Town boss Mick McCarthy wasn’t surprised that this evening’s opponents Hull City kept faith with his friend Steve Bruce, despite their relegation from the Premier League last season.
"I don’t think there was every any doubt that that was going to happen,” he said. "If you’ve got a manager that gets you promoted and then they have season up and get to the FA Cup final [as they did in 2014 when they lost 3-2 to Arsenal after extra-time], he’s proved he’s a good manager.
"Just have a look at where the teams that went up are this year in the league. Watford are flying, Norwich are hanging on, Bournemouth have had some great results but are still in the mix at the bottom.
"I thought they were really good teams, good Championship teams and they’ve added. That just shows you how tough it is.
"You get promoted and suddenly you’re a great manager, you’re a god. And then you get relegated and you’re a dog. How does that come about? Is that because you haven’t got as good players?
"I’ve won the Championship twice and you end up going from winning every other week to winning 10 games the next season. It’s hard to take that, tough. That tests your managerial skills, let me tell you.
"It’s easy when you’re winning and you’re at the top of the league and you’re flying and everything’s great. It’s when it starts going south.
"Your man management skills, your ability to motivate people, to keep a calm head when everybody else is losing theirs, that’s a real test.”
He joked: "We’ve got similar noses going in different directions. He’s a great lad, Brucey. He’s a really good manager. He’s of a similar ilk to me, old school, but embraces the modern technology, however, still has old-fashioned values, I would say.
"He manages people well. I want to beat him on Tuesday night but after that I wish him nothing but good luck because he’s a really good guy.”
McCarthy says football management can become all-consuming and that he tries to make a conscious effort to step away from it at times.
"I went to the pictures yesterday,” he said. "I went to watch The Revenant and at one point I had to shake myself out of it because I was thinking about full-backs or something and there was none of that going on in the film as far as I could remember.
"You think you’re switching off and then suddenly you drift away. You’re talking to somebody and you’re thinking about something in football. It’s hard to switch off, it is all-consuming.”
While some managers, mainly in the Premier League, will have used a gap of 10 days without a game to take their squads away to sunnier climes, McCarthy felt it was better for his players to be closer to home.
"I think it’s important to spend time with families,” he continued. "There are lots of our guys with newborns, Kevin Foley’s wife’s just had a baby, I know Gerks’s daughter is just coming up to one.
"They’ve just got young families and I think it’s important that they spend time with them.
"There’s no need to be traipsing around the world to get warm weather training. Whether it does any good or not, I’m not sure.”
He added: "I’ve had trips away in the past and they’ve been beneficial, I’ve enjoyed them. It’s nice to go and have some sunshine on your face and have a game of golf and a bit of craic with the lads.
"But I don’t think it’s essential. The Premier League boys will be doing it and travelling business class across there, going to Dubai and having five or six nights in the lap of luxury.
"If it works for them, good luck, but we’re fine. I think we’ve got a lot that have got young families and it’s beneficial to spend time with them.”