IPSWICH Town manager Paul Jewell clearly feels he has got job security after bravely bringing up the delicate subject of sacking without prompting.

Twenty five Premier League and Football League clubs parted company with their managers between the months of October and February alone last season, with nearly �100m spent on changing bosses throughout the campaign.

And already six Championship teams have changed manager this season, with Jewell – at little over 10 months in charge – already the division’s 11th longest-serving boss.

Those statistics would seemingly put the Blues boss in the ‘at risk’ category seeing as his self-assembled squad are now just four points off the relegation zone following four straight defeats.

However, Jewell says he has been made to feel entirely comfortable about the situation by reclusive owner Marcus Evans – a man who gave Roy Keane just under 19 months before wielding the metaphorical axe – ahead of tomorrow’s visit of Reading.

“Everyone is talking about stability and continuity and you do need a fair crack of the whip,” said Jewell, who yesterday failed in his attempts to bring in a centre-back before the loan window closed.

“We are in a results-driven business and that means we are all a certain amount of time from the sack – its just that some of us have got five games, some of us have got 25 games.

“Working with Marcus (Evans) has been terrific as I think he has got a vision like I have, a long term vision of where the club wants to be in the future.”

He added: “I have been here 10 months and an awful lot has happened, but he (Evans) is very supportive.

“We speak on the phone a couple of times a day and it is great – I think eventually that is what makes you successful.

“The most important relationship in a football club has to be between the owner and the manager. If that is fragmented, it is going to break up.

“Hopefully, long-term, I will reward him with what everyone wants here.”

– See tomorrow’s EADT and Evening Star for full match preview of Ipswich v Reading.