Town striker Freddie Sears has hit back at claims that some players are no longer 100 per cent behind beleaguered boss Mick McCarthy
"That’s complete rubbish,” insisted Sears. "I know everyone’s behind him and pulling in the right direction. There are no groups or stuff working against the gaffer.
"We just need to have a good finish to the season. There are five games left and we need to try to get as many points as we can.”
Five-goal Sears was asked how big an impact the fans’ reaction towards the players and McCarthy, which has at times been as hostile as anything previously experienced at Portman Road, had on him and his colleagues and whether he felt for the manager.
He replied: "It’s not nice but we’re footballers and we’ve got to deal with it. If you can’t deal with getting booed by a couple of thousand people then you’re probably in the wrong job.
"It’s obviously better when Portman Road is rocking and everyone’s happy but we’ve got to give them something to cheer about as well.
"I do feel for the gaffer, to be honest. Everyone is behind the gaffer, we all back him and it’s been a tough season for everyone.
"Players have got to take the blame as well — it’s not all about the gaffer — and hopefully we can draw a line under it and have a good season next time.
"He’s an honest man and he probably says more to you than he says to us. You’ve got to worry about yourself. It will be a big loss if we lose the gaffer but that’s football.
"The fans’ reaction has been different because obviously the first two years I was here it was brilliant.
"We were sixth and seventh, and everything was rosy and everyone was happy. But this season, we started pretty well and then you take a turn and the negative effect comes over. It affects everyone — the players, the management team, even the fans.
"Some fans are booing and some aren’t, but it’s up to them because they pay their money and if they want to boo they will boo. It is obviously a tough period at the minute.”
Sears has enjoyed his recent switch to a more orthodox role through the middle. He added: "It’s been better and it’s my best position. It’s where I want to play and I grew up playing there so I’m delighted to be back there and delighted to be back scoring goals.
"I’ve trained and worked hard. As you know, for the last couple of years I’ve played anywhere. I’ve played left, right and up front and the gaffer knows what I can do.
"We have four or five strikers here at the minute and I think I give something different to all of them.
"He knows I’ll threaten in behind and the other boys have got their qualities as well.
"It’s down to the gaffer to pick the team, the team he thinks is right for the games we have coming up. Competition for places is always good and it’s good to get a good squad together.
"We’ve worked hard this season and done our best but it just hasn’t been good enough.”
Meanwhile, Sears was among the competitors in the club’s golf day that took place on Tuesday. He said: "I played and a few of the boys played along with members of the staff and some of the old players.
"It was a good day and we met some of the fans as well as raising money for the academy, so it was a really good day.
"I’ve won it before and I won nearest to the pin yesterday. I do enjoy golf to be honest and it’s nice to have something else to tune into apart from football.
"It’s nice sometimes to go and play or watch golf because you can forget about everything else.
"I play quite a bit when I can. I live in Colchester so I play in Essex quite a bit. I take my little boy over to the course and try to teach him. He’s only two but sometimes he’s better than me!”