Boss Paul Jewell admitted that fans are entitled to be annoyed after Saturday’s 2-1 home defeat to Charlton, but vowed to fight on. Town remain in 23rd in the Championship after seven games and are without a win at home since March.

Speaking after Saturday’s loss, Jewell said: “I understand the supporters’ frustrations and they’re well entitled to be annoyed. I’m annoyed and I know I’m not very popular at the moment, but what I’ll do is do my best and work as hard as I can and until I’m told different I’ll not run and hide.

“It’s not nice, it’s a horrendous position to be in at the moment, second bottom of the league, but what can I do? I know what I can do and I know what I will do, and that’s keep on doing my job to the best of my ability until I’m told otherwise.

“You’ve got to face up to challenges in your life and it’s a challenge for me, a challenge for my family as well. They’re a part of it. I shall dust myself down and come in [on Sunday] to prepare for the Barnsley game.”

The Liverpudlian admitted that he was unaware that his side had yet to score a goal in the first half in the league this season, while Jason Scotland’s 57th-minute deflected strike against Charlton was the first before the hour mark.

Jewell conceded that results show his team is currently lacking, even if he had been pleased with their two performances prior to Saturday: “I say the team’s not good enough at the moment because we’ve lost three games on the bounce.

“This time last week I was sat there after the Middlesbrough game saying we were the better team and we should have won the game. I said the same on Wednesday.

“I can’t say the same today because I can only see the game as I see it. I’m not a kidder, I know we should have won the game against Middlesbrough and we certainly should have won the game against Wolves. Today we shouldn’t. The team with a bit more edge and a bit more belief in themselves won the match today.

“Ipswich players are no different to any other players,” he added. “If you lose matches, you lose your confidence, that’s what happens.”

He revealed that Town’s much-reduced wage bill is now well below that of many of the clubs they are up against and not far off the figure that Joe Royle had to work with in the years after the club’s administration: “The Wolves wage bill is £22 million and ours is £6 million. Against Wolves, you wouldn’t have spotted £16 million of difference.

“I don’t think you can talk about today’s performance in the same breath as Wolves. I thought against Wolves we missed gilt-edged opportunities.

“But I know that’s not what people want to hear. They only see that we’ve lost three on the bounce, and I understand that.

“I’ll never shirk away from a press conference or a question, but the answer I’m giving you is my truthful answer. I thought against Middlesbrough and against Wolves, we were good.”

While budget limitations played a role in restricting the recruitment of players in the summer, Jewell acknowledged that few bosses ever have the squads they want: “There aren’t many managers who can put the team on the pitch that they want all the time.

“It’s a terrific, wonderful club with great supporters in a really tough league with about 16 or 18 clubs that thing they should be in the Premier League.

“The team on the pitch at the moment isn’t good enough, and I include myself in that. But until I’m told different, I’m not going to run away. I’m confident in my own ability.”

While he has no intention of walking out, he admits he needs a result or two quickly before the decision is taken out of his hands with rumours regarding Harry Redknapp and the Town job continuing to circulate: “We need something at the moment, we need to score a goal in the first hour, and we need to try and get a result to try and build on in the short-term to look long-term.

“We’re in the results business, I know that, and we need a couple of results quickly before we can look long-term.”

Photo: Action Images

alfromcol added 21:54 - Sep 24 Obvious really. PJ has been hung out to dry. No support forthcoming from any quarter. The CEO and owner are busy working out what to do next. No need to sack him today or tomorrow. No game until Saturday and another couple of games don't really matter in the whole scheme of things. They need more time to sort out PJ's replacement. No point in having a caretaker manager, may as well wait and bring in the real thing. We wouldn't want them to rush into this would we, and make another poor appointment. Be patient everyone, We have waited more than 3 years for the messiah I am sure we can wait a few more days/weeks?

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Bob7881 added 22:09 - Sep 24 alfromcol i hope your right as for Jewell being hung out to dry i dont agree he has been given money brought in his own coaching staff etc, he claims to be a manager of football teams and hes paid very well. I run my own business if i constantly underperformed in what i do i would be out of business simple as that. For me its not where we finish in the league its knowing that my team has given their all for cause. The Managers job is to see they do that.

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NITFC added 22:10 - Sep 24 Billm - er, how old are you exactly? Three perhaps? Do you remember that there nearly was no club before Evans came on the scene??
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runningout added 22:18 - Sep 24 not sure how correct this press statement is.. Paul Jewell said in frustration 'Give Harry Redknapp the job' .. Sounds like he thinks HR would struggle to get our shambolic team to perform : /
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hairbear added 22:41 - Sep 24 I wonder if Harry was to come in, if ME would throw caution to the wind and give him lots of cash to get us up? If not then maybe Burley as a director of football with a young lower league manager. Burley maybe past his best as a manager but knows how to run our club on a budget. JEWELL OUT!!!
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marcus139 added 22:42 - Sep 24 Spot on alfromcol.Lets make Jewell wait for his pay off....squirm!
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Bob7881 added 22:46 - Sep 24 Myself the Dalifarmer and a couple of others used to travel each season up to Anfield to watch Town Play Liverpool Hoping for win but in those knowing we never had won there before so a draw was a real bonus, any other team we played home or away we always fancied a win. God how times have changed.
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karls_dad added 08:01 - Sep 25 Thinking of the current situation , over and over it still comes back to lack of leadership, both on and off the pitch.. we have a team of proffessional footballers, thats it thats all they do, play football! Now i try as i may can,t plaster a wall, as hard as i try it will always look like the side of a cave, but with instruction and leadership i,m sure i could do it! So what is wrong down at PR at the moment? is it we have a team of wanna be plasterers, they want to do it but do not know how? or is it they can do it but have little instruction/leadership, Or is it that they do not give a toss! pick up their huge pay cheques every month, drive their audi tt,s, and have a standard of living we lessor mortals can only dream about! It has to be the leadership/instruction surely, plus the lack of drive by those on the pitch must play a huge part, I thought we had cut out a mass of dead wood but maybe some more need to look at themselves a little harder, as for the manager, well nice guy, great personality, like all lovable scousers, but sadly not very good at football management, maybe he should have a go at being a plasterer!

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Surco72 added 08:17 - Sep 25 Jewell has made a number of mistakes , No captain or leader in the team Edwards should not be in the team let alone captain , Sat he played without a defensive midfielder when we have been shipping goals for fun ,play Hyam and NDaw till we stop conceding . Think all involved know the end is near just waiting for new appointment
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alfromcol added 09:49 - Sep 25 Interesting that the news on players coming and going has completely dried up. IF PJ is on his way then it is v unlikely that we will see anything happening in the near term.
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billlm added 10:09 - Sep 25 nitfc im a lot older than 3 im aware of our situation before evans but we wernt an embaressment, we would have survived with pride,your obviously a supporter from up the road enough time wasted on you, thanks surco the edwards articule i posted but got downed for it your spot on
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Urchin added 10:15 - Sep 25 would never make a team captain someone whose only got a years contract
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Urchin added 10:32 - Sep 25 Now folks - this is what they should do at PR: http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/world-of-sport/country-where-pays-watch-foot
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heady added 10:50 - Sep 25 We're slowly becoming a joke.. team for Barnsley should be.. Loach Edwards Chambers Higginbotham Cresswell Hyam Luongo Carson Martin Murphy Scotland
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Surco72 added 12:05 - Sep 25 Loach Higginbotham,Chambers,Smith,Cresswell Hyam , NDaw Martin,Luongo,Murphy Scotland/Chopra
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BrettenhamBlue added 13:26 - Sep 25 We should have brought in 2 centre backs to increase competition for first team places. Chambers and Smith are playing ok but god forbid we get an injury. Loach Edwards, Chambers, Smith, Cresswell Luongo, N'Daw, Hyam, Martin Scotland, JET Let's be honest. Paul Jewell hasn't exactly got much of a team to pick from anyway. Reckon if we are lucky we will lose by 1. If we are unlucky we will take another thrashing like at Blackpool. Far too reliant on Chambers. If he gets injured we are in real trouble. We'll have to start playing JET in central defence.....

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Dog added 13:38 - Sep 25 I am very disappointed in Phil - all through the summer we had to read an article linking us to a player you just know was utter rubbish and conjecture. Now with PJ about to be sacked - why can't he link us with Managers. They can have the same truth/realism as the players we were linked with. Come on Phil some decent headlines please - "Rafa Benitez linked with Town", "Harry has always liked the Blues and would be honoured to coach them", "Arsene once helped Marcus Evans cross the road and is now linked to the job", "Sir Alex wants to move closer to his Son and sees Ipswich as ideal location contrary to what PJ has said", "Jose wants to return to England to manage Ipswich"

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bigfish added 14:25 - Sep 25 Who pays your money pj and who demands value THE FANS. We should be given a say in this.
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