Town boss Mick McCarthy says he can see why people might view the Blues as underdogs going into their Championship play-off semi-finals against Norwich City, but when he assesses his squad he doesn’t agree. The Blues face the Canaries in the sell-out first leg at Portman Road this afternoon (KO 12.15pm).
"When you look at the number of points and the fact that they were a Premier League team and the money that they’ve spent, everybody’s going to suggest that we are underdogs,” he conceded.
"But when I look at the two squads and I look at my players, I don’t think we’re underdogs to anybody, I really don’t.”
Does he believe there’s additional pressure on the Canaries having finished third, three places and eight points above the Blues? "I hope so. Other people think they’re the favourites, but I’m not so sure.
"I think both squads will look at it and think they can win it. I don’t doubt that, maybe because they’ve beaten us twice it adds a little bit more pressure because from the outside everyone will think they’re the better squad, the better team.
"And if it adds a bit of pressure and causes them to tighten up a bit, happy days! I don’t know.
"We’re all different. Their manager will be feeling differently, their players, some will be bothered by it, some won’t be.
"Some will be feeling nerves, it’s a very personal feeling, all those things are very personal to an individual.”
He says the two-legged tie is great for East Anglian football as a whole even if emotions on either side will contrast starkly following next Saturday's game: "It’s hugely exciting for everybody, for the area. But one of us is going to be hugely excited going further on.
"I’m sat here hoping it’s going to be Ipswich, but we don’t know, do we? All I do know is that we’ll not leave anything on the pitch to try and make sure we’re going to Wembley.”
McCarthy says he agrees to some extent with the cliche which claims that the form book goes out of the window when it comes to both play-offs and derbies: "A little bit, but what doesn’t go out the window is ability and good players, and experience.
"I think they’ve got a really good squad of players, a good team, but I also think we have and we’ve got good experience in it.
"The number of points that they’ve got, all that’s gone on for 46 games, is finished, it’s now a two-legged cup tie.”
He says that like any side Norwich have weaknesses which Town can exploit: "Absolutely, we all have, we’ve all got our failings, we’ve all got our strengths. Both sets of teams have lots of strengths, we must have to be in the positions we’re in.
"The league’s been tough this year. I said anybody who won it and finished second thoroughly deserves it and whoever wins these play-offs will have earned it and will deserve it because of how tough the league has been.
"And, of course, I’m hoping it’s going to be us. But there are three others who are hoping it’s going to be them.”
He points out that the Canaries’ failure to finish in the top two shows that they’re far from infallible.
"They have [had bad results at times] because they’re in the play-offs with us,” he added. "If they hadn’t they’d have won it, wouldn’t they?
"They looked like they were going to get in the top two. At the very last knockings of the season they looked like they were going to achieve that but they haven’t and so they’re in the play-offs with us.”
Reflecting on his two and a half years in charge at Portman Road he says the Blues have made a step forward each season.
"It was a salvage job, the first bit,” he said. "That was achieved virtually with the players I inherited and I’ve been able to get some other players in and we’ve made progress.
"It’s been a gradual progress from 14th to ninth to sixth and we’ve got a really good opportunity.
"We’re in a fabulous position having powered our way into the play-offs by a goal difference of one. It’s a great opportunity for all of us.
"And Norwich will see it the same, and so will Brentford and Middlesbrough. But we’re in them, it doesn’t matter how you get in them.
"I said from day one of the season that it’s what you end up with on May 2nd at two o’clock, and it was enough. So we’re in them and we’re looking forward to it.”
With a sell-out 29,000-plus crowd set to be at Portman Road this afternoon, McCarthy says Town fans now have a belief in their team, something which wasn’t there when he first arrived: "There was apathy around the place, to be honest, and now there’s excitement and huge belief that we could actually get to the Premier League.
"There’s a bit trust in the team, which is a nice feeling, when you think the fans trust you and believe in you. I certainly do believe in the team and I’ll take whatever comes, but would just like two good performances out of the players and whatever happens, will happen.”
The 56-year-old says the games being scheduled on Saturdays has meant that it’s been business as usual at Playford Road during the week.
"We’re playing on Saturday, which was nice, it’s a normal week and we can prepare normally," he continued.
"I’ve been looking forward to it, actually. I think it’s nice that we’ve got the week beforehand.
"I watched the League One play-off on Thursday and having played on Sunday and then the other night and on Sunday again, that’s a quick turnaround.
"If anyone’s got knocks, bumps or bruises I think the week's gap gives everybody a chance to be at full tilt. And that’s a benefit to both of us.”
As for derby banter, he says he’s not had too much interaction with Canaries supporters: "I haven’t had any humour from Norwich fans as yet, I have be honest. I don’t think I’ve had much of anything because I don’t see many of them.
"I went to watch an U21 game and I got a bit there, but that’s to be expected. It doesn’t bother me that and I’ve kind of been involved in bigger derbies. Celtic and Rangers is considerably bigger.”
He says that like all derbies the games have an additional edge: "People tell me it can be quite tasty but I don’t know.
"I think like anywhere else, derby games have something special about them and very often people worry about them in the week. They want to get it over and done with because they want to get the result out the way because they all get anxious about it.
"Fans are worried about losing. They want to play it and they want to win it but actually the fear is ‘We don’t want to get beaten by that mob’.
"So they want to get it out of the way because all that anxiety builds up during the week. And I get that, nobody wants to lose to their nearest and not so dearest, that’s me included."
Meanwhile, Middlesbrough beat Brentford 2-1 in the first leg of the other Championship play-off semi-final at Griffin Park last night.