BELEAGUERED boss Paul Jewell needs the full support of the Blue Army.

That is the message today from Liz Edwards, chairman of the official Ipswich Town Supporters Club, who has called on the Super Blues to get behind the team – and the manager – for tomorrow’s crucial home match against Blackpool.

While acknowledging the undercurrent of ill-feeling towards Jewell, from a results-based perspective, Edwards feels fans should back the manager – for now.

She said: “So far as a Supporters Club view on Paul Jewell is concerned - that is a matter for every individual to decide. I know there are many different views from different fans.

“My big message is lets get behind the team. Paul Jewell is the manager at the moment and he needs our support.

“So far as I am concerned, although he has clearly made mistakes – and has admitted as much – all I want is for us to get the players in that we need this month and start climbing up the table.

“I am looking for just two things – a vast improvement in the defensive side and for us to stop conceding injury-time goals.”

Edwards admitted she had some sympathy for the manager after he was caught up in a “sexism” row following his ill-advised words directed at assistant referee Amy Fearn.

She said: “Paul Jewell isn’t the first person to get in trouble for an innocent, quick-witted comment, and he won’t be the last. In this case, though, there is no justification at all for the press furore - his comment was taken entirely out of context.

“All he did was reply in typical Scouse fashion to a simple question about a very poor decision by match officials that in the end was very costly to ITFC, meaning we lost a game we at the very least deserved to draw.

“It could just as easily have been a male official. The more the media make a fuss about women officials, the more it makes it difficult for them to succeed in the game.

“I am not surprised he was a bit upset - you should have heard what I was saying on the terraces about it!”