Town boss Paul Cook believes supporters will be delighted with the changes he, owner Marcus Evans and general manager Lee O’Neill are putting in place for the summer, including the change of approach to recruitment announced this morning, however, he was keen not to go into too much detail with his main focus on the final 10 games of the season.
Quizzed on his thoughts on the announcement that the Blues will be taking a more data and statistics-led approach to recruitment going forward, Cook said: "I just want to concentrate on the present. All I can reiterate to you guys is that when I had my Zoom call with Marcus, when I spoke to Lee, the plans we’ve got or we spoke about for the club are going to be very, very exciting. I think the fans will be absolutely delighted.
"But that must remain for the summer and ongoing. We’re very much in the present now, and I have to concentrate on that.”
Cook says he gained a greater insight into the importance of this approach to recruitment at his previous club.
"It’s something I learnt so much about at Wigan Athletic, I really did,” he reflected. "Jonathan Jackson, our CEO there, was very forward-thinking. I was very much, not negative-thinking, but I wasn’t pro-recruitment rooms.
"But going forward now, recruitment is absolutely huge in football, it really, really is and you’ve got to embrace it.
"As I say, I think, for me, I’ll sit on the fence if I can. I think our supporters, what Marcus and Lee are about to propose doing, the changes that will come in the summer at the training ground and everywhere else, I think our supporters will be delighted.
"But, as I say, I think our supporters will also be more concerned with what’s going on in the next 10 games and we’ve got to concentrate on trying to win some.”
Asked if he’s involved at the heart of the plans, Cook responded: "I’m involved in them. Again, I’ve got to say, I see owners get criticised and I’m not going to go into that, but I don’t understand sometimes the criticism that Marcus has had at the club.
"I just look at the investment he’s put in, continuing even through the pandemic and all the problems.
"The fans are always entitled to their opinion, without a shadow of a doubt, I get that. I’ve only heard so much positivity from Marcus about the club and the plans going forward that I’m actually excited. Let’s put it all together in the future but also let’s also get in these play-offs.”
Cook was asked whether he learns something every day at Town, not just the matches but the training sessions. Does he learn something about the players, the staff, the processes at the club?
"Again, I think what’s come out in the media this morning about the recruitment room,” Cook continued. "You can see in football, the big clubs, the best clubs they function so well. Everything just rolls into one. We've got to make sure we put Ipswich Town on that page.
"When our whole club just flows, our supporters know what goes on, everything about us is not an open book, but we're the best at everything we can be the best at.
"Going forward, that's for tomorrow, a 100 per cent that's for tomorrow. Today we have a squad of players that, over a period of time, a lot has been said about them.
"The new challenge is for them now over the next 10 games and let's wait and see and see what can happen for us in a positive way.”
He added: "It's hard for a manager, especially when you come in. That's the thing for managers and I'm not doing well at the minute with results, I get it.
"I lie awake screaming and searching for the answers, but I also know what the next tomorrow looks like for us as a club.
"And I can guarantee our supporters the summer is going to be exciting and it's going to be vibrant, there are going to be changes at the club where everyone will be like but can we do that as a Championship club that's my challenge.”
Does he feel he has a two-pronged approach at present, on the one hand having to concentrate on the 10 games, but also looking at the longer-term plans?
"I think the big attraction for me when I met Marcus was the longer-term approach that we're looking at,” he said.
"I've got to say that it wasn't a case of ‘we must do this and we must do that’. It was ‘can’t we work together?’, with Lee O'Neill's help and a lot of other people at the club who go unnoticed that people don't really see and work every so hard. Because good clubs have a lot of good people at them. Ipswich Town has that.
"Going forward, my job is to help Marcus and Lee, and their job is to help me. And then together, we can hopefully offer a really bright future for the fans, and that future must be in the play-offs this year. If we don't get in the play-offs, I'll feel like I've failed this season.”