Town boss Paul Jewell has admitted that he got his approach to recruitment wrong last year and needs to have a more patient outlook during this close season. The Blues manager signed 13 players either permanently or on loan during what was a busy summer, largely experienced senior pros such as Jimmy Bullard, Lee Bowyer, Ívar Ingimarsson, Ibrahima Sonko and Nathan Ellington.

Jewell said: “I think certainly last summer we just trying to get whoever was available all of a sudden. We probably weren’t patient enough. If someone came on the market, we’d think we’d take him because he’s been [a good player].

“Look at Ívar Ingimarsson, we took him. We took Lee Bowyer, we took Jimmy Bullard. Jimmy Bullard got Player of the Year last year and everybody wants you to take people.

“Maybe when you sit back you think that we’ve got to have more of a plan. We’ve got to try and target players earlier, which we have been.

“We’ve improved our scouting network, which is important, both home and abroad, and hopefully we’ll have more of a choice of players to choose from.”

The Blues boss is determined to bring success to the club: “My message is that I’m working as hard as I can. I love my job here and I’m fiercely proud that I’m manager of Ipswich and I really want to give the supporters something to cheer about.

“I understand the frustrations. Patience is a word which we ask people to use, probably at times it hasn’t been shown.

“The owner’s shown that he’s behind me. I want to repay the faith he’s shown in me and I want to repay the supporters because the supporters have always been good to me.”

However, he says success next season may equate to steady progress from this season’s lower mid-table finish rather than anything more tangible: “I hope next season is successful, but success might not always be measured in getting promotion.

“It might be, for argument’s sake, that we just finish outside but we’ve got a really good squad, a really good team and we just lack that one or two players to make the push [the following season].”

As for the season which comes to an end at Doncaster on Saturday, Jewell says his initial aim for the campaign was to finish much higher than where the Blues currently find themselves: “In November or December I would have settled for a mid-table finish, but I wouldn’t have settled for that at the beginning of the season.

“I want to be at the top end of the table, Marcus wants to be there, I want the players to want to be there and I’d love to be able to give these great supporters that in years to come.”

Photo: Action Images

BuckieBlue added 21:04 - Apr 25 Ok, there are positives here: 1) going after targets earlier, 2) being patient in transfer market ( I think there's no contradiction here) and 3) looks like PJ is confident of at least another season...or so (I know to some of you that's not a positive, but I'm of 'let's not chop amd change' brigade). But surely a bit early to be casting doubt on the top 6 twelve months in advance! Probably even Donny thought they'd a chance of that pre season with all their loan singings etc. COYB

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h32 added 21:24 - Apr 25 buryblue77 - stay on track, and keep posting sensible - you're wavering again and wearing those tinted specs !! However you look at Jewell's statement - it beggars belief - because it will (rightly) be seen as covering his a#se already by a huge majority of support. And what a deflating comment to enter the summer break with ?? This man is not up to it - I have always been of the opinion that he wouldn't be, as you know, but he has proved worse on many fronts than I ever thought possible. Ambition is becoming alien to the Club - that I do not like.

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RegencyBlue added 21:35 - Apr 25 For gods sake Jewell you are supposed to be an eperienced manager and you are coming out with this rubbish. Get a grip or get out!!!
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h32 added 21:35 - Apr 25 It seems that anything that Jewell and /or Clegg can do to p#ss people off - they either say or do. Absolutely WEIRD. To me it proves that they have NO IDEA how to manage the positions they hold - all their talk / actions right now SHOULD be focused on lifting spirits to kick next season off with substantial support - NOT deflating people more than what another dismal season already has. I genuinely fear for the future of the Club.

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buryblue77 added 21:44 - Apr 25 @ Harry10, slight omission I meant in Championship manager! I was comparing the stupidity of the game in which it's possible to do anything to real football. Also I know the board or PJ are not going to be reading this and taking notice, I guess I'm saying that to post with some form of intelligence behind it (positive or negative) makes more sense and a better read than some of the posts on here by the likes of Daley and Walberswick. h32, I know you're not a PJ supporter and I can see your reasons, as you know I am as I'm prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt as he has had a difficult job clearing up Keane's mess, however you may have seen in some of my posts that I am giving him 10 games next season to make a significant improvement or my opinion will change. I don't like sacking managers every 2 years so I'd also like to see some stability, I guess your answer to that would be to appoint the 'right' (whoever that is) man in the first place and we wouldn't have to. I still don't trust Clegg and Evans with running a football club, previously neither of them had done and it shows. For what ever reason we don't seem to negotiate well with renewing our players contracts, pay a lot of money for them in the first place then let them walk away for free - another situation (which we could well see again in the next few weeks with Leadbitter) that really needs sorting.

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HARRY10 added 21:46 - Apr 25 "But surely a bit early to be casting doubt on the top 6 twelve months in advance!" Not if you know how dire things are, Jewell does. I suspect it is far worse than the rumoured big drop in season ticket sales. If things were pretty much ok, a bit tight perhaps then this statement would not have been made. Ypou need to question why it was made as much as why lies behind it. There are 'good' reasons why so many youth players have been offered silly contracts or no contracts at all. I suspect that we will see at least one 'major' sale this summer. The word is JET, but apart from Martin or Cressswell can you really see anyone else being able to step up or likely to attract a decent fee ? That leaves an awful lot of work to be done to find and attract the half a dozen players that will be the absolute minimum for next season. That doesn't beg the question of where the money will come from. Worrying times.

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Blue041273 added 22:03 - Apr 25 A statement like this is truly bizarre. Does he mean that he needs to take more time assessing the merits of potential targets? Or perhaps being more dogged in the pursuit of targets that may not be too keen to come. Or is it that more due diligence is required in respect of those targets that might actually be (too) keen to come to us. Whatever, it doesn't exactly inspire confidence that we are going to get the right players any time soon.

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h32 added 22:29 - Apr 25 burybkue - very fair comment.
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