My fear is the most of the fee will just be pocketed by Marcus Evans with perhaps an additional 2 mill or so being given to PJ.

Money money money! If we sell we're just reinforcing the money side of football that is ruining the game. We don't want to be a selling club. Where is the ambition (if sold I mean)? We develop a superb looking player who is still only 18 and 3 months for what, 6 years (?) and we have to sell him on for what is, yes lots of money. However despite what people think, when you have 15 million quid or whatever that doesn't mean you're going to buy every player and all our targets, Craig mackail smith doesn't care if we have 5 million to spend on him, he'd probably rather go to leicester anyway after his club accept 3 million for him, peterborough can't reject the offer when smith is down tye walkers agreeing terms. It's not like football manager where if you have more money than most others you're going to land every player you want and win the league.

We sell wickham, we have to find a replacement, young (WE WILL NOT FIND ANYONE AS YOUNG AS GOOD AS CONNOR), big, actual physical presence, even some of the older players in the league aren't as physically imposing as this guy, he was brushing off colochini at st James' a year ago and scoring a world class goal at 17 years of age! And we now have to flog him off and forget about him? Let's watch him develop into, hopefully an England striker next season and if we are promoted brilliant, if not and the guy wants to further his career after a full season playing in the championship, signing for Liverpool, fair enough completely! He clearly doesn't want to go anywhere now, and clearly has sense. Basically, will we find a replacement for him (and all the other players we need) who is good enough and young enough who has already had relative experience scoring 9 goals at championship level, for cheaper than we're getting for him? My answer, is a clear NO.

WE WANT PROMOTION NOT £13 MILLION.

We are nowhere near strong enough to compete in this league WITH Wickham in the squad. Without him?
We won't be able to replace him easily. Even IF PJ is given all the money with agents fees etc we will be hard pushed to get 3 "decent" (i.e. Championship) players from this sale.
Battle against relegation guys, Battle against relegation.
Look how far Bent has gone? The same will happen with Wickham. Hope we have a 40% sell on clause when he goes to Arsenal for 40 million in 2 years time.....

Plus, echo 'all the funds may not be made available by ME'.

What miserable news. £9m to be spent on journeymen nobodies that we have no stake in. I just wanted a few more memories of our own youngster playing for us. Now he'll rot in the reserves up north for a few years. What happened to football? It used to be great.

Garv- "all the funds may not". May as well be "all the funds will not.."
Dark times as a Town fan. We need to be buying players not selling them. A Posh fan who is a friend of mine said that we are the Championship squad with the fewest recognised professionals in the league. If this is true, it says it all really. How can we believe that we can seriously compete with Leicester City, Birmingham, West Ham etc. Its a joke to think we can. I REALLY HOPE we will not face relegation this season, but if you go back to my posts to this time last year I predicted Preston and Sheffield Utd for the drop (mind you,I also predicted Watford and they did ok). I predict Ipswich, Coventry and Brighton for the drop this year. UNLESS we may radical new signings (the likes of Neil Danns/Neil Kilkenny/Jason Pearce etc). Players who are fighters and hungry to succeed, not old players who want a last pay-day.

If Connor does go then good luck to him.
Playing for an average championship side on 6 to 8k per week at a guess or playing for an average premiership side on 15 to 20k is a no brainer !!
Also, he will learn alot more playing with and against quality players in that league than he will down here.

Whippet all those three players have already joined other clubs lol.

While I would be ecstatic with the play offs and surprised I don't know how you can predict the drop for us this year, even if wickham did go.

I hate it when people say 'if you look at the table from this month etc. but when a new manager comes in half way through a season I will say this, I would love to see a league table constructed from when Jewell took over. He took us from relegation likelies to almost (although realisticslly never) late chasers of the play offs.

Now, having added Chopra, a good signing surely even in the most pessimistic of supporters' eyes, Ellington - time will tell but look what he did when he worked fully under Jewell last at wigan, and experience at the back which is what Jewell had said without he would not have been promoted with wigan.

We have a chance of play offs and promotion, a slim one yes. But I can't see how anyone can tip us for relegation. Also think Brighton will turn some heads.

jeez, Garv & Whippet you are depressing to read! Surely if you believe we will struggle for promotion this year then selling Conor now gives us a better chance as we can invest in defence/midfield having already improved our attack. The alternative seems to be another season struggling to make the play offs then having to let Conor go - would we still get £9mil then?
I believe PJ has always had to sell to buy this summer and Conor is our one player anyone wants, it is PJ's responsibility to get the best price for him so trying to force the hand of the big clubs by agreeing a deal with Sunderland seems a good idea but we need a quick sale so we can reinvest before the start of the season

This was inevitable really wasnt it. Of course i'll be sad IF he goes. He has said plenty of times that he would like to stay (and why shouldnt he). Joining an average premier league side isnt going to help him, he will get more first team opportunities than he would at Arsenal or Liverpool but I think going up there now will do more harm than good.
Come on Connor stick by your principles and just stay here for at least another season!
And if he does go we still have the messi of suffolk Josh Carson and that Caolon Lavery kid who spurs were chasing.
Our season doesnt rest on one player!!!

bugger

Don't go connor
Your worth at least 17 million

Garv- IMHO Brighton will struggle. Elliott Bennett was sensational last season,looked almost world-class at times,-can dribble through 5 or 6 players and has phenomenal pace. He was brilliant but they've lost him now- and a player like that takes an awful lot of replacing. Class act all-round,the sort of player I would love to see at Ipswich.
Maybe I am being a tad pessimistic, but I just wish we would all look at the opposition players sometimes and compare ourselves to them. I don't feel we are in the same class. Wish we were. Maybe the sale of Wickham will bring in these class players, but I'm not hopeful.
We are punching above our weight and I fear we may feel the repercussions this season UNLESS we start getting serious in the transfer market....

I don't think any judgement can yet be made about where we are going to finish in the league. There is absolutely no way in hell that the team we have now will be the team we have at the beginning of the season. We are lacking 3 defenders, 3 midfielders and a reserve goalkeeper. Paul Jewell will not allow us to start the season in that situation. We are only starting rebuilding now.
Of course, If I'm wrong and we seriously put out the team we have now week-in, week-out we better all pray for a miracle. I predict at least 6 new signings before the start of the season (with the likelihood that we will say goodbye to one more player-Connor Wickham). Who is to say how far our youngsters have progressed also? Apparently, Hyam and Carson are doing well and Lavery is becoming our most potent finisher at the club. We've got Ronan Murray coming through and Jamie Griffiths is still waiting on the wings. Drury and Civelli could both be doing well. We just don't know. VERY DISAPPOINTED though that we got rid of Meekings and McKeown. As a regular academy viewer that decision has just left me bemused......

Lets just hope the Wickham money goes into transfers and doesn't disappear,- Walters anyone?

It was always obvious Conner would always go just waiting to see who would offer the most money,hence why Ipswich have not being that active on the buying of players except Chopra the rest have being frebbies if jEWELL did not sell im afraid cheap players are prob what we would buy noe Jewell will buying a diff type of player.You also have to remember if conner gets a injury our squad is poor ,poor last year and lots of players have left though none got the pulses racing.The only thing you question is Evans and the board Evans and Spencer worth 1.3 billon and we are selling one of the most promising players for which is almost loose change for these guys you would think they would throw some serious money at getting promoted and then reap the rewards of the tv money

Keep him! ITFC is about football not money! We have potential goal scoring machine, keep him at town and let him do his thing!

God there are some really sad people on here. Lets get one thing straight, if a player wants to leave a club he holds all the strings and will leave. All players have clauses in their contracts re transfers etc.

This will be all about money as far as Wickham is concerned. He is no different to any other greedy player in this country. Loyalty does not exist in football although some on here seem to think it does.

£13m for Wickham is way way more than he is worth. He is an untried kid who last season showed a bit of potential. But please a hattrick and a good goal against Sheff Utd does not make him a world class player. He is very very green with an awful lot to learn about the game, last season proved that.

If Sunderland have offered £13m then please Town snap their hands off because he is not worth half that!

PJ has not bought Chopra and Ellington to start one of then on the bench which meant that Wickham was not guaranteed a start

As for those on here forecasting a relegation battle all I can say is stay away and play with your toys instead. You are not supporters!

floridaboy-
I think most of the people on this board are making the classic error of predicting our relegation based on our present team. There is no doubt that there will be fundamental change before the beginning of the season and we will have a radically different team.
hkblue-
My sentiments exactly but I'm afraid the world isn't like this.

Sunderland is not the right club for him !!!!

Sunderland is not the right club for him !!!!

Mid table town again

We are selling our best players again. We have Scotland and Priskin, then we buy Ellington who has done nothing for 4 years and a Reading cast off, we have let our top scorer and best performer of last year go for nothing and Bullard has gone back

No wonder they are saying more signings on the way, lets sign some old journeymen for a 1 year deal

We have brought Chopra which is the only good thing we have done.

Hope someone comes in for Carson we can let him go for 3 million

Mid table town again

We are selling our best players again. We have Scotland and Priskin, then we buy Ellington who has done nothing for 4 years and a Reading cast off, we have let our top scorer and best performer of last year go for nothing and Bullard has gone back

No wonder they are saying more signings on the way, lets sign some old journeymen for a 1 year deal

We have brought Chopra which is the only good thing we have done.

Hope someone comes in for Carson we can let him go for 3 million

Can you lot not see what is happening here? Sunderland are just a feeder club for Liverpool yes he might play for Sunderland for a season or two but believe me a deal has already been done to take Connor to Liverpool when he has had few seasons in premiership. It is all so wrong he needs a full season playing up front for us. We have no ambition anymore we never sign the really good players just the rubbish no one wants this is another really disapointing day to be a town fan.

I don't understand why people are having a go at Marcus Evans, Paul Jewell et al.
IF, 13 million pounds has been offered, it has obviously triggered the clause in his contract which allows him to speak to other clubs. It has bugger all to do with anybody wishing to get rid of anybody. Also, the comment about pocketing the money. Mr. Evans is losing [ so I read ], 14 million a year out of his own pocket to run this club, doesn't matter whether its ' small change ' [ as someone put it ], its his small change. Think we'd really be in the old doggy-do-dah without the man, so what about thinking first before posting. Agree with most of the other sentiments written on here. Sorry about the rant, but the contract issue seemed self explanatory to me.