Town boss Paul Jewell says he wishes the season was starting today at Hull having used the loan market to put together what believes is the strongest squad he has had to work with since he has been at Portman Road. Short-term signing Nigel Reo-Coker and eighth loanee Stephen Henderson became the latest additions to the ranks earlier in the week.

Jewell said: “I wish the first game of the season was Saturday. That’s not to decry the lads who have been here so far, but I think everybody knows that the squad hasn’t been as strong as it is now for a while.

“We’re always looking to improve the squad and we’ve found it difficult for the reasons I’m explaining - clubs didn’t want to sell, clubs wanted too much money, wanted to loan players rather than to sell them, so we are where we are.

“I think after 10 games we’re obviously in the situation we’re in and the squad needs to be improved, and that’s what we’ve done.”

He says it’s the best group of players he’s had since he took over as manager after Roy Keane’s departure in January 2011: “I think we’ve got the strongest squad I’ve had since I came to the club, without a shadow of a doubt.

“That doesn’t mean that everything’s going to come right overnight, we’ve got to be careful that we don’t think everything’s rosy in the garden, but we’ve got a lot of quality.

“If I look at the bench now, I can make changes from the bench whereas sometimes since I’ve been here, without being disrespectful to people, we haven’t had too much to change it with.”

Jewell says integrating the new recruits has gone well during the international break: “Training’s been really good, it’s been really lively.

“They worked hard last week and, with the arrival of new, quality players, you look around the squad and you’ve got options, certainly going forward, we are a little bit light at the back, in the full-back areas, but certainly in terms of midfield and forward options we’ve got choice now.

“All of a sudden we’ve got different options,” he added. “We can play different systems and it gives me choice.”

He feels the squad is now more capable of taking on the division’s big spenders and says that in any case there had been progress in the games prior to the break: “I certainly think it’s competitive.

“We find ourselves in a really tricky, tough situation and I think we’ve got some men, some experienced players, in Danny Higginbotham, Nigel, Richie and DJ, who are going to help the dressing room get out of the sticky spell that we’re in.

“Not everything’s going to come right overnight, I’m aware of that. But if you look at the last three games, we got a fighting point at Barnsley, had a decent performance against Brighton and for long spells against Cardiff we were the better of the teams.

“We’ve played Brighton, who were top of the league and we played Cardiff, who were top of the league at the time, and you couldn’t really tell the difference between the three sides.”

Photo: Action Images

bluesimon added 11:14 - Oct 20 So PJ wishes his team was full of loan players from day 1 then. Excellent.
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gibbo added 11:16 - Oct 20 Is it just me or does anything he ever says makes sense ! I wish he would go.
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Dissboyitfc added 11:52 - Oct 20 Billm...man up and accept what? the fact that under this management we are not only a championship side, but results wise a poor championship side. Some people may accept what is going on, i dont accept it. I truly believe a better manager would have got more out of the current crop of ( true, not loanees ) itfc players. This is very painful and people need to wake up and see the patience which is being afforded to Paul Jewell, is with the benefit of hindsight, very much misplaced. Nothing is getting better, can someone remind me of our last home win? You cant beat that feeling on a saturday at 5pm, your team has just won at home and you know the next stop is the pub for an after match celebratory drink. I miss those occasions :(. We all should, well those of us old enough to remember. Its as though we have become desensitized to winning. NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

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Garv added 12:06 - Oct 20 alfromcol - how can you say there is no cover at right back? And even at left back we can use Higginbotham if we need to + Whight of course.
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delias_cheesy_flaps added 12:18 - Oct 20 Fek know's what's whirring about in that hamster wheel of a brain of his, It's truly bizarre what comes out of this mans mouth nowadays! I think you've got the majority of Town fans wishing that the first ten games was all just a nightmare, unfortunately it's not!
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Lightningboy added 12:33 - Oct 20 I'm starting to think that Jewell is mentally unhinged.
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billlm added 14:00 - Oct 20 diss boy evans cant afford to sack him so enjoy him till june
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footyblue added 14:10 - Oct 20 more jewell drivel always excuses but other teams don't have these problems so that sayd something to me
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Dissboyitfc added 16:09 - Oct 20 billm... can evans afford to keep him? thats the more important question, because make no mistake about ii, relegation would be very costly. lost revenue alone from unrenewed season tickets would be massive. And enjoy what? I love comedy and i love ipswich town, i dont love it when they become 1. we really are a joke, even bloody leicester think we wont challenge so they allow us the privilege of getting one of their squad fit. Not happy with much at portman road at present, can anybody be? !/4 of the season gone and our main hope, is for survival using a team sponsored by wonga.com.

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billlm added 16:37 - Oct 20 all i said was my opinion on us getting 7 points or 9 and the scenario, if were bttm 3 in december of course he wont see january
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Dissboyitfc added 16:51 - Oct 20 he said, judge him after ten games, does he really need anybody to judge him? he should judge himself and walk.
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billlm added 16:57 - Oct 20 ok diss boy 6 out of 9 lol, life goes on
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raycrawfordswig added 17:11 - Oct 20 DICKHE4D GET OUT
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BigAlsMate added 17:15 - Oct 20 I really wish his involvement in our club following todays result was finally over!! GET THE CLOWN OUT!!
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NoelTheDub added 17:36 - Oct 20 5oc sat same story and the loan lads are getting fitter and i will see if there is any more players with no club or want to lose a few pounds to come to our dying club.If it was our young lads that were losing these games i might understand but its overweight or no interest players thats taken us down.
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