CEO Mark Ashton admits that he was relieved when what he says was the longest transfer window of his time in football closed last night at 11pm and believes the Blues have ended the summer in decent shape having made 19 new senior signings.
Bersant Celina and Samy Morsy became the club’s final two additions of the window yesterday ahead of the deadline.
"It’s a been a long window, certainly the longest of my 30-plus-year career,” Ashton, who started his job at Town on June 1st, told iFollow Ipswich.
"It’s been challenging but I think we’ve come through it in decent shape and I was relieved that the deadline came at 11pm last night and we could move on.”
Asked whether he is happy with the 19 signings, he said: "I think so, time will tell but I think you can look at the quality that we’ve brought in. I think it’s a step forward from where we probably have been in the last few seasons.
"Not just in technical ability, but in type, in character. I think that’s something that [manager] Paul [Cook] and I and the coaching staff have talked a lot about over the summer, that we need players here who want to be here at this football club and want to contribute to this football club.
"They’ve got to have that desire, passion and that hunger to take this football club forward, and I think it’s fair to say we’ve had that conversation with every one of the 19 that’s joined us and they’re all of that frame of mind on how we take this football club forward.”
Several of those who have signed this summer have dropped down from the Championship, including Morsy, while Celina is also understood to have had second tier interest, and Ashton says the approach has been about building for the future.
"It is,” he reflected. "We’ve had to sell a vision because it’s not an easy thing to do, to persuade players to drop from any division, let alone the Championship to League One.
"I’ve heard people say ‘It’s because you’re paying them more money, you’re paying higher wages to them’.
"That’s not the case, let me be really clear. A number of these players have taken salary drops to come to this football club and to be part of a long-term vision and a long-term strategy on how we take it forward.
"And again that’s key because it shows they are committed to the cause. There’s a lot of work to do and we’re going to need that commitment from everybody to bring success back to Portman Road.”
The one thing that’s been missing up to now is wins with the Blues without a victory in their first five League One matches but Ashton says there have been positive signs in recent matches and that a little patience is required as all the signings are developed into a team.
"Results haven’t been what we would have hoped for in the first few games, but performances are improving,” he continued.
"And I would just say to the fans, they’re intelligent enough to know, ‘Just give this the one ingredient it needs now, and that’s time’.
"And I genuinely believe that those performances, the talent that we’ve recruited will lead to results and once we get results we will move through the league and ultimately this club will compete right at the top end where it should be. But we just need to give it that little bit of time and that little bit of patience.”