'He's a fantastic coach, particularly of young players, a great judge of players in the transfer market. But the great thing with George is that he still won't be satisfied and will want to improve and build for next season.
'We've had a wonderful season. We budgeted to finish 17th and aimed to finish 11th so to sit in third place with three games to go - what a fantastic season.' Sheepshanks' pragmatism is indicative of the approach that has guided Ipswich from successive Division One play-off failures to the top three of the Premiership without excessive spending.
The club's record signing remains £4million defender Hermann Hreidarsson but apart from him, Burley's only major outlay last summer was the £1m he spent to sign Martijn Reuser from Vitesse Arnhem.
Sheepshanks is almost certain to come in under budget after their Premiership campaign and said: 'It is important to have a vision beyond next season.
'Everyone said when we came up into the Premiership that we ought to enjoy it while it lasts. 'So we've proved them wrong. I think we benefited from all of our experiences in the playoffs.'
