Town boss Mick McCarthy says attending the Supporters Club’s Player Awards Evening was ultimately the best thing he could have done after last week’s 3-1 home defeat to Brentford, although he admits he wasn’t looking forward to going along given the result of the game.
Quizzed on whether he felt that had been an overreaction from fans to the Blues’ recent poor run of form and now likely failure to get into the play-offs, he said: "I haven’t seen it and I don’t go searching for it because if I’m feeling particularly badly about results and how we’ve played I don’t need anybody else to tell me, I can assure you.
"I don’t think the last month or five weeks has been a true reflection on my time here, we’re still doing the same things that we’ve done since I walked in the door, how I do it, how we train and how we play and how we got in the play-offs last year.
"It was great last year, it was ‘Super Mick’ last year and it’s whatever it is, the opposite this year.
"I’ll be coming back next year and we’ll be doing it exactly the same and hopefully we can improve on what we’ve done.”
He added: "It’s funny, somebody stopped me in the car park the other day and said, ‘Have you got your tin hat on?’. And I went, ‘Why?’. He said, ‘Well, you know, the stick you’re getting’. I said I didn’t even know I was getting any stick and he said, ‘Oh yes, you’re getting loads!’. I said, ‘Well, bothered…’
"I’m actually more concerned about how I feel about it. I’d prefer the supporters to be with me, supporting me, supporting the team because together we’re certainly stronger and when we’re starting to get fragmented it really does become difficult for all of us.
"Difficult for them to stomach me and difficult for us to do the job because it becomes nervy.
"I want them to win them back and for them to be on my side and be supporting me and supporting the team.
"I was at the Supporters Club do on Saturday night and I have to tell you that the last place I wanted to be at half-past five was at a supporters’ do.
"But by the time I’d been in there half an hour it was the best thing I’d done and I felt so much warmth and feeling towards me, towards TC, towards the players. Support and empathy rather than a really bad taste in supporters’ mouths.
"And I think if that’s reflecting our true support, then I still think I have a lot of support, probably the biggest percentage.
"There are a lot of [other people] the ones who make the loud noises, but I do think the ones we saw on on Saturday care just as much about the club, coming to speak to us and being nice to us and thanking us for what we’ve done over the years.
"It means just as much to them as the ones who are shouting abuse, screaming and saying I should be sacked, I should be gone, I should resign or whatever they’re saying. All those things are just not going to happen.”
Given the year on year progress made during his first three seasons at the club, does he find the calls for his head during what’s likely to be the first in which the Blues have slipped back tough to stomach?
"I get it, I’ve been at a lot of clubs now,” he added. "I’ll be coming up to four years, maybe they’re getting tired of me. It’s four years at the club, the average tenure is 12 months.
"Maybe people are like that, they keep changing managers. The last place I left that certainly thrived after I left, didn’t it!”