Basically, as I’ve said in the press lately, so far so good. We’ve played 10 games, and to be fair the players have adapted very well to the Premiership. It’s great to have capacity crowds every week, and travelling away there is a great atmosphere. We’ve been to some of the finest grounds in the country, and the football has been of a top standard. We’re really enjoying it. A lot of people tipped us for relegation this year, but we’ve played against the top three teams of last season and done very well. Draws with Man Utd and Arsenal, and a win against Leeds, gave us a lot of confidence to compete in the Premiership. It’s only the start of the season, we’re not anywhere near half way yet and we still have a lot that needs to be done.

When we were in the First Division our aim was to get promoted. You try to finish first or second which we got close to on three or four occasions, but on the last day of the season we missed out, but the playoffs were another chance to get promoted.

I think with this it’s a progression, football has always been my life, I came to Ipswich when I was 15. As a youngster I always wanted to be a professional footballer, I played school boy international so I don’t think you can ever beat playing, but in all sports you can’t play forever, and there’s some point where you’ve got to give up because you get too old basically! I think playing is the best, I still enjoy joining in like I did this morning! But as I say, it’s one of those things you can’t do anything about. Honestly I really enjoy the job I’m doing, being a manager is something I wouldn’t swap for anything – for any walk of life or profession. Being the manager you have a lot of responsibility, you have to manage your players, your coaching staff, results, and really the whole of Ipswich as far as people supporting it go. It’s a lot of pressure and responsibility there, but I really enjoy the job. Ipswich has always been my club, from when I was very young and when I started playing professional football, and it was always the club I wanted to come back to to become manager, so it’s really a dream come true and I really love it. It's excellent when you’re winning but when you miss out and lose you’ve got to take it on the chin and not get too downhearted because players look at you for the support. At times we’ve been so close and missed out and people say ‘oh you won’t do it again’ because once you miss out you’ll have to sell players, which we had to, but it’s a test of character. We stood up and showed that we had tremendous spirit at the club to actually get promoted.

At the end of the day it’s a spectator sport, and the team has to play well to pull up the numbers. Five and a half years ago the average crowd was 12, 12 and a half thousand, last season it was 18 and a half, and this season unfortunately we had to turn 9 thousand people away for season tickets because the stadium is full. So far so good, it’s been good for the fans too, because there’s been so many excellent games. We need a good follow up from the fans because the players respond to it. If they get a great backing they get pushed on and if they think they’re doing well it helps tremendously. It has an adverse effect as well I think, if things are not going well and the fan’s are booing that can bring out the worst in the players so the fans are very important.

No! Mainly because I’m Scottish. I really think the England job is for an English guy. I know people say it shouldn’t matter, but I think the Scotland job is for someone Scottish. When you look at all the teams that have won the World Cup, the managers are of their respective nationalities, and they can actually get the best out of the players, so I think the England job is for an English man. I’m friends with Craig Brown and I think he’s doing a great job with the Scottish international team but at the moment I’d say no to either of the jobs. There’s so much to be done at Ipswich and I’m really enjoying it, and I’ve got a lot of ambition to do more. I’ve always wanted, for the players the fans and myself, to get to the Premiership, and now we’re there I want to stay in the Premiership next year, and the year after and at some point push into Europe! People in Ipswich would take that very seriously, but I’m sure people outside of Ipswich might see that as unachievable, but we’re determined to try and do it. It’s not gonna be easy but people said we’re going to be relegated this year and once we prove them wrong it should show that we can push to those heights.

I’ve got to say it’s probably getting Ipswich promoted. The highlight of my playing days was the FA Cup but there was so much at stake for the whole of Ipswich at that one match at Wembley. Winning the playoffs was in another league – another stage – so that’s going to affect the whole of the following season. The FA cup didn’t, whereas everybody in Ipswich was going to be affected, people wanted so much to get into the Premiership, and it was 5 years hard work to take them back. I’ll never forget it, for me as a manager, it was something I really wanted to do because I hadn’t got promoted before and it was something I felt that I wanted to do for a football club.

New players are a continual thing, as I said, over the past few years we’ve had to sell one or two, but it was nice this season not to have to sell anyone. We’re always looking for new players, and looking to strengthen and that’s what we want to do, especially in the Premiership where the finances are much stronger, so we will continue to do that. I don’t know when or where or who but we will continue looking. Choosing them is not willy-nilly; you’re building a team. Clearly you don’t just pick players, you’ve got to use your own judgement to get the right type of player, someone that’s going to fit in your system, and someone that has the attributes you’re looking for. We’ve got some very good scouts, here and abroad, so we trying to get the right people.

Well, hopefully, we can win! You have to look at the strength of the squad, and the players Middlesborough have got. Some of their players are going to be very dangerous, but, at the moment, I have to give credit to our players because they get into the game and set the standards high, but it’s not going to be easy.

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