IPSWICH Town chairman David Sheepshanks left the Ricoh Arena on Saturday a thoroughly dejected figure.However, he has not lost faith in the manager he appointed to bring the good times back to Portman Road.

By Elvin King

IPSWICH Town chairman David Sheepshanks left the Ricoh Arena on Saturday a thoroughly dejected figure.

However, he has not lost faith in the manager he appointed to bring the good times back to Portman Road.

“Jim Magilton is doing a fantastic job and now is the time to give him our full support and backing,” said Sheepshanks, who remains the Blues' figurehead despite the takeover by the Marcus Evans group.

“We are sitting here now with the ability to improve things - and we will.

“We are in a position to invest in players of the calibre to make a big difference.

“For the first time for many years we are in a position to buy at a higher level.

“This group of players has done very well and after a couple of bad results now is not the time to throw in the towel.

“However, we will use the investment money wisely.”

If not exactly a vote of confidence - the manager's position is quite rightly in no danger - Sheepshanks' faith must still be reassuring news for Magilton, who must he wondering what he must do to wring an away win out of his troops.

Sheepshanks' sympathy for Blues fans has led him to put this down in print in his programme notes for tomorrow's home Coca-Cola Championship game against West Brom.

“I have to say well done to our supporters,” added Sheepshanks. “For over 1,100 to travel to Coventry when the match was being shown live on TV was a tremendous turn-out.”

And Sheepshanks admitted to being just as frustrated by the lack of points in recent games as the supporters.

He said: “It is always a big wrench to me when we lose.

“I am still sure there are more plusses than minuses and we are still in the top half of the table, but it was sad how the players appeared to run out of ideas in the second half.

“With respect, we have played two mediocre sides in the last week and produced very disappointing displays.

“The manager and his coaching staff must be pulling their hair out.

“At the interval on Saturday I was convinced we were going on to win and for long periods we were by far the better team.

“By the end we did not look like a team who believe they can win away.

“This puts pressure on winning our home matches, and we have two big games at Portman Road this week to prove how good we are at home.”

A big crowd is expected for the visit of West Brom with Premier League Portsmouth the visitors on Saturday in the FA Cup.

Giving a slight insight into plans to bring in newcomers, Sheepshanks indicated signings were not imminent.

“These things take time and it might be a couple of weeks,” he said.