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Jewell: Players Not Holding Club to Ransom
Jewell: Players Not Holding Club to Ransom
Monday, 18th Apr 2011 08:48

Boss Paul Jewell has dismissed suggestions that the Blues’ out of contract players are holding the club to ransom. On Saturday the Town manager revealed that Damien Delaney had agreed his deal and is set to put pen to paper today or tomorrow with Gareth McAuley and others likely to follow.

Jewell says the delay in the players signing their new terms shouldn’t be misinterpreted: “I have to stress here that the players aren’t being greedy. They aren’t holding the club to ransom as people might think.

“It’s players just trying to look after themselves and I have no problem with that. As a manager I see those players playing day-in and day-out, Saturday-Tuesday, Saturday-Tuesday.

“That tells me that they want to be at Ipswich. Hopefully, I think things will be sorted out very quickly now.”

The Blues boss says the club can’t allow 21 players’ contracts to run down in a similar manner again: “We shouldn’t be in this situation, but we are. I think as a club we’ve all got to learn from it. If we let our players run out of contract there’s going to be speculation.

“At the end of the day, some people will leave the club, that’s life. But the club will survive and go on whether I’m here, the owner’s here or whoever. The club will go on and on.

“But the players whose contracts have been up since I’ve been here not once have they complained to me or ducked an issue. I think they’ve given everything they’ve got and I think you saw that at Bristol City.”

Jewell had particular praise for central defensive duo Delaney and McAuley for their performances in Saturday’s 1-0 10-man victory at Ashton Gate: “They’ve been terrific ever since I’ve been here.

“They weren’t great the other night against Middlesbrough but that was a one-off. I think Gareth and Damien have been outstanding since I’ve been here.

“Gareth got a knock on the ankle early on but his attitude, as well as everyone else's, was absolutely terrific and he dug in there.

“He won every header. Every time the ball came into our box, there was a blue shirt. If it went to a red shirt, they were getting harried and closed down. The effort from the players was terrific.”

In addition to Delaney and McAuley, Colin Healy, Brian Murphy and Arran Lee-Barrett are the other senior players weighing up deals, while talks with skipper David Norris were ongoing last week with Jewell hopeful that the midfielder will stay at Portman Road.

New contracts have also been offered to six of the first and second-year pros.


Photo: Action Images



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TractorMan added 09:00 - Apr 18
I can see everyone saying - including Norris.

News from Portsmouth over the weekend was Cotterill has been told to cut his wage bill again, so that isn't the gesture of a club who is attempting promotion and may swing Norris's view as they aren't going to be buying big in the summer.

I hope before the Norwich game we have some well timed good news on contracts which will give everyone an extra boost and we can then top it off by derailing someones promotion campaign! :)
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BLUEBEAT added 09:06 - Apr 18
best news I've read on here for weeks
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itfc1878 added 09:28 - Apr 18
good news sign em' up:)
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RIPbobby added 09:33 - Apr 18
Cotterill will have to cut his wage bill. Lawrence and Kitson are both on £20k per week, but I think Kitson is only on loan so he'll be off.
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daniel9624 added 09:36 - Apr 18
First class display saturday, brilliant tune up for the derby, can't wait for Thursday night, taking my GF to her first blues game too!
Hope all the above mentioned players sign up before wednesday, but even if only GMac and DD sign i'll be happy!
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jas0999 added 09:41 - Apr 18
Let's hope we get this sorted by the Derby. Agree with PJ - Clegg et al must never let this situation happen again.
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TractorMan added 09:43 - Apr 18
RIP Bobby - Kitson isn't on loan

Both him and Lawrence have 3 year deals on 20k+ and this was after administration and supposedly having no money!

They said over the weekend that without a significant investment from a new investor then the wage bill will have to be cut signifcantly. Seems like they could be in trouble again and if I was Norris I wouldn't be uprooting my family for somewhere that could go to the wall again.
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Paddy39 added 09:47 - Apr 18
Gareth McAuley imo should be our on field captain and hopefully he will have the armband next season. What a great display he has given us so far this season.
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daniel9624 added 09:49 - Apr 18
Paddy39- think some people perform better without the weight of the Armsband, and GMac seems to fall into this catergory, he is a leader without it. His last period as skipper was instantly forgetable!
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TotalBlue added 10:06 - Apr 18
Looking good. Could be the boost we need I believe that Thursday is THE most important derby game in the 39 years I have been I town fan. A good win and we may just get another 2 Derbys this season over 2 legs for a trip to Wembley and the promised land. COME ON YOUUUUUUU BLUUUUUUEEEEESSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!
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dirtydingusmagee added 10:10 - Apr 18
paddy ,with respect, i was about to say same as daniel,the captaincy did not suit Big Mac,as much as he may have deserved the honour,he has been far more focussed since he was relieved of that duty .
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wiggy71 added 12:14 - Apr 18
i'm sure the only reason that the club has allowed this to happen is because they knew the keane was going and wanted the new manager to decide who he wanted and who he did'nt instead of having unwanted players on long contracts.
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brian_a_mul added 12:21 - Apr 18
I agree that McA diddnt excell himself as captain but than again Keane shattered his confidence last season (stating that McA would never play for him again after a bad game). Is it any wonder he underperformed with that tyrant publicly critical of his evey move.
McA is playing well at the moment and is a natural leader on the pitch. Having said that if Norris does leave than McA would be the obvious choice for PJ. Im sure Leadbitter and Sparky would also be considered.
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daniel9624 added 12:30 - Apr 18
Agree with everything you said Brian, but i feel that the last thing we wanna do now is rock the particular boat, Gmac seems comfy not having the responsibility, so give it to someone who will thrive on it, maybe leadbitter, he has underperformed for most of this season, maybe the responsibility is something he needs to drive him forward?
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BotesdaleBlue added 12:30 - Apr 18
Does anyone else think that PJ is having a a bit of a dig back at Clegg in mentioning the word "ransom", as this was the very word used by Clegg last week when talking about the negotiations. Also his re-iterated criticism about the Club getting to this dreadful stage over the contracts can be seen as another dig against Clegg and Evans.

Well done Paul for telling it as it is.
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WickedBlue added 13:45 - Apr 18
Don't get me wrong I m pleased RK has gone and PJ is here...but come on people according to you lot RK told every player in the squad they will never play foe him again.....get real McA was not a very good captain....it effected his game then he got injured and RK gave the armband to someone else...when McA got back from injury RK decided to stay with the replacement Captain. This left McA to concentrate on his game which he did to full effect.....that as one of the few good decisions RK made. I wish you lot would stop making up crap to bolster your arguments...or are you all trying to become budding Ged Scotts?
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BlooooCD added 14:11 - Apr 18
Any player that is switche don and can see teh bigger picture woudl be daft to leave! We are going places next season (mayeb even thsi one) all aboard!!!
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TheRef added 16:03 - Apr 18
Boooocd, if you rearranged them lwtters in them words on purpose your a genius, sadly i believe it might just be bad spelling, lol, i know what your saying, i understand, i think town should just sit and wait, we have good young players in the wings wanting to make it in the game, the young centre halves i'm thinking of (BROWN and SMITH, yes i know they sound like a law firm) are two very good players who we have to remember would love to make it in the game, obviously our midfield could take a beating if norris goes and Jimmy does not return, but again we have good players there, Adam Druary would kill to get a good run in the team as well as young Murphy, we have a lot to look forward to even if they go, i dont want them to, but not the end of the world if they do, xxx
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Surco72 added 16:13 - Apr 18
Wickedblue ... as always defending Keane without checking your facts Mac and his agent were told by Keane to find another club and even agreed a fee with Boro ,which Mac turned down the move .The reason he brought Mac back was due to injuries to his choice of captain Bruce !!! The same reason he even tried Delaney at centre back due to injuries no good decision on Keanes part just a forced hand .
And for me Mac did as good a job as captain under Magilton as anyone since has done ,he perhaps just didnt like being the focal point for a manager who clearly couldnt get the best out of his players whilst Keane was in charge .We can only hope he resigns
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