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McCarthy and Evans Will Meet for Talks Once Town Are Safe - Ipswich Town News

Boss Mick McCarthy says he and owner Marcus Evans will meet for talks once the Blues’ are assured their place in the Championship for a 16th successive season.

Town are currently 16th, seven points from the relegation places, despite having been undefeated for eight games, seven of them draws, including the last six.

The Blues, who will equal a club record of seven successive draws established in November and December 1990 if Saturday's fixture at Cardiff ends level, have nine more matches left.

McCarthy, who has said he will consider his future at the end of this season, his toughest at Portman Road, is the longest-serving Championship manager with three more bosses sacked this week, which he admits even surprised him.

"Steve McClaren I thought was brought in because he plays the ‘Derby way’,” he reflected. "

"It just shows you, you’ve got to get results. He started off on fire, I think he had six wins on the bounce and it looked like he was going to get in the play-offs, so that was a bit of a shock.

"Warren Joyce didn’t inherit great things [at Wigan Athletic] and it’s been tough for him. [And there was] Alex Neil [at Norwich].

"I just think more things are expected of them. Obviously that’s the case. Having been promoted and did a great job and everybody thought [Neil] was great. Just 18 months on he’s out of work again.

"I’m always sad to see it but then the other side of that is that if managers didn’t go, the ones who are out of work would never get another job. I’ve been the lucky recipient on a few occasions when I’ve got a job when somebody’s left.

"There have been a lot of stats thrown up about how many managers have gone over the last four years, there’s been something like 80 or 90 gone since I’ve been here. And I can hear a lot of them [reading this] screaming that I shouldn’t be here, but hey ho.”

Do their departures make McCarthy feel fortunate that he’s working under a more patient owner?

"No, it confirms to me that for four years I’ve done a really good job here and this year it’s been tough,” he said.

"That we haven’t spent Aston Villa money, we haven’t spent Norwich money, we haven’t spent vast sums of money and we’ve been competitive every season up until this season.

"So, no it doesn’t make me feel lucky. I’ve got a really good relationship with Marcus, it just confirms to me that I’ve been good at my job and I’m having it tough this year. That’s part of the gig as well.

"Maybe Marcus looks at it and thinks I’ve been doing a good job and if I hadn’t we might have been in a bit more trouble than we have been.”

Have the two spoken about McCarthy’s plans for the future? "We haven’t met yet. We need to sit down, and we will. But we need to have enough points on the board first, make sure we’re staying in this league and then we will sit down and talk.”

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