Blues legend Terry Butcher believes Town have a foundation on which they can build a side which can compete next season after missing out on the play-offs by one place and five points in 2015/16.
Butcher, 57, believes the Blues suffered from losing the likes of David McGoldrick, Teddy Bishop and Ryan Fraser to injury for lon spells and says it’s players of their ilk that manager Mick McCarthy needs to add this summer.
"They’ve been up and down and it’s been difficult this year,” the former England centre-half reflected on the season just gone. "The injuries to key personnel have been a major factor.
"You just hope that next year we can get a good run at it with one or two good signings because the nucleus is there, the foundation is there, it just needs adding the more talented little gems like Fraser and people like that. We need to get them on board.
"I think it’s a disappointment for everybody that we didn’t get into the play-offs having got there the previous year, but now Norwich are back down as well and we’ve got the Old Farm derby to look forward to and I just hope now that we can go on and win them rather than playing second best to the lot up the road.”
Regarding his own future, Butcher says his management career may be over having left his most recent club Newport County, where his former central defensive partner Russell Osman was his assistant, back in October.
"I don’t know. It probably is but we’ll see what happens,” he added. "I just enjoy coming down here to Portman Road and watching from afar and doing my radio and TV bits and things like that. You walk away, no pressure and you just enjoy life.”