IPSWICH Town’s 2016/17 Championship campaign won’t be revisited too often in years to come, except perhaps by statisticians.

Sixteenth in the second tier was the Blues’ lowest finish since 1958/59, eight home victories was Town’s joint-fewest in this division, 12 away defeats equalled their worst since 1965/66 and failing to score 17 times was the joint-worst ever along with 2006/07.

Eleven clean sheets was the fewest since the same season, while the aggregate home attendance of 390,554 was the lowest since 1998/99.

In addition to those Championship ‘milestones’, Town were also dumped out of the FA Cup by a non-league side, now-promoted Lincoln City, for the first time since 1959/60.

Stats alone don’t always tell the whole story, but I think in this case those numbers accurately reflect a thoroughly disappointing season which never really got going.

Town never looked like troubling the play-off places, while at the same time only briefly flirted with the relegation battle.

There was the odd good day, beating Sheffield Wednesday away and Newcastle at home, but not many and the campaign ended with a whimper at Nottingham Forest on Sunday as the hosts won 3-0 to escape relegation.

The final scoreline flattered Forest a touch with the Blues the better team before the break, but once Forest had got ahead via a rather soft penalty Town badly drifted out of the game.

The most significant stat is that the Blues ended the season 25 points from their pre-season aim of the play-offs and, after losing their last three matches after securing safety, just four from the bottom three.

A lot has got to change between now and August if the Blues are to be more competitive with the Championship having become a very much tougher division in a relatively short space of time.

Increased parachute payments mean the clubs relegated from the Premier League have wealth far beyond all but a few established Championship clubs whose owners are prepared to inject £20m or so a season.

While by no means peanuts by historical standards at Town or for the Championship, the £6m-ish subsidy that owner Marcus Evans has put into the club in most recent seasons is now simply not enough.

If Town are to be play-off contenders next season then Evans will almost certainly have to delve deeper into his pockets.

But even if he does that it’s highly unlikely he’ll get anywhere near to matching the division’s bigger spenders.

The man charged with splashing out whatever cash is made available will again be Mick McCarthy, with no signs of Evans making a change or that the Blues boss will move on of his own volition, much to the exasperation of most fans.

Throughout the season supporters have made their frustrations known, with the functional style of football and lack of entertainment cited perhaps more often than the disappointing home results, which stretch back into the previous campaign, while there is a perception McCarthy deliberately looks to bait supporters with his comments to the media.

Should there have been a change? From Evans’ perspective he probably looks at this season as an aberration, one campaign in which for a variety of reasons - the departure of key man Daryl Murphy and injuries among them - the Blues have failed to compete.

Putting their complaints regarding style to one side, even McCarthy’s detractors would accept that the previous sixth and seventh finishes were laudable given the budget. Evans will be banking on a return to that sort of form.

But, as I’ve said a few times during this most fractious of seasons, it’s not healthy for a club to have a manager so widely disliked by fans.

Season ticket sales have dropped below 10,000 for the first time since the late 1990s with McCarthy’s continued presence a big factor in that. He’d probably argue that results next season will help turn that around, but for most supporters I think the relationship has broken down irretrievably.

While there’ll be no change of boss, the same can’t be said for the squad which looks set to be very different when 2017/18 begins.

Christophe Berra is the most notable early departure after an excellent four years at the club, while plenty more ins and outs are likely before the Blues begin their 16th successive Championship campaign. Perhaps the least welcome statistic of all.