FRIEND, foil, but most importantly someone to both bounce ideas off and disagree with.

That is how Paul Jewell views his relationship with long-time number two Chris Hutchings with Ipswich Town being the pair’s fourth job together.

Jewell was always likely to turn to Hutchings to be his right-hand man after they worked together at Bradford, Wigan and Derby.

Revealing the relationship between the two, Jewell said: “As a player, I trained under Chris – as well as Chris Kamara – and I liked the way he went about things in training.

“We just hit it off from there. He has a good knowledge of the game, a real good work ethic and he knows me as well. He is a good foil.”

Clearly good mates away from the training ground, Jewell believes footballing friendships can only get you so far.

He explained: “Me and Chris know each other very well and I would like to think we work well together and can hopefully deliver the goods here.

“I’m good friends with Chris but I don’t think you need to be. I was asked the question once, what is the most important thing - to have trust or someone who is good at their job? Well I trust my mother but I wouldn’t give her the assistant manager’s job!”

But Jewell was quick to state that the relationship between him and Hutchings was only part of the off-the-pitch decision-making.

“It is no good just having your friends there. It is important to bounce ideas off each other, to disagree with each other, and we have plenty of discussions with Sean (McCarthy), Malcolm (Webster) and Steve. I hear their opinions and then I do what I want,” joked Jewell.