Boss Paul Jewell believes Town made reasonable offers for their three transfer targets, Portsmouth’s Joel Ward and Jason Pearce and Crewe’s Nick Powell. The Blues have had their initial bids rebuffed but appear certain to make further moves for the trio.

Jewell said: “I think we’ve made the offers that we think are reasonable but everything is open to negotiation. The first offer is very rarely accepted, if at all.

“There’s no mileage in me trying to do these deals if they’re not doable. If we can get common ground, great. If we can’t, we’ll just try and move on. We haven’t just got those targets, we have plenty of targets in mind.”

Town are understood to have offered £1 million for the Pompey pair, while reports in Cheshire claim the Blues made a bid of £1.3 million plus top-ups to Crewe for Powell. The Railwaymen are understood to have targeted a fee of around double that initially with significant further milestone payments. Arsenal, Chelsea and a number of other Premier League sides have watched Powell regularly since last season.

As of yesterday afternoon, the Town manager was yet to liaise with owner Marcus Evans regarding Portsmouth’s situation and the Blues’ next move: “I tried to ring Marcus this morning and I don’t know what their valuation is.

“It’s very difficult. We’re all guilty of putting a higher value on our player and a lower one on an opposition player. I’ll get a feel for that in the next day or two and see whether they’re worth pursuing.”

If they’re not, Jewell says a line has to be drawn and other targets chased: “You have to do that in any deal, whether it’s this one or the next one.

“We’ve put a valuation on the player, they’ll put a valuation on the player and if we can’t come to some agreement, there’s no point.

“I can ring up Manchester United and ask about one of their players, but you’ve got to be somewhere close to start off with. If we’re miles apart, then we move on.”

He says just because Evans is well-heeled it doesn’t mean there’s an unlimited budget: “We’ve certainly got a wealthy owner. I think a couple of years ago there was a misconception that we were out there paying silly money and silly wages. We don’t. We’re competitive, there’s no doubt about that.

“Everyone has to have a price and everything eventually comes down to finances, whether that’s at Ipswich or at another club. Maybe there are one or two exceptions to that but there’s an economic world out there that’s not easy, and football’s part of that. We have to cut our cloth accordingly.”

Overall, Jewell is no fan of the transfer window: “I think the transfer window can be a nonsense really because everything is [intensified in] January or the summer.

“There’s a lack of quality players on the market because everyone wants to keep their good players. It does tend to become a bit of a mad rush in January, and you have to be careful.

“When I was at Derby we brought in eight players in the transfer window in January. It’s not easy, but you’ve got to try and keep a cool head and try and see the bigger picture. We’ve got to try and learn from that.”

The Town boss is looking to avoid being involved in the flurry of deals in the final hours: “I hope not because if you’re doing it on the last day it normally means you’re desperate.

“It tends to happen that in the last couple of hours, certainly with Premier League clubs because they know that once the January window closes they can’t bring anyone else in.

“After a while, Football League clubs can always loan. There’ll be the usual nonsense and the yellow ticker tape at the bottom on Sky will be going 10 to the dozen.”

Photo: Action Images

Karlosfandangal added 08:48 - Jan 20 Agree with Mr Jewell
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flyingdutchman added 08:52 - Jan 20 sounds like more loans and ellingtons never learn.
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Keaneish added 08:53 - Jan 20 I want us to be aggressive on this. We've been a bit powder puff for too long now. Pearce and Ward have to sign before the end of the window, it's as simple as that. Dangle another bid in front of them and maybe throw one of ours into the mix who's contract is coming to an end. Leadbitter for one!
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PSGBlue added 08:54 - Jan 20 "I tried to ring Marcus this morning and I don't know what their valuation is." A bit of a worry here, Marcus Evans not taking PJ calls!
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brittaniaman added 08:55 - Jan 20 Now I think Plan B has got to come in to action, the clubs mentioned are adament they will not let there players go !!! only for silly money..
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suffolkpoker added 08:57 - Jan 20 i want the Portsmouth pair, go back in and make a sensible bid and get the deal done!
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nerdys added 08:58 - Jan 20 We're all guilty of putting a higher value on our player and a lower one on an opposition player. Yeah Right!!!!!!
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Benters added 08:59 - Jan 20 I think we are fooked !!who wants to come to town?? only Habeens and journey men all aboard !!!
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walberswick added 09:06 - Jan 20 It looks likw PJ will have to work with what he's got. If he can't deliver, Goodbye in April.
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WoodfordTim added 09:08 - Jan 20 You can't knock Town for not trying to bring new players in. What a scramble: transfer fee, player wages, signing on fee, agents' fees and does the player want to come & play for Town? Will he move here? May have a small chance still for Keith Andrews's signature as Wigan, quite sensibly, want a reduction in wages clause in the event of relegation, which is highly likely. Could be a sticking point for Danny Collins alleged Bolton move as well.

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itfc1981 added 09:14 - Jan 20 I really hope Jewell tells Clegg how much he thinks a player is worth, otherwise Clegg will always go in with unrealistic offers, waste time, and then we miss out.
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geography26 added 09:14 - Jan 20 Even to me £1 million doesn't sound enough for them two.
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backinbeige added 09:16 - Jan 20 If the initial bids were reasonable does that mean our second bids would be unreasonable?
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Pettitt10 added 09:33 - Jan 20 1 million isnt enough just for Pearce. let alone Ward as well. Pearce has been one of Pompey's best players this season, they're not going to let him go cheaply. Plus both of them were brought up in and around Portsmouth so its highly unlikely they would want to leave..
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jas0999 added 09:34 - Jan 20 Clegg has no idea - that much is clear - otherwise we would have negotiated more than 2 fees since the end of last season (Chopra and JET: Cresswell was a tribunal). Does PJ have a Plan B?
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irishtim added 09:35 - Jan 20 Bid again & offer them leadbitter kennedy & ellington
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tractorboy2434 added 09:38 - Jan 20 3 weeks down, 12 days to go and still nothing, but what did we expect, cue the loan signings, had another look at table, we are in deep do do unless we pick some points up soon.
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Woodbridgian added 09:40 - Jan 20 Qustion to Mr Clegg - If £1.3m is reasonable for Powell how would he then discribe the £500K he took for Rhodes?
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MickMillsTash added 09:45 - Jan 20 I think the Portsmouth take over will fall apart and they may well have to sell to survive. I guess we must be looking at their situation before putting too much money on the table. If I was Evans and it was my money that is what I would be doing.
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Hermann_eats_puffin added 09:47 - Jan 20 I'm not full of hope that we'll land any of these targets but I'm at least pleased at the fact that we're looking at these types of players to build a team around for the future. When it comes to going back to Portsmouth I wouldn't be disappointed to see us offer Leadbitter as part of the deal seeing as his contract is nearly at an end. Regardless of anybodies opinions about Leadbitter's contribution to the team I'd say that in the modern day era it's more than likely that he'll refuse to sign a new contract and look for a Bosman transfer and wages/ signing on fee that'll accompany that. Therefore rather than lose Leadbitter for nothing at the end of the season as per Norris & McAuley last season how about using him as part of a deal for the Portsmouth pair. I'll keep my fingers crossed that we can sign these three targets but it's more hope than expectation.

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tearle1974 added 10:04 - Jan 20 Ok, if my maths is right its a total of 2.3 million bid, 3 highly rated YOUNG players that would fit in well and be good for the future. ward and pearce are players we need in defence and St ledger too, And a YOUNG starlet of Powell in midfield thay would all bring energy to the side wo is running with pensioners recently. PJ in the last game put YOUNGSTERS in and nearly got a result against a good Blackpool team that has got some good YOUNGSTERS in themselves. My point is sign these players for the future of our club. We know now promotion is miles away and i am sure we can just about get out of this mess and then we can build a better team for next year. With YOUNG energetic players who want to play football. Didn't we have 8 million from wickham in the bank account????? Clegg & Evans where has that gone??????

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tractorboy2434 added 10:10 - Jan 20 Where is the evidence that we are not in a relegation fight, 1 win in the last 14 says we are deep in the mire and have a wafer thin squad, let's see where we are at the end of the month, I suspect where we are now with 27 points and no signings, most of the guff on here about signings is just that, rumour and guff.
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Michael11 added 10:34 - Jan 20 Well nobody is going to accept a 'reasonable' bid for their better players and secondly, when he keeps saying no one accepts a first bid hes making the other team aware that hes prepared to pay more!! How thick can you get!
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walberswick added 10:34 - Jan 20 Judge PJ by his actions not his motor-mouth. He's laready given up on this window and is looking at championship loans.
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algarvefan added 10:37 - Jan 20 'News Headlines' - Paul Jewell fails to sign anyone by close of transfer window'
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