve had support from Marcus, I see support as trust, letting you do the job, trusting you to do the job.
"Financial backing is another thing altogether, but if it’s not there, then take all that support that you get, a consistent approach that he knows you’re doing your job well, he supports you in doing that.
"You have a couple of bad results and nobody’s stamping their feet and pulling their hair out, you have a couple of good results and nobody’s going ‘We’re going to get in the top six, you’ve got to get promoted’.
"I like that level of consistency and I do know the gig and I’ll be doing it again. Let’s hope we can do it better than we did it this year.”
As yet there have been no talks about extending his contract, which is up next summer, but he will meet with Evans during the close season.
"I’ve got another year to run, so I’m under contract, I’m very happy here,” he said. "I would like to think that Marcus and everybody else is happy with me being here. I’m seeing him in the summer and we’ll be having discussions about loads of things.”
Reflecting on his close season transfer plans, as will probably be the case for most Championship clubs under Financial Fair Play and as it was last year, the majority of the Blues’ signings are likely to be Bosmans, unless a current player such as Aaron Cresswell is sold for a big fee.
McCarthy is aiming for a repeat last summer’s successful recruitment drive: "It’s always funny when people talk about bargains.
"People will be saying ‘We haven’t got any money to spend’ but I see people go out and spend money and not get as good players as we got for nothing — Christophe Berra, Skusey, Ando and Gerks and Hunty, who came and played for nothing at the start. We’ve had good success with them.”
In terms of the number of signings, McCarthy won’t be drawn given past experiences: "I once answered the question about how many players I’d like to sign and gave a number.
"And every time I signed one it was ‘he only needs four’, ‘now he needs three, ‘you’re two short of your target…’, so that ain’t going to happen because I’m not as green as I’m cabbage looking.”
The Town boss, who was offered the chance to do media work at this summer's World Cup in Brazil but won’t be going as he was unable to fit it around a prior engagement, says he's loving life at Portman Road and believes there’s the potential to better this year's ninth place - the Blues' best for six years - in 2014/15.
"I’ve got a job and I really love it, and I enjoy doing the job,” he said. "I’m excited about my holidays.
"Then when I’ve had my holidays I’ll probably be excited about coming back with the lads I’ve got and there are players available. And, after making some new signings, I think we’ve a chance to kick on again and do better than we’ve done this season.”
McCarthy was back in the Wolves home dug-out with assistant Terry Connor yesterday at Jody Craddock's testimonial at Molineux, while Christophe Berra and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake were in action alongside their former team-mate.
Meanwhile, on-loan Blues midfielder Jack Doherty came on as a 67th minute sub as Waterford United lost 2-0 at Cork City in the Airtricity League First Division yesterday evening.