Simon Clegg says the atmosphere at Town’s Playford Road training ground has undergone a complete change since Paul Jewell took over as manager in January. The Blues chief executive was speaking at last night’s PLC AGM where assistant boss Chris Hutchings stood in for Jewell, who was absent on what Clegg described as “important family business”.

Clegg says he believes progress has been made in Jewell's time in charge, despite the current run of seven successive defeats: “I think you only need to go up to Playford Road to feel the complete change in the atmosphere up there.

“We’ve got a much closer, much more cohesive group of individuals working together, and I think that can only be good for what happens on the pitch.

“Last Tuesday aside, there was absolutely no question on Saturday that those players were passionate and were very unlucky [against Watford].

"They were playing for themselves, they were playing for this club and they were playing for the manager.”

The Blues chief executive says there’s no alarm at Portman Road despite the current run and with Town sitting 21st in the Championship: “I’m not shying away from [the results]. We are where we are and it’s a bloody uncomfortable position. I don’t take any pleasure at all in standing up at an AGM on the back of seven back-to-back losses.

“Up until Portsmouth we were on a good run, but let’s not suggest that we’re in panic mode at the moment, because we’re not. Things are bad and we need to turn things around, but I’m confident that we will do.”

He says that if the defeats continue to rack up then the situation will be addressed as and when: “If we get to that point we’ll be thinking about it as we’re going along.

“I’m not going to speculate in terms of what may or may not happen and when it may or may not happen. What I’m focused on now is turning these results around.”

Clegg, who is as yet unconcerned by fears of relegation, reiterated that while Roy Keane’s tenure may have been viewed as a quick fix, Paul Jewell’s appointment marked a more measured approach: “It's about the long-term.

“A couple of people here were talking about short-term gains but we’ve made it very clear since Paul’s arrival that this is about a long-term game-plan in terms of putting in place the building blocks that will take us up.

“OK, we’ve taken a couple of steps back over recent weeks, but I’m confident that we’ll turn things around. We’re still some distance from the halfway point of the season yet.”

The meeting itself, chaired by David Sheepshanks, who remains the chairman of the PLC, which owns 12.5% of the club, was a surprisingly muted affair given the current on-field woes.

Chris Hutchings took a question about the age of the side, saying that that wasn’t the issue behind the recent downturn and that the same players had been involved in the earlier good run, also highlighting the progress of youngsters such as Joe Whight and Byron Lawrence.

The running down of former defender Gareth McAuley’s contract was criticised, Clegg responding that it was part of a collective decision to give manager Jewell and his staff time to assess the existing players when they came to the club in January before offering new deals.

Hutchings was questioned about Michael Chopra’s progress, telling shareholders that the striker has trained every day since his recent spell at the Sporting Chance Clinic and that he was also coming in for additional sessions as he continues a recovery from his gambling addiction which will take some while.

Match day prices were criticised, Clegg saying that a lot of thought goes into deciding them and that his main priority is to protect season ticket holders, adding that he was disappointed to have to increase their cost after five years ahead of this campaign.

There was applause after one shareholder suggested that fans were frustrated not to see more young players being given a chance. Hutchings answered that they are the club’s future with Josh Carson cited as someone who has made the breakthrough.

Others, he said, are progressing from the U18s into the reserves and will get their chance in the first team. But, as fans will have seen with Jay Emmanuel-Thomas after his summer move from Arsenal, young players can be inconsistent. He praised the job U18s coach Russell Osman is doing.

Clegg gave his backing for the club’s youth set-up: “Every single person in this room, myself included, would like to see 11 players in the starting XI, all of whom have come through the academy.

“We will continue to invest and prioritise the academy accordingly and we will continue to select players when it’s right and when they are ready to move into the first team.”

He added that the decision whether to opt for Category One or Two status when the Premier League-led changes to the system come in for next season will be made between him, manager Paul Jewell and owner Marcus Evans.

Hutchings said that whether the players whose loans are up in the near future — Danny Collins, Keith Andrews and Reece Wabara — will remain at Portman Road depends on a number of factors, not least their parent clubs’ plans for them and that the situation will become clearer in January.

All the meeting's resolutions — including the re-election of Roger Finbow and Philip Hope-Cobbold to the PLC board — were passed by the 158 of the overall 3,790 shareholders present and the evening was wrapped up within 40 minutes.

Photo: Action Images

Photo: Action Images

walberswick added 10:10 - Dec 6 'Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.'
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tractorboy2434 added 10:11 - Dec 6 No wonder they are laughing at the training ground, All old players and all on nice contracts, I doubt that Evans will give Jewell more cash in January as the club are losing money every week at the turnstiles and no sign that anything will change, I would like to know just what they do at training as there does not appear to be any coherent plan on match days, conceding 2,3 or 4 goals a game is certain to end in relegation so something has to change and quickly, I hope he has another centre back lined up because I don't see Collins coming back and Sonko is injury prone.

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HALLSJ added 10:12 - Dec 6 Can other people whether Saturday's game is on Sky or BBC, I thought it was BBC
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sonian_blue added 10:16 - Dec 6 Yeah looks like they are working together...and anyway whether it is a better place or not we are losing every week. Jewell Out NOW.
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walberswick added 10:20 - Dec 6 Sky Sports 2
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bluelady added 10:20 - Dec 6 what a happy bunch of people on here, thank goodness its only a small minority!
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stinkiusminkius added 10:23 - Dec 6 Halls - the game is on Sky Sports 2 on Saturday. 520 kick off. Too early to dump PJ. Give him cash in January as he has a good eye for good players, and has intimated that he wants youth and pace so is clearly heading the right way. And in a worse case scenario, if he still can't get them performing, then any new manager will have some decent players to work with (unlike the mess that PJ inherited from the inept Keane).

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yorksblue added 10:28 - Dec 6 Football AGM's remind me of the yearly bulls*it meetings we used to have with senior officers in the RAF, where we went in with the hope of learning something new, and always came away none the wiser.
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Lightningboy added 10:33 - Dec 6 I should think the "atmosphere" has changed because you clowns had Roy "the grim reaper" Keane in charge for 18 months. The only way this club will ever progress is if we go back to basics,back to our principles of building up from the youth team rather than just chucking lorry loads of money at the team..is Jewell the right man to do that long term though? Burley would be,with Magilton alongside.

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tractorboy2434 added 10:37 - Dec 6 He's right it is a different place, it used to be a football club training ground, now its somewhere for a bunch of OAP's to meet up, have a laugh and joke and then go home again.
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spanish_archer added 10:58 - Dec 6 Clegg needs the Spanish Archer
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buryblue77 added 11:13 - Dec 6 It's all about PR! Evertything nowadays is surrounded by an overwhelming stench of bullpoop, from government, to retailers 'special offers' to any stat you like can be manipulated to say what you want it to say. You just can't take these types of people at face value because although things are dire at the moment, nobody in that posistion will ever stand up and admit to it. Just feed the general public their daily dose of excrement with a few snippets of truth just so that they think we still believe them (which I think most of us do) so that we're satisfied.

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Pessimistic added 11:16 - Dec 6 I agree with many of the posts here. I have been sometimes rather critical of Simon Clegg but on this occasion he is making some sense. Patience sadly is a rare commodity on football but if you believe in someone then you should develop ideas around him and that is exactly what appears to be happening around Paul Jewell and the management team. The building blocks are in place but it takes time to cement these principles. Well done Ipswich Town football club! Our fine record of giving a manager time is still thankfully a reality it would seem.

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AlanMahon2011 added 11:26 - Dec 6 What about the library we keep loosing in? Sort it out Porno Paul!!!
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Benters added 11:35 - Dec 6 what a load of rubbsh Jewell out
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tomisamos added 12:50 - Dec 6 simonsays - it gives a reason for why Jewell wasn't there. I'd think you were joking but you're often one of the boo boys. jas - I think Clegg is saying progress includes the whole club. Therefore he's saying the relationships between players are stronger, training is more structured, the youth system is back on track and there is quality lined up for the future which, if played all at once, would not perform, just as JET doesn't play regularly but is clearly in their long term plans as he adapts and developes his game. People moan about him, but just because he came from Arsenal and not the youth doesn't mean he isn't young and still learning. I think Clegg is talkig about relationships and is implying that all we need now is results. And if we don't start seeing evidence of results by January, Jewell will go. You really do need to start reading the whole article and thinking about it, not just the first thing that on the surface doesn't make sense to you.

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tomisamos added 12:58 - Dec 6 itfc1981 - how do YOU know?? Clegg aside, let's talk about the squad. I don't believe for a second you believe that Bullard was a bad buy after his performances last season, no one did. I also can't believe you'd rather have Delaney and Smith back in defence. You're probably one of those those who criticised Jewell's attempts to bring in the likes of Woodgate, Upson and Ferdinand because 'they were too ambitious'. I think Jewell's doing the best with what he's got. Imagine he'd, managed to sign Charlie Austin and Anton Ferdinand, for instance. We'd be looking at a different squad. Since turning up Jewell has rejuvinated and developed/brought in Carson, Martin and Scotland and I think he will look to bring in more as they look ready to play. Byron Lawrence is 15, in this current state of affiars, playing him would put on too much pressure for him to do well. We need the old boys to step up. Most of them have the ability, Bowyer, for example, was brilliant last year for Birmingham. I think they will turn it around. As for the season being a write off, no one at the club said that in terms of results we'd be anywhere near the play-offs this year. No one expected to be. Keane said that and he failed and was fired. Jewell said there needed to be a massive turnaround and he's realising the unmeasurable task it will be to do this. I don't think we'd have seen much more from any of the other managers who were available and we won't see much more from any of the managers available now. Among the poor results have been some excellent runs and results. I think it will come together, but pulling the plug on Jewell now could mean missing the best of him. I honestly believe that.

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Postmaster added 12:58 - Dec 6 Definate lack of visible progress on the field - hopefully behind the scenes things are improving and maybe it will click over xmas. I do wonder exactly to what extent the clubs infrastructure was gutted post administration and especially through Keanes tenure.
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itfchorry added 13:05 - Dec 6 As I have said before - Clegg couldn't run a bath. CLEGG OUT
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AlanMahon2011 added 13:05 - Dec 6 Fans don't pay extortionate prices to watch you play at Playford rd Jewell... Sort it out
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itfchorry added 13:06 - Dec 6 As I have said before - Clegg couldn't run a bath. CLEGG OUT
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itfc1981 added 13:43 - Dec 6 tomisamos building for the past you call progress building a team full of OAP's progress. Yes I wanted Bullard, and I dont want Del or Smith back. But I expected Jewell to add youth and flair to the midfield. we have been crying out for a RB for years. Martin is all flash but no substance, you cant rely on Carson, he is in and out of form. Chopra is good but his mind is in a poor state. The fact Jewell wen tfor star defends shows out of touch he is. I mean as if they would come to Portman Road. We want progress. In the Summer we will have rebuild the squad to start from scratch. This season has been a waste of wages. While JET is awful.

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itfc1981 added 13:48 - Dec 6 1. He tells the fans we have improved, no Clegg we can make our own decision on that. Look at the facts, we are in a worse position now than 12 months ago. 2. Jewell is a long term appointment with a long term plan. I would accept this and encourage this if it was true. We are signing 30 + has been to try and fluke promotion. I would happily see a team full of youngsters aka Cresswell, but we are not following this route. 3. We had to raise ticket prices - No we didn't, ITFC could have easily kept the price the same, however they introduce a stupid grading system. Lower the prices and more fans will go - simple Clegg. 4. Contracts - Again we are seeing players just run down there contract. Sell Leadbitter, for example £250k fee, and also save £250k ish on wages. That alone would cover the increased rent. We have lost connection with the club, the fans no longer mean what they did say under the Sheepshanks regime. We are just numbers. Taken from a post on the Forum

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Garv added 15:12 - Dec 6 Jas when was the last time we played one upfront? Blackpool if I'm not mistaken, and before that it was I think Southampton. Some on here complain there is no youth, flair etc. then you moan JET is awful. This is proof that youth is in no way necessarily better than the experience being used at the moment.
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Tractastic added 15:18 - Dec 6 Glad to hear Playford Roads a better place these days but no point if we are losing week in week out.Lets be frank as long as we are winning who cares what goes on at Playford Road.The priorities are all wrong here and we are looking relegation squarely in the face. Wake up Clegg? You are either simply out of touch with the reality of the situation or you haven't a clue about football? Long term plan? What's that then? Signing a load of has been's and loanee's and Carson is the only player who has been given any chance from the youth system and PJ took his time doing this.Great plan??? Clegg has been employed for his spin and PR's skills and once again he has successfully diffused the situation for the time being at the AGM.He's good at that but when it comes to football he's a rookie? He made a mistake with Roy Keane and he's done it again with Jewell and does anyone have faith in Clegg's ability to hire the correct manager next time round ?Although a lot of the frustration on this forum is aimed at PJ i feel serious questions need to be asked of Clegg and whether he is the man to take Town forward. He joined Ipswich in April 2009 and since then has anyone actually seen any development? I will always follow this club but I just can't support the current regime.Its not working for the good of ITFC.

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