Town manager Paul Jewell says owner Marcus Evans is “ultra-positive and optimistic for the future” and has been very supportive of him, despite the recent run of seven games without a win.

Jewell says he and the Dublin-based owner talk regularly: “I speak to him all the time and he’s ultra-positive and optimistic for the future, not just this season but beyond that.

“I have to say, as I sit here today, I’ve had some very difficult phone calls [to make] — when you have to ring up the owner having lost 7-1 or have lost 4-0 at Burnley with a performance like that - but he’s been nothing but supportive and I hope I can repay the support he’s shown me.“

He says Evans has given him no set schedule for bringing success back to Portman Road: “When I first came here it was going to be a long and hopefully enjoyable job.

“There’s no timeframe, I’ve been in the game longer than most, since I left school, that’s 30-odd years, and I think I’ve seen most things and I know you can’t carry on losing matches.

“I’m not sure when, but somewhere along the line Martin O’Neill lost eight on the spin at one time. Going back a bit, I was speaking to Charlie Woods and he tells stories of when Bobby Robson was here and times were tough.

“What I would say is that I’m doing my best and if my best isn’t good enough, then I know the consequences."

Despite the run of defeats and fractious fans, Jewell says the owner hasn’t ever suggested that his job is in jeopardy: “If you lose games, you’re going to be under pressure. I’ve lost seven games on the bounce so I’m under pressure, I understand that.

“The owner hasn’t intimated to me that I’m under pressure. He’s got a long-term view for the club, so hopefully have I.”

He says resignation hasn’t come into his thoughts: “You never say never but it’s not even in my mind at the moment.

“I said after the Burnley game that I only want what’s best for Ipswich and if I meet the owner and sit down and we’ve lost another few games and I think it’s best for a change, he wouldn’t have to wait to sack me, I’d just say it to him.

“But I really don’t want to get to that situation. I want to get to that situation where in three weeks’ time we’ve won three times and turned it around. That’s the way I’m looking at it.”

Jewell hopes that the Sky cameras will see a change of fortune, just as they did earlier in the campaign: “The last televised game was against Coventry and we were under a little bit of pressure then.

"We’d lost four on the spin then and we won 3-0 and played fantastic. Hopefully the cameras can inspire us again.”

Story syndicated from TWTD.co.uk

Photo: Action Images

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