Former Ipswich Town player David Norris believes Paul Cook needs more time as manager of the Suffolk club and deserves to be backed this summer to put his own squad together.

It has been an unhappy time since Cook arrived at Portman Road in early March, with the former Wigan boss only winning two matches so far since being appointed as Paul Lambert's successor.

A lack of goals has been the main factor for Ipswich's lack of recent success as they've gone on a six match streak without finding the back of the net.

They're now huge outsiders for the play-offs with so many teams ahead of them in the table and Cook hasn't shied away in ripping into his players, labelling them as 'Sunday league standard' and it remains to be seen how many are still around next season.

A lot of Ipswich fans believe that Cook needs to be backed to rebuild the whole squad whilst some sections don't think Cook is up to much on the managerial front.

Quizzed on whether he thinks the new owners should part ways with Cook at the end of the season just a few months after he was appointed, Norris, who played for the Tractor Boys for three years between 2008 and 2011, thinks more time is needed for the new man in charge to build his own squad.

 

 

 

 

Speaking exclusively to Football League World, Norris said: "I think there'll be an understanding that he's come in at a difficult time.

"It's not his team - I think if he had started a bit better there would be no question that he just needs a bit more time and to do it his way.

"He's not been there that long, he's having to deal with what he's got and at the minute he's got a lot of probably unhappy players or players that are not going to be there, so he's got to try and manage getting them to want to play as well as the way he wants to do it, so I think you've got to give him another season.

"But at least you've got to back him - the club overall have backed managers (before the change of ownership this month), it's just they've never bought the right players in the or right management in. But I think he's got to be backed and he's got to be given a bit more time."