Mick McCarthy says Town’s approach to the transfer market won’t change, despite the sale of Aaron Cresswell to West Ham. The Town boss doesn’t expect to spend money on fees but will continue to look at the Bosman and loan markets which have served him so well since he took over at Portman Road at the start of November 2012.

Cresswell joined the Hammers earlier this month for a guaranteed £3.75 million, paid as is usually the case in instalments, rising to a possible £7 million after Premier League appearance milestones are hit.

“We’ve replaced Cressy with a free transfer,” McCarthy said. “We’ll not be going out and buying anybody, I don’t think we’ll be paying money for anybody, we’ll be doing the same - Bosmans and loan deals and see whether we can work the oracle again doing that. We’ve done it so far. But what we have got is funds for wages.

“The game is bonkers when you consider that David McGoldrick was a free transfer 12 months ago and Ross McCormack has just gone for £11 million [from Leeds to Fulham]. The game is completely and utterly bonkers. That sums up sometimes how crazy it is.”

Despite not having that sort of cash to splash, McCarthy believes that the kind of spirit and togetherness that has become the hallmark of his Town squad can go a long way towards addressing the financial imbalance.

“Without a doubt it can,” he insisted. “Although Burnley spent a few quid before the end of the season, they had a good side and stuck with it all the way through and didn’t spend fortunes.

“I’m not suggesting for a moment that Ross McCormack isn’t a good player, but consider that David McGoldrick was a free 12 months ago and he was on 16 goals when he got injured.

“We’ll be competing against teams with a lot of money. Norwich will have it, Fulham will have it, Cardiff will have it, Wigan probably. I’m not so sure about Reading because they’ve got their own troubles. Middlesbrough seem to be splashing a few quid, Derby as well.

“We’ll be competing with them again, it just makes the competition a bit tougher, but all the better when you beat them.”

He added: “It does create a good team spirit when they’re all more or less on an equal footing, there are no big stars coming in, there’s nobody coming in and getting a huge wage.

“We’ve had lads who have come in, Hunty came in last year, Christophe Berra came in, and they all added to it, they were just great lads. And I think it’s nice when they’ve all got a point to prove as well.”

McCarthy says he has no complaints regarding the Financial Fair Play constraints within which he has to work or owner Marcus Evans’s contribution.

“As far as I’m aware he’s got his leg into the club for £82 million and puts £5 million in a year just to keep it going. If somebody’s telling me he’s not putting any money in they’re being slightly disingenuous.

“I do understand [the financial situation] and I’m cool with it, it’s a challenge but it always is, whether you’ve got tons of money or no money or a bit of money, it’s a challenge to do well in the league.”

The 55-year-old admits that he relishes being the underdog: “Even as a player I enjoyed beating the odds and it seems that’s my role as a manager now. I’ve enjoyed doing it in the past and I’ll continue to enjoy doing it.”

Would he like to be spoilt and have large transfer war chest at his disposal? “That would be nice, but maybe I wouldn’t know what to do with it.

“I do all right with the lads I get. I’m always one that makes the best of what I’ve got or at least attempts to make the best of what I’ve got. I don’t whinge about it, I’ve got a job to do.”

Photo: Action Images

ipswichtillidie added 06:51 - Jul 14 I'd still hope that if the right player (ACM) became available even for a fee we would splash some cash at it. I read this as more clever talk personally so perhaps prices don't get inflated should we go asking around for contracted players as such..
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Len_Brennan added 07:05 - Jul 14 This has more to do with Notts County trying to move the goalposts & get a few quid for Bialkowski since the Cresswell deal was done than a definite "we have no transfer fee funds" by Mick I'd imagine. While his comment about having money for wages is certainly a fair point, I reckon @ipswichtillidie is right about money being there to buy the right player - i.e. a creative midfielder who is hard to find.

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Flewitt85 added 07:13 - Jul 14 Hhmm, dont know what to make of this really! Is this MM decision or ME? Or is this MM being clever again? Really hope its the latter as I think MM has brought in top players so far but feel we need a couple more which might inquire a fee to get us to the next level. Really feeling good about this season :) its going to be emotional! COYB!
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Scribble added 08:02 - Jul 14 Might as well of kept Cresswell then
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TractorCam added 08:14 - Jul 14 This is fine by me, as long as we don't get someone on a free just for the sake of it when we have an opportunity to get someone for a bit of cash. But at least we can attract higher calibre players through wages.
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groovyASH added 08:33 - Jul 14 What this probably means is we have a bigger wage budget, which means we can hopefully attract players from a different pool of quality
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JustSpivvyChops added 09:00 - Jul 14 So pretty much exactly in line with what I said when Cresswell was sold and what Milne told us in his politician's answer during his interview........"money reinvested in to the club".......basically translates as "some money for wages, but we won't be spending money on transfer fees".........in keeping with ME's stance for the last couple of seasons. Financially it clearly makes a good business case, but from a footballing perspective it makes life an awful lot harder for the manager, as he is restricted to what's available for free/loan rather than being able to target specific players he wants and feels will help the team reach promotion and as we all know, generally the better players are tied to good length contracts and require a fee to release (not where Roy Keane is concerned of course, he prefers to let contracts run out and receive nothing for his club).

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Bergholtblue added 09:09 - Jul 14 MM is saying it as it is again. Any player thinking of joining Town is not necessarily worried about what fee his existing club is asking but what salary is on offer should he move. Yes, we may well have £3m in the kitty but what is the point of blowing all that on one player when we can't meet his wage demands? Far better in my opinion to keep to improve/extend the contracts of the players we want to keep and with the chance to offer higher wages the quality of the 'frees' and the 'Bosman's' with improve as well. It does go to show that as Fulham can afford to pay £11 m for one player, we do not compete on a level playing field any more. This season will be as tough as last year and I don't think that us being in the play-offs will be a given. It will be another long hard struggle and whether we have the quality and size of squad to achieve what we all want remains to be seen. However, what we do have is a squad that appear to be together and a manager who has been there before. As was seen by Germany, a superstar may win matches, but a good team wins tournaments.

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Jaffe added 10:46 - Jul 14 No Change of Approach. Great news. Can't wait to celebrate that 13th spot next May.
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BlueSwede added 10:58 - Jul 14 Agree with MM here and wonder how anyone can think that McCormack is worth 11 million pounds more than Stewart... and Parr... and Henshall... together! Fulham must be pretty desperate after relegation and Leeds must be laughing all the way to the bank. It's a crazy world, but I for one would much rather we bring in a number of good players than throw out crazy money on one high-risk player. Yes, I to want a creative midfielder and yes, I agree we should pay a reasonable fee if nessecary. And I am confident MM can target the right player, and with the cash from the Cresswell-sale and with a manager who can convince players that Ipswich is a good place to be, there is a good chance we can get him as well.

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Vic added 11:17 - Jul 14 A while ago MM said he's like to sign a quality prem loan player. What cressies money does is to pay the wages we otherwise wouldn't be able to afford. Will we see Williams back I wonder!
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blueherts added 11:20 - Jul 14 Good - I look at some of our purchases 'pre MM ' and I see Lee Martin - enough said ! The game is crazy when McCormack goes for £11m - I am also sure the budgies up the road loved splashing all that money on the Dutch 'goal machine' leading their line We have assembled a pretty good squad on next to nothing and alerady added a key ingredient to the side this season - pace . Yes we need a GK and a Creative Mid ( and poss a Striker) but I for one am glad it is this way and not 'rash with the cash' Short term fix is not the way .

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unknown100 added 11:25 - Jul 14 @scribble... Why so many dislikes? He isn't wrong, if we can't use the money of choose not to why get rid of one of our best players? Don't like the not gonna stand in his way thing... It's a job with a contract at the end of the day
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Blue041273 added 11:29 - Jul 14 Not many clubs in the Championship will pay transfer fees for players. The relegated teams will because they will lose a number of their premiership class players and have holes in their squads to fill. As all relegated clubs in recent years have found, Fulham & Norwich will be under immense financial pressure to get themselves promoted straight away. The parachute payments will help of course but the drop in revenue while trying to cover the costs of maintaining what is effectively a premiership squad with all it's inherent costs can be crippling. There may be one or two other clubs prepared to take a punt on buying players but most will be like us trying to build a team from the pool of available non-contracted players rather than moulding one around 1 or 2 players who may have a touch of quality about them but who come at a significant cost. It's comforting to know that the money is there if needed but for me MM's approach is definitely the right one at the moment.

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Michael11 added 12:15 - Jul 14 Although it's majorly depressing knowing we won't pay any fee for a player, you can't blame Evans for wanting to take some money back. He's had his fingers burnt nassively when he trusted Keane and Jewell. When we've signed players for money we got Leadbitter, Martin, Priskin, JET etc. when we haven't spent money we've got players like Chambers, McGoldrick and Berra. It's just a shame we never had McCarthy when Keane was appointed.

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bizman added 12:29 - Jul 14 Jesse Lingard may well be coming on loan.
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mkbobby added 12:33 - Jul 14 I think mick is doing the right thing bringing in the freebies and loanees and maybe use the money available for wages , does fulham paying 11 million for mccormack make him any better than last season i don,t think so , will it make any difference to a very poor fulham team we,ll have to wait and see but personally i don,t think it will as their last striker they paid big bucks for ( mitroglu) could,nt get on the pitch for them and he was meant to be international class ,it goes back to management and i think in that department we have one of the best around so let mick do his job and see where it takes us, personally i reckon to the play-offs will beckon this season coyb!!!

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jas0999 added 12:36 - Jul 14 I hope this is MM being crafty and that money is available for a reasonable fee. Otherwise what was the point of selling Cresswell? I simply don't buy the money will be spent on just wages. Hensell and Hunt were both here at the end of last season, so no real change. We have signed Parr and Stewart, but SEB, Edwards, Loach and Cresswell are off the wage bill. As we operate within a wage structure, you could argue we still have money available as those departing outweighs those joining. This is without the Cresswell money. Therefore, if money is not available for fees, it would surely be better for ME just to hold his hands up and say he wants some of his money back. No one would blame him.

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jas0999 added 12:39 - Jul 14 Ps. I am not suggesting we blow all the money on fees, just be more competitive if a decent player is available for a reasonable fee. Not millions. It would open up a wider market for us.
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groovyASH added 13:28 - Jul 14 @jas0999- If we have a bigger wage budget in operation, we have the ability to offer good wage packages, which could mean more players of the quality of McGoldrick coming in and us being in a position to keep them long-term. And I'd imagine if there was a good deal to be done, such as when we signed Cresswell, it will be done. Just don't expect three £1m players coming in

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BobbyBell added 13:36 - Jul 14 Let's not forget that our beloved club is in debt to the tune of £82 million. That could so easily become 100 or 120 if it's not carefully controlled. At the moment promotion, if it comes, would pay it off but do we really want to get into a situation where even a promotion to the Premier League wouldn't clear the debt? I say top marks to MM for giving us a chance whilst keeping the ship steady and thanks to ME for backing our club with so much of his money. Prior to ME buying the club we had to scrape along and relied on selling players like Darren Bent but we had many more play off matches in those days. Spending money with the help of ME has misfired under poor managers so I much prefer what I'm seeing now with MM. Why give our money away to other clubs when we'e making obvious progress being shrewd and running a tight ship. Using the Cresswell money or part of it to fund wages is an excellent way of allowing us to loan quality players if and when they are available which could boost our squad at vital times.

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GerkensBeard added 13:37 - Jul 14 It's a shame that the money won't be available for transfer fees as I too and many others have been naming the players they would like. And I just don't think you can get quality creative midfielders on frees as they are most sought after players around. But when you look at the bigger picture the team we will now have after the recent signings you would think that team would cost around 8 million, and we've got just about every one of them for free and a couple through the academy. I would've quite happily pay 1 million each for Parr and Stewart but we've got them both for free. Our back 4 is one of the leagues best, Murphy and McGoldrick had 30 goals between them last season which would've been more if Didsy didn't get injured. And I think if you have 2 wingers who have a bit of quality which is what we'll hopefully have with Taylor and Stewart, I won't be too bothered if we don't get a creative midfielder. Looking forward to Wednesday to see how we are looking, even if it is only pre season.

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TimmyH added 14:47 - Jul 14 TOTALLY AGREE! @jas0999 - you don't have to be a mathematician to know so far those who have left during the summer outweighs those who have come in (so far) unless Stewart's and Parr's salary's are pretty hefty. Money going back into ME's pocket I believe, and MM keeping ME happy with his astute management in the loan/free transfer market. What a different world we live in compared to QPR and Leicester whom we still don't know what's happening in relation to breaking the FFP rules!

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BuckieBlue added 15:35 - Jul 14 Interesting debate. I agree with those such as jas0999 who want us to be open to the possibility of buying someone. We've been told the Cressy money is available, so if the right player comes up (even lower leagues or Europe) at right price, then why not? That extra bit of quality could make all the difference. Also any word about the McLean (St Mirren) potential signing from end of season rumours? Decent choice for midfield.

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Michael11 added 15:41 - Jul 14 @BuckieBlue McLean signed a new contract with St Mirren a couple of weeks ago.
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