UNDER-PRESSURE Ipswich Town manager Paul Jewell refuses to lay any blame at the feet of owner Marcus Evans and chief executive Simon Clegg for the club’s ill fortunes.

The Blues boss revealed he was considering quitting in the wake of Saturday’s limp 2-1 defeat at Hull City, but within less than 24 hours decided he would remain in the dug-out for tonight’s visit of Derby County – ironically a club where he lost more than half of his games in charge – after Evans reiterated his “100%’ backing and players inundated him with messages of support.

Increasingly concerned supporters are questioning whether the problems at the club run deeper than the manager though, with Jewell having missed out on several of his top targets this summer.

Asked if he felt that Evans and Clegg – having delivered six short-term signings in little over a month – regretted keeping the purse strings so tight during his time at the helm, Jewell said: “You’d have to ask them that. I’m not going to sit here and blame them though; I’m the manager, I pick the team and I have to take responsibility.

“There have been players we’ve missed out on that I wanted to bring in, but you don’t get everything you want in life. I’m here to take responsibility.

“I don’t think any manager in any club can assemble the exact squad he wants. We could have had Charlie Austin, we could have had others. There are plenty of players who’ve slipped through the net, but we’ve still brought in what we think are some good players.

“I’m not going to sit here and say it’s because I couldn’t have this and I couldn’t have that. We’re in the situation we’re in and I have to front that up.”

– See today’s EADT and Ipswich Star for full match preview. For live updates from tonight’s game, follow @Stuart_Watson and @davegoods on Twitter.