bluedragon Do we really know what he was offerd? I would have thought our pay structure was up there with most championship teams? Trouble is Burnley have just came down, so they can offer more. If we are paying a large chunk of Bullards wages thought we could have offered him the the same.

make ya sick how we lose out to Burnley , another Kevin phillips senareio.

cheers evens n clegg ! - how to f**k up a deal they certainly know how to do that !!

really Pis*ed of about this .

I hope this isn't going to hurt anyone:

I love ITFC, it's the team I've always supported and followed. Even, when my parents moved to Spain I still supported them and do today.

That said, ITFC is the only thing about Ipswich that holds any attraction for me.

I can't see too many young superstars playing in a Town shirt unless they come through our youth system or are attracted to the club because we have an exceptional manager.

Of course one day we can have another Bobby Robson who'll attract Muhrens and Thyssens. Of course we can develop another Darren Bent.

I just wish we'd put our efforts and our money into blooding our youth and searching for the next jewel of a manager. (Seriously, I make myself laugh sometimes).

Until this happens, we really shouldn't kid ourselves that we're going to buy the next Leo Messi from Stevenage.

Dietmar Van NostrilBoy..........I couldnt agree more with what youve said ....so much hype over "new Bouys" .......we have the players already give them the right roles the right supply and now the new shape to the team with this spot on manger we will be all ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK!!!!!!
I really belive Scotland is poacher like liniker was thats how he scores his goals let him run free and you will see the player that Swansea done so well with!!!!!

So many people blaming Clegg, but the club shoud have a wage structure, no business can spend more than income. Fans have to take some of the blame, if PR was packed every match we woudl have more money to spend on players

But typical Suffolf people want everything for free.

Budgieplucker I totally agree with you. Bonuses are the way to go. A large part of my pay is bonus based and it makes me work my socks off. We don't want to be saddling oursleves with huge wage bills but no harm in promising good rewards for good performances. There are objective measures - clean sheets, assists, goals etc.

Itfc1981
Only a numbskull would blame clegg or anyone else without knowing the facts.

Shame really, but i can only imagine with 3 or 4 clubs chasing him, he was always gonna take advantage of the situation and get the best contract/wages possible. Cant blame him for that at the end of the day. Not sure about Clegg. Unless we knew the clubs budget etc. It could have just been hands were tied. Its a shame, but thats business. Also Jimmys wages are probably steep, even if we are not paying them all. Onto the next one. Paul will get us a good striker, who better than someone who knows that part of the game well.

Hey guys don't worry I hear campo has phoned cleggy from his sunbed looking to come out of,retirement right up cleggs street

It is deeply disappointing after reading yesterday that we had agreed a fee with Swindon, Austin had travelled to Portman Road and there was talk of a 3.5 year deal for it all to collapse today and for Burnley to seemily tie up the deal pretty quickly. Austin was just the sort of player I wanted us to sign, and now every time he scored for the next 15 years I will be reminded of today.

That said, we cannot just pay whatever a player asks and see our wage bill go up and up, especially if we are plotting a more sensible long-term strategy for the club rather than a 2-year rush to the Premier League like before. I hope that Paul Jewell was involved with Evans and Clegg in agreeing the sort of wages Austin is worth and that Jewell has not been disappointed by the Chief Exec in the way that Keane seemed to be.

On the plus side, under Jewell we are looking at EXCITING players and I trust him to find other talents worth signing whom we can afford.

And Austin/Agent would accept bonus based deals would they? You assume that wasn't offered, how do you know they didn't? Remember Holloway has been quoted a few times saying Blackpool offered players various options and the agent/player simply walked away they weren't interested they want a guaranteed wage

Does seem odd that Town can stump up the cash for Bullard's wages, an injury prone player the wrong side of 30, and not manage to get Austin. Like previous comments on here i can't believe Burnley is more attractive to Austin than us, especially since he wanted to remain down south!! Let's hope he's the new Sam Parkin....possibly our worse ever signing? And I also agree that Clegg needs to pull his finger out although he seems little more than ME's mouth piece so is not 100% responsible for all the players we've missed out on.

Oh for gods sake, we can't sign anyone decent.

clegg are you a downy? hmmm.. YES

Once again we have lost out.Seems to me if Clegg and Evans are in competition with any other club whoever it happens to be then we lose out.Surely Evans must realise that Ipswich wont get to the Prem if he persists in just getting players that no other club wants,and therefor he wont recoup the money he has paid out.
Clearly Ipswich are not offering the money that a lot of other |Championship clubs are prepared to pay,and in addition not even enough to keep existing players here either in length of contract or money,possibly both.
In the longer term if Ipswich do well it will be down to PJ,despite his employers who still seem clueless and have yet to provide the fans witha single player,since they took over who excites the crowd as Charlie Austin would have.
Dont forget Mr Clegg you will be asking us to renew our season tickets in a couple of months and once again all you have managed in this window is one injury prone Championship player who has been warming the bench most of the time at Hull City when he wasnt injured.In an interview with The Guardian in May 2009 Major Clegg said" There are a lot of people who talk the talk in British Sport but I hope I can walk the walk"Well not so far you havnt matey .
Get real man or go back to athletics as its more in tune with your public school upbringing.

At least Ipswich Town are now a club seen to be in serious competition for exciting, young and up-coming players.

Missed out this time - but who's next on the shopping list?

Clegg & Evans are the Kiss of Death to ITFC, i always thought that and this reinforces that for me .M E talks of Prem ambitions ,but it is just that talk ,keep talking till Olympics and he will be gone and ITFC will be jetisoned with debts to boot . Clegg is a puppet and ME is the Master of Puppets. 2012 RIP ITFC .

The very reason we're in a position where we have to depend on an unknown backer is that we offered silly contract that we couldn't really afford so if we miss out on a striker unproven at this level because burnley want to pay him 12k per week then that's fine with me. Besides if he'd rather play for burnley he's clearly not for us. I'm just glad that jewell is looking at this type of player rather than spending big money on old boys!

I have said this before. I feel clegg needs a proper football man working along side him. Someone who knows the game and what players want. Sadly I cant think of anyone who could do that...

people who keep going on about we cant blame Clegg due to the wage structure are looking at things with a blinkered vision. Yes if the wage structure cant afford 12k a week then fair enough but as we are paying near 20k a week for Bullard it does show there is money there.
The wage structure is obviously flawed. I'm guessing Bullard will be on wages for a regular starter in their structure and Austin was offered money as a rotation player, the flaw in this is 2 fold. Bullards fitness worries and the ability to make a profit from the player.

Far too many attempts to over-complicate things here.
Remember the simple truth. Professional players are A) Bloody lucky to be in the game B) Subject to brief careers in which they make relatively huge amounts of money in a short space of time C) Therefore, prepared to sell their ass to the highest bidder.
Agents grease the wheels of this mercenary lottery and the icing on the cake is the cringingly enbarrasingly press-call where the players kiss the badge and pledge undying loyalty to their new club. What's the difference between Austin being "really excited" to join Burnley and "really excited" to join Ipswich? Cash - end of.
And, incidentally the same applies to our out of contract players. If they can get a better deal somewhere else, they will.
The "pride in the shirt" line, is I'm afraid a sad myth.

Plenty more fish in the sea. Swindon reported that initially he wanted to go to Southampton and now he's gone to Burnley. My guess is that he never wanted to come here in the first place.

how much we are paying Bullard is still speculation and its for 6 months NOT 3 years.

For once its been exciting to see us linked with a player like Austin be honest when was the last time we actually got excited about a possible signing i feel that Austin is getting a little large for his boots yes he is proven striker but seems to try and dictate what happens with his transfer his heart wasnt in joining us but the pound sides where attracting him so lets be honest to we really want a player that just plays for big money and not the love of our tradditional friendly club signings will come but for me and i hate to admit it but Clegg wasnt to blame just a greedy young player who needs to come back to earth slightly

Clegg and me death of itfc do me a favour. If it wasnt for evens we at best would be going into div 2, thats if we still had a football club.