It would be wrong to even consider a change of manager at Portman Road according to Town defender Tommy Smith.
It may not be the majority view but a number of fans have voiced the opinion that the team’s recent dip in form should see Mick McCarthy’s three-year reign come to an end.
But Smith, 25, could hardly be more opposed to that view and said: "In this day and age it’s so easy and you see so many clubs doing that, but we have a good owner and let’s not be funny about it, we also have one of the best managers in the league. He has a proven track record and I don’t think you can judge it on 14 games.”
Smith remembers only too well the situation the club was in when McCarthy succeeded Paul Jewell on November 1st, 2012, bottom of the Championship with just seven points from the first 13 games of the season.
He added: "We were almost doomed and written off by a lot of people. But the gaffer came in and turned that around, and we even made the play-offs last year.
"The expectation is that much higher but we have one of the best managers in the league and I am sure we will turn our form around.
"That season, before the gaffer came in, was probably one of the worst times for the club in a long, long time. He did well to turn that around and make us a successful team and that’s what we are going to get back to being this season.”
Smith, the longest-serving member of the Portman Road playing staff, believes there were enough positives in Saturday’s goalless draw with Cardiff to face the immediate future with confidence.
Maybe the stats don’t make good reading at the moment — one win in 10 league games, none in the last seven, no home wins in five and just one goal scored in the last five outings.
But Smith & Co go into tonight’s home clash with lowly Bolton, which is followed by a trip to face rock-bottom Rotherham in four days’ time, determined to end the depressing run that has seen Town drop from second top to 14th place.
Smith looked back over Town’s last 10 games and said: "We had a couple of bad results where we were conceding too many goals and we had to get back to what made us a successful team last season and at the beginning of this season, so that’s what we have been trying to do over the last couple of games.
"Obviously, there was a disappointment at the end of the Forest game, when we should have got all three points and had to settle for just one, but Saturday’s performance was back where we want to be and now we just need to try to score some goals at the other end.
"I said before in an interview that we maybe thought we were better than what we actually were. We went away from doing the things that made us successful and started trying to play too expansively in the wrong areas.
"It was costing us and we were conceding too many goals. The gaffer has addressed it and told us to get back to what made us successful before, which is what we are trying to do.”
Smith fully understands the rising level of frustration among supporters after Town finished last term in the play-offs and then took 10 points from their first four league fixtures of the current campaign.
He added: "From last season the expectations are that much higher this time around but no one has higher expectations for us than ourselves.
"We’re just as disappointed as the fans are with the run we’re on and we’re doing all we can to overturn that.”