TOWN’S largely fractious 2017/18 ended on a positive and upbeat note on Sunday as the Blues drew 2-2 at home to Middlesbrough, something which would have been unthinkable only a few weeks ago.

Even the fifth-finishing visitors grabbing a last-gasp equaliser couldn’t put a dampener on a warm and sunny end-of-season afternoon on which Portman Road seemed back to its old self.

Another positive performance and result played its part, as did the presence of Town legends aplenty as the club celebrated the 40th anniversary of their 1978 FA Cup triumph.

The atmosphere with nearly 19,000 in the ground - compared with just over 13,000 only a few games ago - was a far cry from earlier in the campaign as former manager Mick McCarthy’s already severely deteriorated relationship with fans degenerated even further.

Last month’s confirmation that he would be moving on at the end of the season and then his sudden early exit after the Barnsley game ended an unhealthy situation which really shouldn’t have been allowed to drag on as long as it did.

That Barnsley match was only a month and a day ago but the mood around the club has changed remarkably in that short time.

Much credit for that must go to caretaker-manager Bryan Klug, who first joined Town as a player in the season of that FA Cup win and whose normal job is academy head of coaching and player development.

The temporary appointment of someone so steeped in the culture of the club was always going to be a positive move but the four-game spell couldn’t have gone too much better from a bridge-building perspective.

As Klug said on Sunday, four points from 12 could have been improved upon - and the performances deserved more - but results weren’t the be-all and end-all of his time in charge.

Town were going to finish in mid-table whatever happened - they ended up 12th - and the only thing to play for was finishing ahead of Norwich City, an aim which was achieved on Sunday on goal difference.

While only a three-week tenancy, Klug’s time at the helm looked to the future, not just on the field but off it with U23s coaches Gerard Nash and Chris Hogg gaining useful experience assisting their academy mentor with the first team.

On the pitch, Myles Kenlock, 21, and Tristan Nydam, 18, will have benefited from playing all four games, while Ben Morris and Ben Folami, both also 18, and Luke Woolfenden, 19, were handed their full Championship debuts and Shane McLoughlin, 21, made an effective penalty-winning Blues league bow from the bench on Sunday.

The 1978 FA Cup-winning team was built on young players coming through the youth system, as were the subsequent promotion sides of John Lyall and George Burley, and the last four games suggest another promising crop will be developing into first-team regulars over the next few seasons.

As those players come through, others are moving on with Luke Hyam and David McGoldrick, both stalwarts of the McCarthy era, set to depart.

While fine servants to the club, their exits are probably no surprise with the Blues well covered for central midfielders - as long as this season’s extraordinary injury count isn’t repeated - and with McGoldrick’s fitness issues having made him an expensive part-timer, something which will have frustrated him more than anyone.

Klug has now relinquished the reins and it’s up to owner Marcus Evans to maintain the resurgent feel-good factor by appointing the right permanent manager.

News that former Tottenham and Aston Villa boss and one-time Norwich midfielder Tim Sherwood had been interviewed and had impressed Evans received a predictable reaction.

If the rebuilding of the relationship between the club and fans is to continue then the new man needs to be someone who receives the backing from the larger part of the support rather than another contentious figure.

No-one is going to please everyone, of course, but Evans needs to name someone who will enthuse the majority of fans.

The bookies’ favourite remains Shrewsbury boss Paul Hurst and the 43-year-old is exactly the profile of manager most supporters would love to see.

Hurst has progressed up the divisions starting in non-league at Ilkeston and Boston, then on to Grimsby and then Shrewsbury.

Having taken the Shrews into this season’s League One play-offs on the type of limited budget he would have to work with at Town he has earned a crack at a higher level with a bigger club.

Whoever is in charge at Town when the new season starts in August, they will come into a happier, more harmonious and hopeful club than had seemed possible.