Town’s out of contract players are reportedly "fuming" at chief executive Simon Clegg’s comment last week insisting that the club wouldn’t be held to ransom over their new deals. Clegg has been involved in negotiating terms with a number of senior professionals with manager Paul Jewell revealing on Saturday that several are close to signing.

Speaking last Thursday, Clegg said: "Paul is very clear he's not going to be held to ransom by any player. He is heavily involved in determining the level we make on the contract negotiations.

"He recognises, like myself, we have the responsibility to run this club within a budget that is acceptable to the owner."

A source close to club is reported to have told the Evening Star that the players reacted angrily to Clegg’s comments: “The players were left fuming after reading that. The club has done little to get contract talks moving for months, and the players have been patiently waiting.

“Money is not the main factor and they are not asking for the earth. Lesser professionals in similar situations would have feigned an injury or two by now to ensure they were fit to take on a challenge with a new club next season.

“But there has been none of that. Players are keen to stay and they have families that are keen to stay.”

After Saturday’s game Jewell was at pains to dismiss the suggestion that players were holding the club to ransom, as reported by TWTD this morning, and praised them for their professionalism.

The Blues boss said Damien Delaney has agreed his deal and should formally sign today or tomorrow, while Gareth McAuley, Colin Healy, Brian Murphy and Arran Lee-Barrett have all been offered terms and as of the end of last week talks were continuing with skipper David Norris.

Meanwhile, midfielder Grant Leadbitter hasn't yet been ruled out of Thursday's local derby with Norwich despite having been hospitalised with a head injury during Saturday's 1-0 win at Bristol City.

Photo: Action Images

chrisw2045 added 16:36 - Apr 18 Clegg Out - Liability
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HighgateBlue added 16:44 - Apr 18 I don't recall anyone on here criticising Clegg's comments when they were first reported...
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BlooooCD added 16:46 - Apr 18 Highgate blue... I think everyone would have hoped and expected him to have discussed this with the players first surely?!?!?!
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Suffolk_n_Good added 16:49 - Apr 18 Lol Bloooo! Highgate, clearly you haven't been posting on TWTD for very long if you do not remember practically everyone criticising Clegg!!
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Hungry_Badger added 16:49 - Apr 18 Clegg throughout this whole process has been a joke, firstly not sorting all this out earlier and now potentially with these comments putting players off signing all together.
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andygizmo added 16:54 - Apr 18 With negotiating skills like this Clegg should be sent to the Middle East without delay. The Israelis and Palestinian situation will hold no fears for him!!! Only for the erest of the world.
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onlybluesandhorses added 16:58 - Apr 18 Well this is the problem of having a CEO with no experience of football appointed by an owner with the same deficiency. Clegg can't be sacked because he is in place to use his contacts at the BOC to help ME sell tickets etc at the 2012 Olympics. So he is safe until after then. Do you think Clegg is FT at Portman Road? Err, no he also spends time on ME business in Stratford. We are just a small part of the ME business empire. Sad indeed. At least we now have PJ on board.

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Garv added 16:59 - Apr 18 Suffolk n Good I think you'll find he said "when the comments were first reported". True, everyone would have agreed with those comments and now, allegedly, the players aren't happy with them so fans instantly see an opportunity to have a moan at Mr Clegg.
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itfc1981 added 16:59 - Apr 18 Clegg must go!
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C_Thomsen added 16:59 - Apr 18 Clegg Out ! Hadn't it been for the patience of the players we would have been left without half a team for next season. He thinks they are holding the club for ransom, but maybe he doesn't realize that players can negotiate with whoever they want and sign up for other teams with six months or less left of their contracts.
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MaySixth added 17:04 - Apr 18 Clegg out.
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bluelady added 17:11 - Apr 18 Thank goodness for a level headed manager he must dispare at clegg, having to clear up his mess after him!!
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Bluetone added 17:13 - Apr 18 Is Agent Clegg in the employ of the dark forces at Carrot Road? Without doubt he is a liability to our beloved Ipswich.
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salforduniblue added 17:24 - Apr 18 Can I be the first to point out therefore, that some of the criticism aimed at Keane for not sorting out the contracts was unjust, as it seems we now know who the true culprit is. Not that Keane was without his faults, but we're not going down that road again... Also, it does say "a source close to the club" so it's important to remember that this could be a load of rubbish to try and shift a few papers. Whether Clegg is an idiot or not, that seems deliberatley vague to me.

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cats_whiskers added 17:32 - Apr 18 I'm not a Clegg supporter, but I feel Marcus Evans threw money into buying promotion, Magilton was able to spend money freely and with big money signings, do that and their high wages go hand in hand, Installing Clegg and later Keane in top positions with little or no experience has also gone belly up and proved to be very unwise. This reckless investment has backfired terribly, and now the club is realising throwing huge sums at under-performing players is too much of a gamble and I would expect their wages to carry more in bonus clauses so there's a carrot dangled to make them more consistent than they've been these past 3 years. Remember those like Delaney, Norris and to lesser extent McAuley are more than likely to offloaded if promotion to the premiership was achieved as their limitations would be shown up. The fare we have had to endure this season has been abysmal, there isn't one memorable game from Ipswich which sticks in the memory. So I for one don't care really if none of those out of contract re-sign,except for McAuley.

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nearly50yearsblue added 17:32 - Apr 18 Clegg - 21 out of contract Paul Jewell +1 signed up so far Paul Jewell is now involved in sitting down with players and sorting out contracts. Why don't we save over 200k a year and get rid of Clegg
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clive_baker added 17:35 - Apr 18 Clegg out!!!! Completely inept.
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ipswichtillidie added 17:36 - Apr 18 Just to add as much as I agree with alot of the comments regarding Clegg and his dealings I feel for the players to be "fuming" is a huge over-reaction. They shouldn't forget what a fortunate position they are in to earn the amount of money they do playing football when regular people out there are struggling to get by and ironically it's these people who pay their wages...

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floridaboy added 17:39 - Apr 18 Lets get one thing clear here, there are not many CEOs in football that actually know anything about the game. They are there purely to oversee the running of the club financially. Many come from business backgrounds because football now is basically a business Saying that Mr Clegg does not cover himself with glory with some of the gaffs he commits Still at the end of the day all of those senior pros will sign up and everyone will be happy although not fussed if Norris goes - very overrated!!

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bluearmy4life added 17:54 - Apr 18 Time to call Hawk Express. Useless Numpty. Kind of fearing the summer it will be more failure by this useless twit.
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tractorblue99 added 18:15 - Apr 18 clegg has messed up again and this contract situation is getting no better. So here it comes...CLEGG OUT
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jas1972 added 18:23 - Apr 18 I know that Clegg- bashing is the new sport since RK left, but can we just be clear on what he said? His words as quoted above were "Paul is very clear he's not going to be held to ransom by any player. He is heavily involved in determining the level we make on the contract negotiations. He recognises, like myself, we have the responsibility to run this club within a budget that is acceptable to the owner." In this instance it is not Clegg who has suggested that anyone is holding the club to ransom; if anyone was suggesting that this might be the case it was PJ. Personally I don't care who said it - I agree 100%.

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my3girls added 18:52 - Apr 18 At last jas1972 a piece of sanity. This story is more negative spin from a journalist who gives the impression of being bitter and twisted ever since Marcus Evans has been here. His stories are never positive always sniping and this is no exception. To blame Clegg for this is just lynch mob mentality. True the contract situation should never have got to this, but like the manager says, we must learn by it, that includes the inexperienced Clegg. im sure he will. Get off his back.

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BlueBoots added 18:54 - Apr 18 Simple solution to a simple problem... Simon Clegg - OUT Joe Royle - IN
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Hunterssecondball added 19:14 - Apr 18 Prince Philip in disguise? Open's his gob before engaging brain, if he can remember where it is! What a PR disaster he is. I alway's thought we should have done better in past Olympic's and realised our full potential. Now it's quite clear why we didn't!
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