Town keeper Will Norris says he has no plans to leave the Blues to return to his parent club Wolves in January, despite manager Paul Lambert having admitted worries that the Premier League side might exercise a recall clause when the transfer window opens.
Norris says a return to Molineux isn’t in his thoughts and says his parent club are happy with how things are going for him at Portman Road.
"No, I’m here to play as far as I know until I’m told otherwise,” he said after yesterday's 1-0 loss at Portsmouth. "I’m here to do the job for Ipswich Town Football Club throughout the whole year. Nothing’s changed my end.
"I speak to the director of football [at Wolves, Kevin Thelwell] quite regularly, I’m here to stay and I’m here to play.”
Asked about Lambert’s rotation policy which has seen Norris and fellow keeper Tomas Holy regularly swapped in and out of the team so far this season, he said he backs the approach.
"Yes, it’s the manager’s policy, he picks the team on the day that can win the team,” he added.
"The boys are behind him and we agree with it and I think that any team that he picks on a day can pick the opposition.
"We haven’t got the rub of the green today and we’ve come out on the wrong side of it.”
However, he admits it’s not easy being in and out of the team: "It’s always tricky but we’re professionals, we’ve got to go out and do the job.
"You have to take these things on the chin. No one’s playing for themselves, it’s a group effort, the club goes up, one or two people don’t just get promoted, it’s the whole football club gets promoted.
"That’s the way I see it, you play for the badge, don’t play for the name on the back.”
After the disappointment of Saturday’s defeat at Fratton Park, Norris is pleased that the Blues have a chance to get back to winning ways - they're now without a league win in five and haven't won a game over 90 minutes in eight in all competitions - quickly when Gillingham visit Portman Road on Boxing Day.
"It’s a good time to be a footballer, they roll around quickly and we’re all pointing in the same direction and [on Sunday] we’ll start working towards putting it right, and we go again,” he added.
Does he feel there is additional pressure on the Gills game because of the recent disappointing run? "We expect to win every game that we’re playing in this year. It’s a good home game and a good opportunity to have some real positivity around the football club and [for the fans to] back the boys 100 per cent.”
Town will be without skipper Luke Chambers against the Gills following his red card at Pompey, which Norris says will be a blow, however, the benefit of that much-discussed rotation policy is players being up to speed and ready to come into the team.
"Yes [Chambers’s absence is a blow], but you’ve got Willo [James Wilson], who can slot straight in. There’s strength in depth in this squad, there’s bundles of talent. Look at the players we’ve got out.
"There are players itching to get back already and when one person gets taken out, there’s another person who can step up and perform just as well.
"That’s the beauty of the rotation policy, everyone’s ready to go and give their all for the badge.”