IPSWICH Town chairman David Sheepshanks today admitted that the pressure is now on for manager Jim Magilton to achieve.Following the spending of over two thirds of Marcus Evans' £12million treasure chest during the January transfer window the new club owner will be looking for a return on his investment.

Elvin King

IPSWICH Town chairman David Sheepshanks today admitted that the pressure is now on for manager Jim Magilton to achieve.

Following the spending of over two thirds of Marcus Evans' £12million treasure chest during the January transfer window the new club owner will be looking for a return on his investment.

“The more weapons you have in your armoury the more battles you are expected to win,” said Sheepshanks.

“There is always pressure in football.

“But if you asked whether this pressure has now increased - the truthful answer is yes.

“Marcus wants us to get promoted to the Premier League, and he is joined in this quest by everybody else at Portman Road.”

If the Blues have not moved forward this time next year questions might start to be asked with Sheepshanks adding:

“This season, next season or the one after - the facts of the matter are that we want to be promoted.

“Both Marcus and myself have a long term view, but he wants us to move forward. And he can see we are going in the right direction.

“The manager's squad got significantly stronger in the 18 months up to the takeover, and this is borne out by performances.

“With our five transfer window signings we all believe we can now make further progress.”

Sheepshanks expects Magilton's squad to be culled in the summer with a number of players coming to the end of their contracts on June 30.

Sito Castro, Richard Naylor, Sylvain Legwinski, Fabian Wilnis, Jason de Vos, Dan Harding, Chris Casement, Michael Synnott and Dean Bowditch are all out of contact in the summer.

One or two other players could also be considered for possible sale, with Sheepshanks adding: “We have a lot of fringe players but in the summer I expect this to be evened out.

“We will review the situation.”

And despite the signing of David Norris, Stephen Bywater, Alan Quinn, Velice Sumulikoski and Nick Coglan, Sheepshanks said that loan signings could well be made.

“We have to wait a week and we can only deal in England,” said Sheepshanks. “But there could be a couple of loan additions in the not too distant future.”

If Ipswich do go down this road, the players targeted are likely to be fringe members of Premier League squads.