Ipswich Town manager Mick McCarthy has given his first interview since it was announced he will be leaving the club at the end of his contract this summer.

The Blues boss, whose usual pre-match press conference will be broadcast live on our Facebook page at 1pm today, came to the agreement with owner Marcus Evans last night.

“How am I feeling?” he said, speaking to the club website. “A little bit strange actually because I’m sat here with eight games to go on the Thursday before we travel to Birmingham and I still want to finish as high as we possibly can and have a good end to the season.

MORE: ‘It was time for us both to look at different options’ – Evans pays tribute to exiting McCarthy

“How this will affect it, only time will tell. I thought it was important for everybody, bearing in mind I come in this room and I get asked every week ‘what’s happening, what are you doing’, so I went and spoke to Marcus and after having that chat we both decided that it’s probably best if we go our separate ways and the club gets on with doing what the club does and I go on to new things, hopefully soon.”

Asked if he sensed it had been a difficult decision for Evans to make, McCarthy replied: “Yeah, it was a collective decision as well don’t forget because I’d said all along I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do.

MORE: What Evans, McCarthy and Milne had all previously said

“We never actually got round to discussing contracts but it was kind of mutual because, having spoken to him about what he wants to do with the club moving forward, about me, about my ambitions... I’ve sat in here and I’ve spoken about it before.

“What I want to do, and perhaps with the sequence of events over the last few months, it’s probably best for all of us.”