Blues boss Paul Jewell says skipper Grant Leadbitter is working hard to win back his place in the side but at the moment Lee Bowyer and Keith Andrews are his preferred pair in the centre of midfield. Leadbitter is fit again after his groin injury but didn’t make the 16 for Saturday’s 1-0 victory over Derby.

Jewell said: “Grant’s a terrific professional, he trains to the best of his ability every day and that’s what I want everyone to do, which I think they all do, but you can only pick five subs.

“At the moment, I think Lee Bowyer and Keith Andrews have done very well in the middle of the park in the last two games. Grant has been unfortunate not to get on the bench, but you can only name five subs.”

The Liverpudlian says those in Leadbitter's position can win themselves a place in the matchday squad with performances in training: “Sometimes you get out of the team and the team wins two games, you can change it but I thought they were excellent against Barnsley in the second half, so I kept the same team and the same subs, other than changing Jay Emmanuel-Thomas for Nathan Ellington.

“JET played himself in rather than Duke playing himself out. JET was exceptional in training in the last couple of days of last week and played himself in.

“Duke didn’t do anything wrong, but sometimes a manager can make a decision on what he sees in training or just on a gut feeling and I thought he did well for us when he came on on Saturday.”

Leadbitter is amongst the many players whose deals are up at the end of the season but, despite his agent having called Jewell on his way into Thursday’s press conference, the Town boss says there have been no developments regarding new terms for the £2.65 million summer 2009 signing from Sunderland: “Grant, Jason, Carlos, Tommy Smith, there’s a load of people out of contract, they’re just getting their heads down and seeing what happens.”

Photo: Action Images

JimmyJazz added 08:57 - Dec 23 Grant will have to fight for his place? I would say 'Grant will have to show he wants to be here'
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Surco72 added 09:17 - Dec 23 Has never shown the quality for the large transfer fee Keane wasted on him ,cash in anything we can get back if anybody will take him ,same with Priskin then we can use the wages elsewhere
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itfc1981 added 09:40 - Dec 23 dropped 2 years too late!
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jas0999 added 09:41 - Dec 23 I think we should try to sell Grant - particularly if he has no intention to sign a new contract. It is clear that the contract fiasco is not the fault of the ITFC manager - but Clegg. PJ has had the same success as Roy in dealing with it. It would be unacceptable to yet again let a multi-million pound player leave for nothing. If he does, Clegg should be shown the door.

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bluelady added 10:41 - Dec 23 Very poor Keane signing never worth the value, won't get early anything in return I'm afraid, he offers little going forward or in defence and never a captain
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RegencyBlue added 10:43 - Dec 23 My guess is that Leadbitter will be on his way in January. Never really settled after his first season here but equally has never been as bad as some on this board would have us believe.
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bobble added 11:12 - Dec 23 should have chucked him out with priskin when the dark lord got the boot
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Michael11 added 11:44 - Dec 23 Weak, sloppy, not creative at all, dont see one reason to keep him....one of the worst signings in recent years
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rosseden added 12:39 - Dec 23 ''It would be unacceptable to yet again let a multi-million pound player leave for nothing'' transfer fees, or golden handshakes as they are called in other businesses are all but irrelevant in the real world of business planning, all the club will be interested in is the 'total contract value' its only fans who get caught up with these things......
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nitroblue1970 added 12:47 - Dec 23 Best to keep him out the first team until after the Forest match to keep him injury free for when he's sold to Pompey or more likely Forest!
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rosseden added 13:11 - Dec 23 forest have no cash to buy players, theyre skint and up for sale..... we could just give him away to them tho....... off load £450k of wages in his last 6 months......
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tractorboy2434 added 13:24 - Dec 23 Why will he have to work hard/wait for a place, he will be Andrews replacement come the Hull City FA Cup game on Jan 07, only about 10 days to wait, its not difficult to write the script at Town is it, so predictable, a bit like our football, or lack of it.
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WarkyWonderLand added 14:31 - Dec 23 We won't make progress with him in the side. We always look a yard slower when he plays. Hasn't signed a new contract and would sell him to use fee and free up wages. Could be an interesting January! Hope all town fans have a great Christmas and best wishes for 2012.
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Lightningboy added 14:41 - Dec 23 If Leadbitter works as hard to get back into the team as he does when he's on the pitch then he's played his last game for us...waste of space - get rid in jan PJ.
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llewej_tuo added 14:55 - Dec 23 its amazing people still talk about keane here when he's been gone 2 seasons, and even more funny when they try to still blame him on muppet jewells dismal record !! 50% LOSS RECORD ! leadbitter is not a bad player and should stay, id prefer him to old boys bullard or bowyer who between them look knackered after a warm up ...
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CornardBlue added 15:36 - Dec 23 Any true supporter of the Town would know that PJ joined us in Jan this year and that Keane left this club in a big mess. Sold Rhodse bought Priskin he was a good judge of players. Leadbitter is a very average player, and Keane paid way over the odds for him same for Martin and Fullop.
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Len_Brennan added 16:04 - Dec 23 Phil, can you retitle this story: jas0999 in 'something' is not PJ's fault shocker?
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Texaco73 added 17:28 - Dec 23 He's not 'skipper' material in my opinion. I also think Drury is ahead of him at the moment too. Probably best to cut our losses with this one. He's never really cut it for me.
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tractorboy2434 added 18:00 - Dec 23 Don't think Drury is ahead of anybody, he will be off in January.
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fourth added 19:05 - Dec 23 Young Leadbetter needs to know better what his abilities are. Certainly Brazilian shots on goal seem to be completely unsuccessful. He might think of giving that up? Then what?
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stu_ward27 added 20:58 - Dec 23 To be honest I think we should try to sell him the team have played better without him in the last couple of games even if bowyer's passing is nigh on awful in the middle of the park. but he did have one of his better games in the game he got injured against watford and he is one of the WORST captains I have ever seen!!!
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bluearmy4life added 09:19 - Dec 24 Agree with many others time to sell Leadbitter before he leaves for nothing. Poor captain, WORST I have ever seen in a blue shirt, but has potential as a player which we very rarely see. Sign Andrews and make him captain.
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