Town have confirmed the £150,000 signing of Luton midfielder Andy Drury on a two-and-a-half-year deal. Drury could make his debut when Town face manager Paul Jewell’s former club Derby at Pride Park on Tuesday.

Speaking at lunchtime before the formalities had been completed, the Town manager said: “It’s not quite done yet but we’re hoping it’s going to get finished off so we can have him in the squad for tomorrow.

“It might not get people jumping off their seats, but I think it’s important not to dismiss the Conference. Look at how well Crawley Town are doing, they’ve knocked a couple of league teams out of the FA Cup.

“There’s talent out there, it’s sometimes about giving someone a break, Steve Morison played at Stevenage, George Boyd as well. Plenty of players have made the transition and we’re hoping Andy can do that as well.”

Jewell, who says he first spotted deadball expert Drury when he was playing for Stevenage, confirmed that the 27-year-old had a clause in his Luton contract which meant that he could leave if the Hatters received a bid of £150,000.

Luton managing director Gary Sweet says his club is disappointed to lose the player they signed on a free transfer from Stevenage in the summer: "Even though his services have been rather short-lived as a Hatter, 'Dukes' has endeared himself to the Luton faithful with his exceptional skills.

"Such talent appearing in the, so-called, non-league is simply unimaginable and once Andy found a club that showcased his creativity a move to the Championship was inevitable.

"It has never been Luton Town's policy to stand in a player's progression, as long as we have been able to improve the squad during the process.

"Last summer, when he signed for Luton Town, few knew anything specific of Andy. Yet, six months later, we have had the valuable services of a Championship player who has attracted a transfer fee for the club which has more than covered the fees paid out for Alex Lawless, Jason Walker, Amari Morgan-Smith, Charlie Henry and Robbie Willmott, put together.

"We'll miss Andy and, whilst we're confident we have replaced what he has contributed more than sufficiently, his colleagues wish him the very best of luck at Ipswich."

Drury began his career with hometown club Sittingbourne before joining Gravesend and Northfleet, the side now known as Ebbsfleet, in 2003.

Comfortable all across the midfield and occasionally operating as a striker, Drury spent three years with the Kent club before moving on to Lewes in 2006 and in 2007/08 helped the Rooks to the Conference South title.

In the summer of 2008 he joined Stevenage and in his first season at Broadhall Way was in the side which won the FA Trophy and reached the Blue Square Bet Premier play-offs.

Last year, Drury and Stevenage finally secured promotion to the Football League, winning the division but losing the final of the FA Trophy to Barrow.

In the summer, the 5ft 11in tall Drury eschewed the lure of League Two football to join Luton on a free transfer and he enjoyed a fine half-season with the Hatters, scoring eight goals in 26 games.

Blues boss Jewell says he doesn’t expect any further moves in or out today: “You never say never, but we’re just about to jump on a bus to Derby, so I wouldn’t have thought so.

“We tried to get a few players in, tried to add to the squad and we’ve some success with Andy and Jimmy and we’ve had some near misses. I wanted to add to the squad and I didn’t really want anybody to go.”

Photo: ITFC

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dazz added 14:45 - Jan 31 acoording to sources chris iwelumo is close to signing......! with preston also making an offer!
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TimmyH added 14:46 - Jan 31 welcome Andy Drury to Portman Road...meet the blockheads!
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Bergholtblue added 14:55 - Jan 31 dazz He turned down Preston because they could not agree personal terms. Sky sports say two other championship sides are after him. One may be us, but if he is after an unrealistic salary I wouldn't hold my breath.
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bizman added 15:04 - Jan 31 dazz.... have you got the link for the Iwelumo story? Who is the 'source'?!
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blueblood66 added 15:19 - Jan 31 good luck Andy
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Wickets added 15:20 - Jan 31 Sweet a deadball expert at last, we allways moaned in North stand at how poor our freekicks and corners are. obviously PJ agrees.
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thebeat added 15:25 - Jan 31 Pleased with the 2 signings so far as we get constantly outplayed and overun in midfield, personally i would have liked 2 new fullbacks, Peters and Edwards are good going forward but dont know how to play the defensive side of fullback properly, O'Dea isnt a natural fullback and Kennedy is too slow to play there, and it seems O'Connor is going to play on the wing.
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CanadianBlue added 15:35 - Jan 31 Optimistic about Drury - really hoping he makes the grade and proves to be a worthwhile signing.
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KnightZ_87 added 15:38 - Jan 31 Off topic, but i saw a couple of comments about Darren Currie and dead ball situations etc. What about good old Martjin Reuser?! I wish he was still at our club. Boy he knew how to find the net from free kicks on a good day. Bullard & Drury though, well nobody needs further proof about Jimmy's potential on the pitch, providing he stays fit. Drury I can only imagine has some talents otherwise Jewell wouldn't have signed him. Lets just hope he can make the step up.

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nitroblue1970 added 15:48 - Jan 31 Iwelumo....WTF!!!..hardy set the division alight has he, another bench warmer!!!
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brogansnose added 15:51 - Jan 31 Good luck to the lad and he comes with some nice comments from his ex- managing director. Nice to be looking at players other than Premier has beens / never were good enoughs and mercenaries.
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chripswich added 15:53 - Jan 31 whoopeee... great month of transfer business... non leaguer - 27 (not 17) surely he would have been outed by now if any good in reality.. plus aging dead ball specialist...who spends most of his time on the treatment table whilst not ousting a quality central defender from bottom club and other quality preferring burnley... woohooo! well done everyone... average!!!!

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BlueBoots added 15:58 - Jan 31 Welcome aboard! Apparently we've signed a player who overhits the odd corner, so it'll make a pleasant change from Legbiter not beating the first man...
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MaySixth added 15:59 - Jan 31 Good luck son
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devontractorboy added 16:06 - Jan 31 Welcome aboard Andy, hope this proves to be 'buy of the season' by Paul Jewell. Hope Big Mac & Chuck can stay and thrash out a deal?
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tractorblue99 added 17:02 - Jan 31 Sky sports are reporting that two championship clubs are looking at Chris Iwelumo...maybe, just maybe
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corshamblue added 17:16 - Jan 31 at £150k sounds like a very good piece of business, let's hope he's as good as Luton rated him.
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jas0999 added 17:51 - Jan 31 Firstly, and as with all ITFC players, good luck to him. However, I simply do not see the point of this transfer. It is plain for all to see that we don't have a right-back at the club and our biggest problem - and has been for 4 or so seasons - is we don't score enough goals. I don't care what anyone says, we need a striker - most clubs have four (at least) and we only have three. Of those; Wickham has only scored once, Scotland is poor away and Priskin is inconsistent. None of them score enough - it's not all about delivery - all three strikers have missed a hatfull of chances. The one area of the pitch where we have ample cover is MIDFIELD; Bullard, Edwards, Peters, Norris, Leadbitter, Healy, Martin, Civelli, Houlehane and even Kennedy can play there. So what does Jewell do? Signs a midfielder! No disrespect to Drury, but it's fair to say he has very little league football experience ... let alone at this level. Is he really better than what we have? Also, if this is the only permenant signing then we should all feel let down. Cast your minds back to when Jewell was appointed - a strong argument for the timing was 'to allow a new manager to exploit what's remaining of the transfer window'. Considering loans can be done when the window is closed (and most TWTD posters slated Roy for loan deals) - it is fair to say one signing from the non-league is very poor indeed.

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h32 added 20:40 - Jan 31 jason0999 - at the risk of being accused of having an affair (sad people) - I have to say I TOTALLY agree with.
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thebeat added 22:35 - Jan 31 i have to say i agree with jason0999, we need a right back badly, im sure Jewell probably identified 1 or 2 as he said after the Doncaster game we hadnt got 1 and he was using Edwards to fill in so why hasnt one been brought in? I can only think its down to Dumb and Dumber again
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h32 added 18:44 - Feb 1 thebeat - one can only assume that Jewell had identified a couple of players to fill the right back position - if by any chance he didn't feel he needed to, then we are in big trouble. But again I would have a wager on 'loan players only' being the directive. I have a feeling this is typical of how things will roll on until after the Olympics, after which another owner will have been lined up. Just a thought !!!!!! - for now anyway.

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