Town boss Paul Lambert reiterated that the Blues have no divine right to finish in League One’s top two this season just because of the size and history of the club in a sometimes tetchy exchange during his morning press conference ahead of the Burton Albion match.
Earlier in the season when Town in form and at the top of the table, various players talked confidently about finishing in the top two. While that was understandable, Lambert was asked whether he fely uncomfortable with that? That that needed to be dampened down?
"Players will [do that] because the experience isn’t there yet, it’s not there with a lot of them,” he said.
"Experience tells you how to keep a lid on it, and the guys have the belief that they were going to finish one, two or in the play-offs or whatever it is and that’s always got to be there, you’ve got to have that belief.
"Whether you want to say it publicly is another matter, or you keep it to yourself. But that comes from experience of handling a situation.”
Questioned further on whether the players were right to believe they should be finishing in the top two given that the club has one of the top wage bills in the division, Lambert responded: "Why? Who’s told you that, that’s nonsense. Nonsense, absolute nonsense you’re talking. Justify that. Why do you say the highest wage bill?”
Is it not one of the highest wage bills? "But how do you know that, tell me the stats. That’s a really poor question that. You can’t compare Ipswich Town’s wages with somebody else, that’s unfair on any other team whatsoever.
"The size of the club you can definitely compare. The size of the club, of Ipswich Town and what happened in the past here, unbelievable this football club. Now and then great, here and now, it’s totally different, it’s a totally different scenario.
"You can’t compare salaries, that’s unfair on any club in this whole division. You can compare the size of the club, 20,000 people, the history gone by, absolutely huge, absolutely huge football club.
"The same with Sunderland, same with Sheffield United, same with Sheffield Wednesday, Nottingham Forest, Leeds United — they’ve all been in this division and took two or three years to get out of it.
"So, did they have a divine right? Absolutely they don’t have a divine right [to get promoted]. Everybody wants to beat us because of the size of the club, but I think it’s a really, really sad question that, to compare finances with other clubs, really sad.”
Most of the players in the squad were brought in to play in the Championship so it’s probably not a surprise that there is an expectation among the fans that the squad should be capable of winning automatic promotion.
"Go on, name the players,” Lambert responded. Cole Skuse, Emyr Huws, Kayden Jackson, all the players other than those you recruited in in the summer were brought in to play in the Championship.
"You’d have to ask Paul Hurst about the guys they brought in,” Lambert continued. "Kayden, Jon Nolan, Toto and all those guys did great for us in the Championship.
"Again, the goalscoring, we couldn’t get the goals in to actually give us the victories.
"But the guys gave me everything in their bodies to try and do really well, but we don’t have a divine right to win a league, you’ve got to earn it. But I think that’s a really poor question. There’s no substance to that.”
But he says he empathises with the current downbeat mood of the fanbase with the Blues currently out of the play-off places, given those expectations.
"Absolutely, because of the size of the club and name and badge,” he added. "It’s a huge football with a huge fanbase behind it, huge.
"But financial terms, you know the financial terms. Marcus Evans has come out and said where it’s at the football club. It’s totally different. You have to separate those two things.”
Asked whether the players are frustrated with the current run, knowing they should be capable of better, he said: "The results suggest that it’s been tough. The results at the start of the season were really, really good, and Saturday we did well, we lost to Peterborough and Rotherham and drew at Wimbledon.
"But that’s football, you’ve got to earn the right to get through, it doesn’t matter what club you’re at, you’ve got to earn the right.
"It doesn’t matter, wherever you are, what size of club you’re at, whether you’re at a top, top club and top of divisions, you’ve got to earn the right to win a game, it’s not going to come to you because of what name you are, that doesn’t work.”
Do they feel frustrated that fans are questioning their ability because of the position they’re in, most people would say it was one of the best squads in the division.
"Who says that? That’s your scenario. You’re talking absolute nonsense this morning! Have you been drinking this morning!”
A lot of people have looked at this squad and said it was one of the best in the division, I think you’ve said that, haven’t you?
"I’ve got my own beliefs with the guys, but they’ve still go to earn their right. I could turn around and say that phone’s better than that phone, but it doesn’t matter, you’ve got to earn the right, you’ve got to go and play the game and win games.
"The biggest thing that we’ve got is the expectancy level. If you ask Sunderland, if you ask Leeds United, if you ask any of the clubs, they will say exactly the same thing, they’d say the expectancy level, that’s the number one issue. You’ve got to handle the expectancy level at the football club because of the size of it.
"That’s the only thing that this club, with the name that it’s got and the history that it’s got behind it, has to live up to, and what happened in the past.”