Cash will put Jim in a strong position

JIM Magilton may not enjoy the same riches as some Coca-Cola Championship managers, but he is now in a strong position to produce a promotion-gaining squad.

By Elvin King

JIM Magilton may not enjoy the same riches as some Coca-Cola Championship managers, but he is now in a strong position to produce a promotion-gaining squad.

Clubs who have recently come down from the Premier League have their parachute payments to give them a significant edge over their Championship rivals.

Thanks to some good recent husbandry, Magilton has not been forced into selling players to keep the club afloat.

This will be reinforced now, and so will Magilton's ability to spend.

He might not have huge amounts to pay on transfers but he will be much better off than he was yesterday.

Reports that Magilton might lose his job after a club takeover have proved to be well wide of the mark.

He will now be working under a different kind of pressure in a highly pressurised job.

With money at his disposal he will be expected to come up with the goods - but this is a challenge that the genial Irishman will relish.

His predecessor Joe Royle took the Blues to a couple of Championship play-offs and vowed that he would have done better with a bigger budget.

“We have just achieved a footballing miracle,” he said after Town lost to West Ham in the Championship play-offs three seasons ago.

Since those dark days of administration Ipswich have had to off-load a number of talented players including the likes of Darren Bent, Darren Ambrose and Titus Bramble.

Ironically, if Matt Holland and Hermann Hreidarsson had decided to leave Portman Road for a total of £3million being offered in the summer of 2002 Town would probably not have gone into administration.

By the time they did move on months later the transfer market had dipped and their values were considerably reduced.

The conveyor belt of young talent coming off the Ipswich Town Academy shows no signs of slowing down, and this will continue to be a main source of input to Magilton's squad.

Eight of the players involved in the 3-0 win over Wolves at Portman Road on Saturday were players Magilton had brought in as he assembles his own team.

With the debt now gone - for all intents and purposes - Magilton will be able to invest in new players he feels will give his team a boost.

It is a mouth-watering scenario on a good news day for Ipswich Town.

With a fourth-placed position a perfect launching pad for a promotion push, Marcus Evans' arrival can only increase hopes of a marked revival in the fortunes of Ipswich Town.