Welcome back to Portman Road for today's game against one of the best footballing teams in the Championship in Doncaster.
They have enjoyed a very good season and have won many plaudits for their style of play, perhaps bucking the trend a bit in this division with a game built around possession.
They've got some good, experienced players, a top manager in Sean O'Driscoll and our match reports indicate they have been playing well without getting the rewards they probably deserved in recent weeks.
We had a good game up at Doncaster earlier in the season and got ourselves into a position to win the match before conceding a late equaliser in a 3-3 draw - how many times have we said that this season!
When I look back over the year our first match at Coventry probably sums up the season we've had. We gave away two bad goals and missed a lot of chances. We were nearly there in that game just like we've been nearly there on a number of occasions since.
The players must take a lot of credit for the way things have turned around since January. Our form has been a lot better - it could hardly have been any worse - but the players have shown a good side to them and we've done well to get where we are.
But I know more than anyone that if we start next season like we did this one, it won't be accepted. The fans have been very loyal and shown great support for the players and myself but that won't continue next year if we don't perform.
Although my focus remains on finishing the season as well as we can, we've started to put plans into place for next year and I'm hoping it will be a busy summer here, especially for our chief executive.
We're not talking about starting from scratch again. A lot of the players have done well but there are areas we need to strengthen and I've got to make sure we're on the ball in terms of identifying players we'd like to bring in.
We're probably talking four or five players and we have certain targets already in mind. Hopefully I will get the backing of the owner and Simon [Clegg] in making that happen but I also appreciate that to do that, we have to balance the books.
In terms of numbers, we simply have too many players. I want to tighten it up and I will be speaking to the squad over the next few weeks to outline who I feel are part of my plans.
There are some big decisions ahead but we have to be realistic in the business we can do and the changes we want to make.
We've got players here on loan that have done well for us but they are contracted to clubs. Do they want to come here? Are their clubs prepared to let them go? Can we afford their wages? Likewise we've got players out on loan who have done well, Steady [Jon Stead], Tamas Priskin, Colin Healy, Kevin Lisbie, Alex Bruce, Pim [Balkestein] and Liam Trotter. Many of those players have still got contracts here so will clubs try and negotiate or will they be back here for next season? As I said, there is a lot of hard work ahead.
Last week's defeat at Forest gave us another reminder of the hard work ahead on the pitch as well. We matched them for the first-half but football is what you do over 90 minutes, not 45.
We were naïve in the way we chased the game after going behind. We should have sat tight for a while and made sure we stayed in the match but we didn't, we gave away a bad goal soon after and they just picked us off after that which is what good sides do.
It didn't help our cause that we lost Damien [Delaney] early in the second-half with an ankle injury and we expect him to be out for two to three months. It's disappointing, obviously, but it means someone else will get their chance.
Enjoy the game.
