Manager Paul Lambert believes Town are in a lot better place than it was when he took charge just over two years ago.
Lambert, 51, was announced as the Blues’ boss on the morning of Saturday 27th October 2018, following Paul Hurst's dismissal with Town bottom of the Championship, and watched that afternoon’s dismal 3-0 defeat to Millwall from the stands at the Den before taking his first training session the following day.
Asked whether he has made progress in the two years since then, he said: "I think the club is in a lot better place than it was when we came into it. I think there is a lot of incredibly good potential here.
"I think the football we’re playing at this moment’s really good. I think if the club sticks to that philosophy going forward then they’ll be in a really healthy place.
"You can’t judge anything by the short term. It can take a number of years to get everything the way you want to get it.
"We can’t buy any guys, we’ve got to nurture our own and look at that. We’ve got to look at free transfers and things like that.
"Is it an ideal world? No, it’s not and do you want to be in a higher league? Absolutely you do. But I think the football we’re playing at this minute is really good.”
Lambert, who signed a new five-year contract on New Year’s Day, admits that demotion to League One in his first season at Portman Road was a blow but that the team was in development during that period.
"We wouldn’t have wanted to have been relegated, that’s for sure. We came in at a difficult time where everything was up in the air, the club had lost a lot of really, really good players and was building a new team that needed time,” he reflected.
"It needed time to gel, needed time to adjust to the size of the club. But I’m happy with how the club is going now, I’m happy with how it’s going.”