Ipswich Town boss Paul Lambert says getting the club back into the Championship is his top priority – but short term success is just the start of the rebuilding process.

Town will play in the third tier of English football for the first time since 1957 next season, having been relegated rock bottom of the Championship in the catastrophic campaign just gone.

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But the Blues' manager, who has done much to reconnect the famous old club and its fans despite the struggles on the pitch, insists that bouncing back up from League One at the first time of asking is only the start of his mission.

"Our first target is to get back to the Championship," Lambert told the club website.

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"It's going to be tough. There are some big clubs in the division and when you look at the budget Sunderland have got, we will be nowhere near that.

"That's the challenge for us but success for me also means about the long term, putting an infrastructure in place for the next six years, not six weeks or six months.

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"We have to rebuild from top to bottom, on and off the pitch. The standards have dropped for a club of this stature and with the history behind it.

"It's a big job, a huge job to turn things around. It's a challenge we will take on though."