Ipswich Town boss Mick McCarthy has told owner Marcus Evans that he is more than happy with the squad he’s got ahead of what is set to be another quiet transfer deadline day at Portman Road.

The window for permanent additions closes at 11pm tonight and the Blues boss – whose side are eighth in the Championship table ahead of tomorrow night’s visit of Reading – has repeated throughout the month that he would struggle to find players better than the ones he has got without spending ‘silly money’.

Fringe duo Jonathan Parr and Tommy Oar have departed, while Kevin Foley (free agent) and Paul Digby (loan, Barnsley) have been recruited since the turn of the year. Trialist Jerome Thomas, 32, could still be signed. It’s business which has left the majority of supporters underwhelmed given that their promotion rivals have all made significant additions.

“We’re always looking at the possibility of bringing in new players and there is some financial latitude, but what I hear first-hand from Mick (McCarthy) and our director of football Dave Bowman is that we have got a very settled squad,” said Town managing director Ian Milne.

“They both said a few weeks ago ‘I think its’ going to be a quiet transfer window’. They feel they’ve got the players they want and are confident they’ve got the right balance in the squad.

“It’s not the case that Marcus is saying ‘no-go’ to any suggestions. The question from Marcus is always ‘Mick, what do you want to do?’ Marcus puts trust in his manager and if Mick says he’s happy with his squad then Marcus is happy.”

Supporters continue to question why the £8.1m fee received for Tyrone Mings – which didn’t all come as a lump sum – hasn’t been reinvested. Sticking to free agents and loans is, according to some, the sign of a lack of ambition.

“Marcus is not the hold-up, money is not the hold-up. It’s simply a case of Mick saying ‘there is nobody I desperately I need to bring in’,” explained Milne.

“One thing Mick is not is a ‘yes man’. If he was unhappy with Marcus, myself or anyone of us involved in a senior position at the club then he would say so. There is no undercurrent.

“We’ve had certain interesting owners and managers along here recently and it is quite fascinating to see how they run their club, but we do things the way we do it here – we leave football decisions to the professionals, and that’s Mick and Terry (Connor) and Dave Bowman. I think that the majority of fans trust in Mick too.”

Milne added: “We know the arguments – we could go out and spend money like Derby and Middlesbrough have done. That may or not get them extra success. You could argue it hasn’t done Derby any good, really.

“Of course I can understand that fans always like to see signings, but Mick is always saying that you can easily get the wrong players that may upset the whole equilibrium.

“The other point to make is that the loan window opens next week and if we need to utilise that market, which we’ve had success in before, then that will happen.”