Millwall boss Ian Holloway believes his Blues counterpart Mick McCarthy is the best manager in the Championship.
In a mammoth 27-minute post-match press conference after Town had defeated the Lions 3-1, Holloway was asked whether he feels the teams such as Town at the top of the division this year are further ahead of the pack than in previous season.
He said: "I really don’t think there’s too much difference in quality, I think Mick’s the best manager in the Championship.
"He’s won the title twice and what he’s done at Ipswich has been fantastic, he’s had a high turnover of players and he’s managed to get a group who know what they’re doing and are doing it well and good luck to them.”
Holloway added: "I think the standard’s got tougher. I think the managers are better because the ones that got kicked out of the Premier League are in this division and they’re all of a level. They’ve all achieved promotion to that level.”
Despite his much-changed side’s defeat, Holloway wasn’t too downcast by their performance and was pleased with the way the fans got behind his team, who are 22nd in the Championship and have won just once in their last 14 games in all competitions.
"I thought the atmosphere today, the way the crowd stuck with us after going two goals down in 14 minutes, was absolutely terrific because they could see the spirit of the lads," he said.
"They stuck with the lads and the lads felt that and got back in it by half-time. I was pretty encouraged.”