Ipswich Town manager Mick McCarthy insists it has been business as usual for him and his players building up to tomorrow’s top-six decider at Blackburn Rovers.

The Blues head into the televised clash (12.15pm, Sky Sports) knowing that a win or a draw will seal the club its first play-off place in a decade. Defeat, coupled with at least two other results going against them, could see them fall agonisingly short though.

There’s been plenty of excited discussions among diehard supporters and fairweather fans alike, but for the staff and players it’s been like any other week at the office.

“I’ve had people discuss every scenario with me,” said the Blues boss, calm as ever when facing the press yesterday lunchtime.

“I was at our End of Season Dinner the other night stood in the toilet and this guy went through everything. He goes ‘we’ll win, then we’ll play so-and-so, then we’ll do this’.

“It was a nice bit of positive mental attitude, but I think he might have had a few sherbets as well!

“Discussions in the toilet aren’t going to sort it out for us though. We might just have to do a bit of work on the training pitch for that.”

He continued: “This is work for us. I once said to someone ‘I can’t do that because I’m working tomorrow’ and they went; ‘Work? You’re a footballer’.

“Well actually, I get up, I go to the place where I do my job, I earn a living and they pay me at the end of a month. That’s a job.

“It’s a fantastic job, a better paid job than most, but it’s still a job.

“That’s what you have to realise. You have to treat it as a job. You’re getting paid to do something so you do it well as you possibly can. We’re professionals.

“People keep asking me how we are going to approach this game. We’ll approach as we do every game.

“Planning, preparing, changing, tinkering, in game management happens every week, not just this one.

“We’ve earned our right to been this position because of the way we’ve played. Let’s just go out there and play as we have done for the majority of the previous 45 matches.”

He added: “I apologise for being sat here answering questions calmly.

“Of course you can feel a little tingle running through the club and the town, but the real excitement comes at quarter past 12 on Saturday.

“Putting too much emphasis and too much pressure on it can be counter-productive. I’ll let everybody else do that.

“You have got to play the game, not the occasion. If you do it the other way around then you can end up in big trouble.”