Town boss Paul Jewell wants to see Portman Road packed out again, just as it was when he visited with his previous clubs. Saturday’s attendance is expected to break the 20,000 mark with ticket prices having been reduced by 25%.

Jewell said: “I’ve played at Portman Road and brought teams here in the past and it’s always been a really great atmosphere when it’s packed out and we’d love to bring those days back.

“But I understand in this economic climate people have to be careful of which games they can watch at times, but I have no complaints about our supporters, they’ve been brilliant.”

He says he hopes his side can build on their back-to-back victories against West Ham and Coventry, both in the short and long-term: “One of the reasons I came here was the potential. Everyone in football knows that Ipswich is potentially a big, big club.

“You can see from the crowds we’re getting when not pulling up any trees that the potential is there to be a club that can pull in 25,000 if we’re at the top end of the league.

“But we don’t want to get too carried away because every time we seem to get a big crowd coming or can win three in a row, we let ourselves down. So it’s important that we don’t allow the balloon to be pricked on Saturday.”

Jewell believes fans don’t always appreciate the impact they can have on a game and concedes that entertainment has been limited for Portman Road’s regulars since he took charge just over a year ago: “Supporters underestimate the importance of how much their support helps the team.

“Our supporters have been terrific. To be honest, they’ve had to watch a lot of poor football at times and had bad results, but they’ve kept coming and travelling home and away.

“It would be lovely this time next year and have sell-out crowds because we’re doing well. That has to be our aim.”

Story syndicated from TWTD.co.uk

Photo: Action Images

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