Ex-boss Mick McCarthy has expressed his sympathy with his former Town players facing “hefty wage cuts” once relegation to League One is confirmed and insists he doesn’t want to stick two fingers up to his critics at Portman Road following the Blues' disastrous campaign.
Speaking at a press conference earlier in the week in his new role as Republic of Ireland manager McCarthy, who left Town last April after five and a half years at the club, was asked whether the Blues’ season has made him want to give two fingers to his critics in Suffolk.
"Not at all,” he said. "The people who booed I say, well, sometimes you get what you deserve. Be careful what you wish for.
"I still say that the majority of Ipswich Town fans were supportive of me. That’s the biggest part of it.
"I’ve no axe to grind with Marcus Evans or the club. I’ve still got very good relationships with everybody, some really good friends there.
"It summed it up for me when Joe Garner got the equaliser against Wigan and I texted him to say, ‘Well done, bet that pleased you today’ and he came back to me and he said, ‘No gaffer, I was speaking to Chambo [Luke Chambers] today and they all have wage cuts if they go down, and I feel for him’.
"And he is a centre forward who has just scored the equaliser and I get his sentiments. I have got players there who played for me who are going to take hefty wage cuts playing in League One, if that’s where they end up. So, no I don’t want to put two fingers up to them at all.”
Relegation clauses are understood to have been inserted into most if not all of the senior Town players’ contracts with the Blues facing a significant loss of income in League One. TV money will be down by around £6 million while other revenue streams are also likely to be hit.
Reflecting further on Town this season with attendances having been up despite the league position, perhaps a touch ruefully, McCarthy added: "Well, they seem to enjoy it. There were 23,000 there the other night [at the Reading match], singing and dancing, so you know…”