Manager Paul Jewell says he wouldn’t be at Town if he believed the club was unwilling to go the extra yard to sign the players he wants. The Blues boss was speaking in the wake of last week’s failure to agree personal terms with former Swindon striker Charlie Austin, who subsequently joined Burnley.

Jewell says he doesn’t believe the failure to sign Austin was an illustration of the club not going far enough to attract players, citing the acquisition of Jimmy Bullard on loan: “I wouldn’t say that because if I thought that I wouldn’t be here.

“I think it’s important not to get carried away with one player, we’ve signed Jimmy Bullard from Hull and everyone knows Jimmy is on a lot of money there. They’ve stuck their neck out and done well there.

“Maybe Charlie Austin knows Eddie Howe, he was with him at Bournemouth. All I can say is that we tried and it didn’t happen, I would have liked to have had the lad here."

Jewell says Austin was impressed with what he saw at Town: “The kid looked around, I spoke to his dad and he was really excited but we couldn’t agree terms. I spoke to the agent late on the Thursday night — and the money we offered him was decent — and he said to me that he wants, out of courtesy, to go and speak to Burnley.

“I just said then that it wasn’t going to happen. He was on his way to Burnley overnight. I didn’t want to get into a tug-of-war really.”

Former boss Roy Keane was unhappy that the club was unable to land players such as Shaun Derry and fans have been critical of chief executive Simon Clegg since the move for Austin failed, a viewpoint Jewell feels is harsh: “Since I’ve been here it’s just one deal that didn’t happen. Whether that’s because of the chief executive, I don’t think it’s fair to say.

“My job’s football, I spoke football with the lad and I think he was happy to come, but at the end of the day if the player wants money that we don’t think he’s worth, there’s nothing we can do about that. It can be frustrating, but that’s life. You win some, you lose some."

Jewell says the club’s decision not to sell players who are out of contract in the summer — Crystal Palace made an £800,000 joint bid for David Norris and Damien Delaney — should be seen as a positive sign: “We could have cashed in on those players but we realised we’re in a dog fight and the owner and the chief executive, along with me, are not prepared to sell those players. I think that’s important to say.”

Photo: Action Images

bobble added 10:46 - Feb 1 ftghjhg........
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depressed added 11:00 - Feb 1 MaySixth....What an immature comment..Grow Up !!
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debenhamsteve added 11:00 - Feb 1 Charlie Austin was NEVER going to come here. We were just a lever to up Burnley's offer to Swindon. Read this. http://www.thisisswindontownfc.co.uk/news/headlines/8823875.Former_Swindon_strik
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ClassyIpswichLass added 11:10 - Feb 1 @debenhamsteve I spend so much time feeling irritated that people don't read the whole text, but you're brilliant, you read so much between the lines as well. Nice article too. Thanks.
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blues1 added 11:11 - Feb 1 i dont know how many times i have 2 say this b4 some people will wake up 2 the fact that clegg has no say in how much money he can offer 2 players we trying 2 sign. thats the remit of ME. clegg simply doing the negotiating on MES behalf. so wake up people. jst bcse keanes gone & you can no longer blame him thees no need 2 simply blame someone else. just support itfc, & every1 that works 4 the club.

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Garv added 11:14 - Feb 1 Grow up you lot. You don't know the first thing about signing up a player. Clegg is a scapegoat.
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callmeted added 11:15 - Feb 1 blues 1 - i really dont think 1/2 on here get it or if they do then dont want to. Constantly looking for a pointless argument is all part of being very lonely!!!
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rosseden added 11:16 - Feb 1 @ClassyIpswichLass @debenhamsteve its nice to see people on here with a sense of humour and an ability to detect irony...... Clegg and Evans out..... lets all get bankrupt...... god forbid anyone tries to run a football club like an actual trading business entity rather than a play thing......
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grumpyoldman added 11:27 - Feb 1 Charlie Austin came here was offered a deal, then went to Burnley and got offered a better deal, in those circumstances, he did what any other sane & financially astute person would do, he went for the most money. Who but a complete numpty would work anywhere to work for less money than they could get elsewhere. Please remember we love this club, not everybody involved in football feels the same, we are a small town club, always have been always will be. Stop trying to read more into deals than there really is, if we signed a player after he had spoken to another club, no way would he say I thought the other club was better but came here for the money. If he did what sort of reaction would he get from the fans!

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ClassyIpswichLass added 11:30 - Feb 1 @rosseden Mathematical equations are not my strongest point but let's try this: (irony + irony + irony) x sense of humour = brainless reactionism x Clegg OUT cubed example: "its nice to see people on here with a sense of humour and an ability to detect irony...... Clegg and Evans out..... lets all get bankrupt...... god forbid anyone tries to run a football club like an actual trading business entity rather than a play thing......" Yes Clegg and Evans OUT! Keep business acumen out of our great club! equals ...

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Seasider added 11:48 - Feb 1 We dont really know the negotiating process,only the outcome.One wag(may have been on here) speculated that Evans sits in on interviews with a paper bag over his head.This is surely a lot of the problem,where at most clubs,as previously here,you had David Sheepshanks & Derek Bowden,with latterly a board with good business acumen to back them up mostly in the local area.Now you have Major Clegg?Does he have anybody else with him during the negotiations?Marcus may well be on the other side of the world,is he always available for video conferencing,or are the negotiations delayed while the Major tries to contact him? Think they need to get this sorted,together with the appalling situation of the 20 players out of contract;as if it continues like it has our likeable scouser could get a bit brassed off!

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rosseden added 12:00 - Feb 1 i think it reads better as ________ / clegg out x Brain reactionism = (irony x 3) x Sense of humor or we could also view that (recession + ME)/(ITFC+SC) = (PJ+CH)x(ITFC+Players) / 2012--> -------------------------------- 2010/11
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casanovacrow added 12:15 - Feb 1 translated = If I knew how useless we were at getting players signed up I wouldn't have bothered coming here. They better pull their finger out in the summer or I'm off
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casanovacrow added 12:47 - Feb 1 ...oh and the bit on Norris and Delaney offer being rejected, not overly impressed, still no real indication they'll be here when their contracts run out. It just seems they could be here to keep us up then walk out for free. If they were going to agree terms on a new deal it would have been done and dusted by now
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blue_em_away added 13:07 - Feb 1 Irony.... Hmmmmmmm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irony Reading between the lines.... Hmmmmmmmm http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/read+between+the+lines Take note posters......
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grumpyoldman added 13:15 - Feb 1 The only formula for this is Website + pretentious supporters input = a heap of Bullsh*t
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Worcester added 14:35 - Feb 1 As Baldrick would say... "Irony, that's like goldy or silvery except its made of iron"
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WickedBlue added 15:24 - Feb 1 @BlueDwarf that's right don't let whatever PJ says dissuade you from what those voices in your head are telling you? And people wonder why I have problems with some of our supporters...................
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brogansnose added 16:34 - Feb 1 Giovanni Dos Santos...........Jordan Rhodes.......now Charlie Austin is added to the list Come on people get over yourselves , can we not look forwards rather than backwards.
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Ipswich24 added 17:26 - Feb 1 brogansnose sometimes people have a right to look back we let a real gem go in Rhodes and possibly even bigger one in Austin and then what happens we go for plan B a Rory Fallon or Jason Scotland not good enough im afraid we are told time and time again about how much we want be a premiership club well we wont do that unless go that extra mile!
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blues1 added 17:36 - Feb 1 to those of you stating we should of gone the extra mile 2 sign austin. 1. he may not even turn out 2 be good enough at this level, so stop making out we missed out on the next torres. 2. has no1 realised we not financially that well off that we can offer silly money 2 these players. ME, remember is having 2 put in thousands of pounds every week jst 2 keep the club running, so be grateful we still have a club 2 support, & realise we may just miss out on some players 4 whom money is everything. who we will b able 2 sign are players who want 2 play 4 us, & id rather have that than a goldigger

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jas0999 added 19:32 - Feb 1 When are people going to understand - even Jewell knows - CLEGG made a complete hash of it - as he did in Roy's time. He has to go.
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StochesStotasBlewe added 20:04 - Feb 1 Blues1. Well said.Some supporters still think we can compete without Mr Evans & his substantial investment in our club, how can this be. I,ts obvious if these finances were not available to us then we would have dissapeared into obscurity by now. Stop blaming Mr Evans & Mr Clegg. It could be a LOT worse.
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idrinkbeer added 00:27 - Feb 2 what people on here dont seem to understand is that football nowadays is a crazy game, with stupid amounts of money flying around all the time. look at andy carroll! ME and SC's business plan is designed to save the club from falling into the financial crisis we did before. if that means we refuse to be held to ransom by players over wages, surely thats a good thing? anyway, austin moved to burnley to work with his old boss, simple. plus, they've got parachute payments leaving them a much bigger budget than us to start with.

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