IPSWICH TOWN: It’s time to bring in some youth.

Blues boss Paul Jewell is preparing to strengthen his squad when the January transfer window opens – and he’s ready to bring the average age of the side down.

With seven of his 13 signings this season in their 30s, Jewell said: “We’re not a young team – everyone knows that.

“We’ve got our experienced players who were terrific during that recent good spell and who I know will be terrific again.

“The ideal mix is youth and experience though and now we’ve got to plan for the future.

“I’ve sat down with the owner (Marcus Evans) on many occasions and said we want this to be a long-term thing.

“We want to get to the holy land of the Premier League as soon as we can, but I’ve certainly been given the confidence to plan for the future.”

Jewell can make loan signings up until November 22, with the permanent transfer window opening again for a month on January 1.

“If we’re in a position in January to strengthen I will try and strengthen,” said the Blues boss.

“I’m not frightened to strengthen the squad at any time – both for the short and long-term.

“Even if we’d won the last two games and I thought there was someone out there to improve us then I’d try and do it.

“We don’t want mediocrity because we’ve had a few seasons of that here, we want players that are going to take us forwards.”