TWTD sources have learnt that Blues target Joel Ward is currently in the process of completing his move to Crystal Palace. The 22-year-old had been chased by Town since January with Leeds, Blackpool, Burnley and Sheffield Wednesday also showing interest to various degrees since the end of the season.

The versatile defender or midfielder is understood to have been offered a four-year deal by the Eagles, who emerged as favourites last week despite offering lower personal terms than some of the other interested clubs. Palace’s relative closeness to his family in Portsmouth is likely to have played a major part in his decision.

Ward, a one-time Bournemouth loanee, is set to undergo a medical and sign on the dotted line later today.

His decision not to join the Blues will be a blow to manager Paul Jewell, who has been in the hunt for Ward since January when a bid was accepted but personal terms turned down.

In March, Ward was at Portman Road to talk about a loan move before the deadline but Pompey’s administrator pulled the plug on the switch with the crisis club then still having a chance of salvaging their Championship status.

Photo: Action Images

gypo added 11:07 - May 28 Move on for feck sake we knew this already
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muhrensleftfoot added 11:09 - May 28 Great shame, would have liked him to sign for us. Still I reckon it's his loss, even more than ours. Let's move on ....
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cartman1972 added 11:10 - May 28 Stop wasting time reporting on this , we knew this from Friday and it is getting tiresome.
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brian_a_mul added 11:12 - May 28 Pity we diddnt get him. I hope this is the last "Ward" story we see this summer. Best of luck to him at Palace. Will be interesting to see how he gets on there.
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RegencyBlue added 11:12 - May 28 Yawn!
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WeirdFishes added 11:17 - May 28 slightly pathetic if he's only joining palace to stay closer to his family. Would rather we didn't sign a player who doesn't really care about the club. Besides I reckon we'll be the ones having the last laugh here, can't see palace acheiving anything in the next 5 years. Bye bye Ward, have a nice life...
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Ipswich_Crazy added 11:17 - May 28 TWTD stop rubbing it in! thought you were Ipswich not palace!
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Seasonticketsteve added 11:19 - May 28 No great loss, the Portsmouth forums all reckon he runs around like a headless chicken for 90 mins, lots of effort but no real quality so am quite relieved we have missed out on this one. Hewitt I am much more excited about, get this lad in instead and put the whole Pearce/Ward to bed once and for all!
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ade_itfc added 11:20 - May 28 Has anybody been to the palace ground?..... What a dump! I have no idea why anybody would choose that over Portman road. Silly mummy's boy wants to stay at home and in the championship!
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ArnieM added 11:22 - May 28 Who gives a shyte !
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Manilablue added 11:26 - May 28 Goodbye to the make weight of the trio PJ was after signing in January. Only an average player. Sign the lad form MTFC.
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buryblue77 added 11:29 - May 28 He has gone there for two reasons I would imagine, one being closer to home (some people do suffer home sickness) but fundamentally again we couldn't/wouldn't match the contract on offer (4 years, don't know wages, obviously) and this lack of inflexibility gets us again. When a player and his agent want something more than we are willing to offer it seems we are not prepared to negotiate, who's responsible for this? Evans or Clegg, or both combined? Whilst I'm not too bothered about Ward not coming, I fear this type of inflexible approach could hurt us in the long run. And before anyone says how do you know all that, I don't. It's simply my opinion, if this forum was only to be used for known fact and not for opinions it would be very quiet indeed.

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Marcus added 11:33 - May 28 Next!
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bluey420 added 11:35 - May 28 Ipswich offered J.Ward a 3 year deal n more wages (Fact) than palace what more could Evans n Clegg have done:
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meekreech added 11:36 - May 28 Buryblue If you read the story properly you will see he is on a lower wage than was offered by others ! So basically it is because he is closer to home that he went there !
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LollITFC added 11:42 - May 28 fed up with the blame Clegg for everything attitude .. getting boring tbh. some of you seem to know a lot more about the football club and the way its run, so why dont you take the plunge and invest, then you can see how difficult negotating with overpaid, underworked layabout footballers really is !
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buryblue77 added 11:45 - May 28 Bluey, you're obviously well informed. meekreech, he was offered a lower deal than some of the other interested clubs, we weren't the only other interested club so it doesn't mean that what we offered was a better or worse deal in terms of salary than Palace. Fair enough, if he wants to remain closer to home, maybe as I'd said he's the type to not want to be too far away. I'd much rather he goes elsewhere than come here and not settle because he's away from home.

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gypo added 11:48 - May 28 Spot on Meekreech, he stayed at pompey till the end in my eyes that's loyalty. He went to a club that's near to his home and on a less wage what's wrong with that. We all go on about players the money they earn and loyalty to a club. What has ward done wrong !!!
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geography26 added 11:51 - May 28 I don't understand the comment about being closer to home! Ipswich is maybe an hour further away? Surely you would pick the better wage and promotion prospect for the sake of an hour?
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radiogaga added 11:54 - May 28 Who cares..
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WeirdFishes added 11:54 - May 28 Whilst I couldn't care less about missing out on Ward, I do think its pretty depressing that Crystal Phallus are more able to attract players even with their dump of a stadium
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shefkuqi32 added 11:56 - May 28 Everything happens for a reason, no point worrying about this, there is a lot more out there. Good luck to him
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Brazils_Hair added 12:01 - May 28 We are better off without him. He is too indecisive!! What a time waster.
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Michael11 added 12:09 - May 28 At the end of the day if he was that good it wouldn't be between us and Palace to sign him, no big teams wanted him so he can't be that good!
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Special_A added 12:14 - May 28 I have no idea why this lad is getting so much abuse!?! What has he actually done wrong. Taken his time to decide his next move in football, nothing wrong with that. Only 22 and wants to be close to home, once again nothing wrong with that. AND for those who say he should come to us for the opportunity of promotion, get a grip! We are not the club we used to be and people need to accept that. Ipswich isn't the attractive proposition that many of our fans believe it is.

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