Manager Paul Cook says he’s sure he and his players haven’t yet gained the trust of Ipswich Town fans but says that’s something he will be trying to develop over the weeks to come as his newly-assembled team begins to find its feet following a summer of great change at Portman Road.
The Blues have started the season slowly and are without a win in their first four league games, putting them 20th in the table, while they exited the Carabao Cup at home to League Two Newport County. Overall Cook has won only four of his 21 games in charge of the Blues.
Asked whether last year’s 3-0 defeat to tomorrow’s opponents AFC Wimbledon was one of his most painful, he said: "I’ve had some painful ones, don’t worry about that, I’ve been managing now too long not to have some painful ones, that’s for sure.
"When you manage, I always think it’s educational. I think football’s so educational. I think when you watch games and you watch teams and you study performances, the biggest thing is you want to be able to trust your players.
"We’re at a club where there’s been so much change, and by the way supporters want to be able to trust the manager. At the minute I’m sure I haven’t got the Ipswich fans’ trust, the players will probably be the same.
"That’s something that we’re looking to develop over the next few weeks where they see signs of what we’re trying to do grow better, grow stronger and then trust levels develop more.
"There have got to be bad days for you to get better. There’s got to be bad days at work, there have to be. No one’s got magic wands in football, but the harder you work, the luckier you will get and our lads are working hard at the minute, I can guarantee you that.”
Town's performance in last week's 2-2 draw with the MK Dons suggested a first win of the season isn't too far away.
Cook added: "I just keep going, I very much keep going. I don’t let the results, I don’t let the goals conceded affect me. I’ve been around football long enough to know.
"I’ve been at other teams where we’ve been through similar patches where something will go your way, the rub of the green and eventually you’ll click and eventually all of a sudden partnerships develop in front of your eyes and all of a sudden you go ‘Wow, we’re looking a lot better’.
"I’m 100 per cent confident that that’s what will happen to this Ipswich Town team. I see the work that they’re putting in at the training ground, I see the work the club are doing off the pitch with recruitment and at the minute now we just want all our players fit and available.”
With no midweek game, Cook has had his players on the training field for a sustained period for the first time since pre-season this week with a number of them having been signed since the start of the campaign proper.
Asked whether the week at Playford Road has been beneficial, he said: "Speaking to you as local press, I never make excuses, I don’t believe in it, I think it just brings weakness, and I think it just allows people to listen to you and think ‘What are you moaning about?’.
"For us, the only appeal we have is just for that bit of time for the lads to gel. At the minute the injured lads are starting to return.
"Last week, I think we had three lads making their home debuts, [Hayden] Coulson, [Kyle] Edwards and [Cameron] Burgess, and you can only imagine how difficult that is for those players, with their families, with tickets, with hotels, with moving house and everything.
"So the reality is with that appeal for time, we’re not talking about a long time we’re just talking about a few games for everyone to get together, for us to travel together, for us to get used to each other and more importantly for us to be on the training ground spending those hours that we need to to learn.”
What specifically was worked on on the training field, improving things defensively?
"No, let’s keep conceding goals, we’re good at it!” Cook joked. "Again guys, as you can imagine, in football work when one door opens, one door shuts when one window closes one window opens.
"For us, we’re a work in progress, you defend from the front as a team and it goes right through, you create chances with your full-backs, it’s the modern-day game.
"So for our development as a team, we have to work harder to be a better team and we’ll keep that up.”
Town could find themselves up to 11 points behind the leading sides if they lose tomorrow but Cook isn’t paying too much heed to the early-season table with Sheffield Wednesday currently top on goal difference from Wycombe and Portsmouth.
"If we were sitting where they are now, would we be promoted?” he said. "No, we wouldn’t. If you go three games on a bad run or you win three games your life changes in these leagues.
"I’ve been in these leagues long enough to know. I’ve been experienced when you’re sitting out of the play-offs and [people say] you won’t get in the play-offs, when you’re in the play-offs you won’t go up.
"The only thing which changes everybody’s mind is results. That’s what the game is about and all we want to do is take three points tomorrow.
"If we take three points tomorrow, the likelihood is that we’ll have got nearer or no further than the teams you’ve just mentioned, and we have them all to play.”