Fleetwood manager Joey Barton believes the current Town squad are “probably as bad as a group of players as Ipswich have had in a long time” even if they win League One this season and has questioned whether the Blues' start to the season is based "on solid foundations".
Top-of-the-table Town, unbeaten in their first 10 league games this season plus the win against Leeds on the final day of the last campaign, take on Barton’s third-placed Cod Army at Highbury this afternoon in the first ever game between the two teams.
"To be fair to them they’ve made a really great start,” Barton told the Blackpool Gazette. "The reality of it is, my players, Fleetwood players, right now, arguably, are in the landscape of becoming the best Fleetwood Town team.
"Where, no disrespect to the Ipswich players, if they don’t win the league this year, or even if they do win the league, they’re probably as bad as a group of players as Ipswich have had in a long time. That’s the reality.
"You can see them doing the wave to the crowd after games and the stuff you would worry about them doing 10 games in.
"Do you have the confidence after losing virtually every week for a long period last season?
"A change around of players, players stepping up from League Two into League One, players dropping down the leagues.
"Is it built on solid foundations? I suppose we will find that out on Saturday, because you have a side in Fleetwood Town who are upwardly mobile in terms of momentum.
"When we took over here this was a club fighting off relegation.That is no longer the culture or the mindset of the building.”
Barton also confirmed that he was keen to sign James Norwood, who joined the Blues after leaving Tranmere in the close season.
"We tracked James Norwood, tracked him for a while, and thought we had a legitimate shot at getting him,” the one-time England international added.
"Then, he scores loads of goals in League Two last season and then you hear Ipswich are in for him, as they’re coming down.
"We’re kind of like: ‘OK, we might have £2,500-£3,000, for you’ and then Ipswich come in and give him between £8,000 and £10,000.
"The January before you see Sunderland pay £3.5 million for Will Grigg and probably up north of £10,000 a week.
"It’s remaining clear in your objectives that we can’t compete with these teams financially, so we’ve got to be a lot smarter in what we do. In many ways it’s going to be David versus Goliath.”