Town boss Paul Jewell says he has a good relationship with club owner and chairman Marcus Evans. The Blues manager says that they share the ambition of getting Town back into the Premier League and that Evans is aware that money will have to be spent for that to happen.

Jewell said: “I get on fine with him. We speak regularly on the phone. I’m aware of his ambition and, equally, he is aware of mine.

“I’m one of these guys who likes to ask a question and if the answer is no it’s not a problem, we move on.

“We don’t need to have a committee meeting about it. I just like to know where I stand. I had Dave Whelan [at Wigan], Geoffrey Richmond [at Bradford] and Adam Pearson [at Derby] and when I wanted something I had to justify it.”

The Liverpudlian doesn’t expect huge sums to be splashed by Championship clubs during the close season, with one exception: “I don’t think there’s going to be millions and millions to spend in the Championship, unless it’s Leicester, I guess.

“This club’s been in administration once before and we don’t want to go down that route. The owner knows that to improve the team we are going to have to spend some money but there’s not a bottomless pit as everybody seems to think.

“Things have to be done sensibly. If I think [a signing] will improve us and give us a better chance of getting into the Premiership, I will ask for it. I am sure the owner will see it the same way.”

Photo: Action Images

rosseden added 16:04 - May 10 no mention of Clegg though? Maybe its just me, but surely Clegg is PJ's boss, and ME is SC's boss? Or has ME seen the errors that SC has made and wants to know more on a day to day basis? Who thinks SC will still be here next season, with the Olympics coming does ME need him on board anymore, or are all those deals done now?
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Ipswich24 added 16:09 - May 10 can somebody please tell me what clegg is doing here I still dont know what use he is?
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Garv added 16:13 - May 10 Well rosseden Evans does the sackings?
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rosseden added 16:26 - May 10 ME has to be marginalising SC to get rid, or not? surely the club wouldnt let this sort of press out otherwise?!
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JimBaxter added 16:49 - May 10 Lambert didn't need to spend much money - why this fixation that everything can be solved by money...?
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brittaniaman added 17:07 - May 10 Agree JimBaxter, Lambert did not spend any big money just picked up these hungry players from lower leagues who have something to prove and by god they certainly did it too, straight from league 1 to premiership in one big swoop. We might have done something if we could have bypassed Keane.
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greymonkey added 17:08 - May 10 He was probably asked how he gets on with Marcus Evans. There's not always a hidden meaning behind everything that gets said. If someone asked him about Clegg he'd talk about Clegg.
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Infineteregress added 17:15 - May 10 You have to hand it to Jewell, he talks a lot of sense and is clearly realistic about our situation. I only hope his actions in the transfer market live up to his words. On another note, a lot of fans seem worried that Jewell won't get the level of financial backing enjoyed by Magilton and Keane. Personally I think it might not be such a bad thing if ME does dole out a smaller war chest this summer, as teams such as Narrwich have proved it is possible to forge a promotion worthy team with only a modest outlay of cash.

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itfc1981 added 17:35 - May 10 Cleggy is doomed
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jas0999 added 17:37 - May 10 Very interesting. First we learn that ME and NOT Clegg is involved in transfer dealings, then Roy slates Clegg and now no mention of him from PJ. Cleggs days are hopefully numbered!!
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Bluetone added 17:43 - May 10 Clegg has been put in charge of counting the paper clips. A role that is testing his skill and ability.
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Mark added 18:03 - May 10 Magilton used to talk to Evans on an almost daily basis, and I see it as a good thing that Jewell is also regularly communicating with the owner. Keane was the odd-one-out in hardly speaking with Evans, meaning he had to channel everything through Clegg. Clegg hasn't impressed me at all, although it seemed a bit unfair for Keane to publicly have a go at him when Clegg supported him publicly through the runs of awful results. Clegg might not have always got the players Keane wanted, but to be fair he did sign 25 players costing over £10M.

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fourth added 18:19 - May 10 I feel that it would be a good idea to let Mr Clegg go now. Would his salary pay for ONE decent player on the pitch? If so, I think he should take up his bed and leave. I think Mr Evans now knows enough not to have to spend disproportionate time on Ipswich Town FC (less than 25%?) Mr Jewell's problems are BIG. He doesn't have ANYTHING near a team and I strongly believe that It's the people actually DOING the job and taking the RESPONSIBILITY who should be respected. Put everything behind Mr Jewell and live or die on the basis of a clearly intelligent man doing his honest best.

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Guthrum added 18:25 - May 10 Is SC PJ's boss? Or is it the Board? Isn't a Chief Exec's role running the business side of the club, while the Manager deals with the football side? Why bring SC into this at all? The money for large purchases has to come from ME, so why would PJ not deal with him directly. Presumably ME is also interested in how his club is doing and what the plans are. To quote some ad: "It's good to talk".

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rosseden added 18:37 - May 10 Guthrum, if its SC's job to run the business side of the club, surely thats fees and contracts with new players? What other 'business' is there? we generate cash, and we spend it, so its basically 50% of that, but more like 100% of our turnover that goes on wages, and ME has to top that up too, so surely this should be SC's primary focus? My feeling is that ITFC doesnt need a chief exec who is the face of the club as SC was meant to be, it needs a decent footballing/business person as Chief Exec, and let PJ be the face of the club, or bring in a PR person, but that can be a PR specific person, and let a business man do the business....?!

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theblueginger added 18:40 - May 10 Clegg will stay simply becuase of the fact that hes ME's public representative. Its what he was bought in for in the first place.
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Daleyitfc added 19:41 - May 10 Please ... journalists, managers, players, everyone : STOP pretending that Marcus Evans is a real person with whom you have conversations. It is a company name, not the name of a human being.
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nearly50yearsblue added 20:12 - May 10 Simon Clegg is here to promote the Marcus Evans banner and corporate side,including Olympics,televison interviews etc. When Paul Jewell has it confirmed he has only £3 million to spend things might change.
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marcusevans added 20:41 - May 10 Maybe ME agrees the deal and then let's SC perform the necessary tasks that follow. This makes ME the dealmaker and SC the administrator. This happens in many businesses all the time.
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ITFC4daprem added 20:57 - May 10 That can only be good
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rosseden added 21:47 - May 10 Daley - you're right on one there.... hes definitly a person, i know two people who have dealt with him on business deals - within the defence industry based outside the Uk... hes real, thats for sure....
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Guthrum added 23:04 - May 10 rosseden: The business side of the club includes running the ground, events, corporate hospitality, liaison with the FA and Football League, tax, National Insurance, catering staff, ground staff, admin staff, relations with the local community, relations with the local council, making sure there's a bus to take the players to away matches and many, many other things which are involved in the running of a football club, rather than just a football team. It's a very large organisation. We have, as do probably all clubs in the top echelons of English football, a Chief Executive who has the job of overseeing the running all these other aspects of Ipswich Town FC and reporting back to the Chairman and Board. Contracts, fees and transfers will only be a part of Clegg's day-to-day responsibilities, if possibly those involving the largest bulk capital outlay.

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rosseden added 09:21 - May 11 Guthrum, I think you'll find we have someone who covers the majority of the things you list there, we have an FD from the ME board and a company accountant, we have a team who look after the local community, and one to look after hospitality - this is what ME's business do after all, we outsource the catering and ground activities at the moment, so i think that leaves..... liaising with FA liaising with Council grounstaff - lets be honest, we have the best there are....! the bus to get the team to matches..... I just think SC is there to do a bit of schmoozing, which is fine, but then we have to have someone who is good at the business side of things to be a real chief exec?

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Guthrum added 14:03 - May 11 rosseden: But who supervises the FD, the accountant, the local community team, etc., etc., and oversees the external contracts if not the Chief Executive? In any other large company that's who they'd be reporting to on a day-to-day basis. After all, Clegg's experience is in just this sort of major management and logistical organisation, managing the UK Olympic team at 12 summer and winter Games, running other large sporting events and overseeing the bid process which won the UK the 2012 Olympics. So he probably is quite good at business, too ...

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