Town boss Mick McCarthy says Bosman free transfers and loans are again the markets in which the Blues are operating this summer and has no problem that that's the case.

Having paid the largest fee since McCarthy took over at Town in November 2012 to Portsmouth for defender Adam Webster earlier this month, a figure understood to be in the region of £700,000 plus Matt Clarke, Town confirmed the addition of former loanee Paul Digby yesterday on a free transfer from Barnsley.

“That’s not going to change, I can’t see why it would. We’ve done particularly well in that market anyway,” McCarthy said.

And he says he’s happy with that approach: “I like rubbing people’s noses in it, people who have a lot of dosh to spend, to be quite honest with you. It suits me fine.

“If somebody came and said, ‘Here’s £40 million to spend’ I’m not going to say, ‘No, take it away’, but that’s not the case.

“I tell you every year that that’s my remit, that’s my modus operandi, that’s the way I’m working with the club and the squad of players and with [owner] Marcus [Evans]. And we do it well. And let’s hope we do it well again this year, that’s what we’re trying to do.”

He says no further additions are immediately on the cards: “Not at the minute, no. We’re looking at loan players. There might be. I’m speaking to people about other things.”

He added: “Loan signings are probably our best route. If we’re going to get them from the Premier League, what they’re doing is keeping their players because the ones that are at the European Championships will probably be given three weeks off.

“Then the younger ones who are behind those they’ll all be used for pre-season games, tours and then they’ll make their decisions nearer the start of the season. We’ve just got to be in the best place to get them when we can.”

The Town boss, who ruled out the Blues signing anyone who has been playing at the Euros, says even without further additions he's happy enough with some areas of his squad: "I’ve got eight really solid defenders. I’ve got a nucleus of midfield players with Teddy Bishop coming back, Andre Dozzell’s come into the squad to add some real quality and creativity.

“We’ve got Skusey, Dougie, Luke Hyam, Giles Coke’s been injured, Kevin Bru is coming back from international duty.

“Central midfield we’re in good shape, what we’ve lost is players in wide areas. But we’ve got four strikers still, so we’re all right.”

Does the signing of Webster, a ball-playing centre-half, indicate a change of style with the Blues more likely to play the ball out from the back?

“We’ve never not tried to play it out from the back, to be quite honest,” he insisted. “You won’t be seeing our two centre-backs in the right-back and left-back positions and everything going out, but I would love to be able to play more football in the team. And if that’s how it transpires that would be great.”

McCarthy says he quickly gets back into the swing of things after the summer break: “I had a great holiday, enjoyed every minute of it and I’m looking forward to the season now.

“On my way back, I have to be honest, I could have stayed another week. But I get back, start talking to people, the ball comes out again, we start talking about it again and it’s always exciting. I’m looking forward to the new season.”

He says the squad returned on Monday in good shape with players no longer coming back for pre-season training having put on the pounds.

“Anybody that does that is a mug now because they’d be so far behind these lads, that was proven yesterday in the bleep test where there were some incredible results. They’ve looked after themselves and they’re all ready for the new season.”

Photo: Action Images

Cambonbleu added 09:00 - Jun 29 What kind of manager is going to come out and say "I've got £XXXm to spend this year......" People don't expect us to spend money, they expect us to drive a hard bargain. I'm sure, if somebody comes along for the right price, we'll pay a fee but because of the comments MM makes it's the right fee and not inflated because other clubs know we've got cash to spend
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ipswichtillidie added 09:04 - Jun 29 I would say I'm normally a glass half full person, especially in the summer when expectations are high and anticipation for new sigings is exciting! Quoting Mick himelf thou what "a damp squid" of a storey! Free's & loans market eh! bearing in mind we have already missed out on a not so inspiring free in Feeney it doesn't give much room for even the most optimistic of Town fans! I Might be calling it wrong but McCarthy is clearly trying to lower expectations already. He is actually the best man for the job given the restraints he is working under. New investment is needed at Ipswich and ME whilst losing millions each year is obviously content with his Tax set up that is ITFC.

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JewellintheTown added 09:18 - Jun 29 ^ Seconded, Camonbleu. Only an idiot would brag about having loads of money to spend. Fool and his money and all that. I'm sure he'll get the players he feels are good value for money.
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Razor added 09:38 - Jun 29 This is very sad and disappointing news if this is true. I really hope it is said tongue in cheek and I still suspect Berra may be off for good money,which I hope we will be allowed to spend. I am not convinced with our strikers and I thionk Didds needs a new club just to change his luck if nothing else. I suspect a good few changes yet to happen-----just my guess.
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Hoofball added 10:24 - Jun 29 After reading this, I know I made the right decision not renew my season ticket.
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12th_Man added 10:42 - Jun 29 10th place here we come
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arablue added 10:52 - Jun 29 Oh dear..expecting a different results while doing the same thing is utter madness.. Marcus of all people should know...
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HarryS_H added 11:07 - Jun 29 What Mick says is true in the our defence, central midfield and strikers are of a good quality, in those areas we are a top 6 side in my opinion. He says we needs wide players and he's waiting for premier league clubs to decide who's available... Has no one else read into this that we could be getting 2,3,4 premier league young players who will want to make a point and make a name for them selves. These will probably be winger and attacking midfielders which is exactly what we need... There's some promising news in this post some of you just read the title and decided it was going to be a bad thing from the off I expect...

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gosblue added 11:10 - Jun 29 Historically, we've been at our best when we've had Full backs that could join the attack and deliver a decent ball. Burley, Wilnis, herman, mauriccio, and more recently Cresswell. When they were playing, we didn't care who the wide men in midfield were. Even Bobby Peta and Tabb looked half decent in the sides with these guys. We have not had that for such a long time now it makes for difficult watching. As for playing open, attacking football, we tried that at Reading last year and were humiliated by a poor championship side. We were too busy trying to keep four strikers happy. Let's be realistic. 6th place is the best we can hope for atm. Last season there were five sides better than us. We should however, be finishing above the likes of Sheffield Wednesday. Bishop and Dozzell are like exciting new signings. Let's hope Mick can bring in one or two more and weave some kind of magic and lift us into the top 4 or 5.

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Count_Arthur added 11:31 - Jun 29 Funny how the "we're going to spend money" came out at the season ticket renewal time, and now . . .
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prebbs007 added 11:58 - Jun 29 Dinosaur idiot. Owner worth £750 so no money is a falsehood. Season ticket sales 17% lower no surprise. As for Milne, what's the point of him, what does he add !!! Hoofball again failure ensues !! Have fun watching the same dross do the same thing. Love ITFC but won't be there while its run by morons !!!
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kingcarloss added 12:01 - Jun 29 How to completely piss off your paying public before a ball is even kicked. Genius!!!!
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wokingblue added 12:23 - Jun 29 Money doesn't buy success. Haven't you lot been watching England in the Euros .....
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karls_dad added 12:23 - Jun 29 Well having read that, i,m afraid it will be another season thats more of the same, nothing to get excited about, more dire football, i,m fearfull of a complete drubbing from those that have been relegated from the Prem! Happy days are certainly not here again!
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iaintaylorx added 12:53 - Jun 29 PjewellisGod: but where is the money from the Mings sale, Cresswell sale and the Wickham sale? Can't be waiting for us to sell another to get a small fee off that?
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MrDiddle added 13:33 - Jun 29 Where's the money from the Mings, Cresswell and Wickham sales? Seriously?? The club costs an enormous amount of money to run - if any of you wonder where the money from those player sales went, I suggest you look at the company accounts for the last 5 years or so. If after you are still wondering where that money has gone then you obviously haven't read through the figures properly! As for Mick's comments, Marcus Evans isn't going to start throwing millions in the blind hope that we might go up as a result. Derby are a prime example of this, and where has it got them? They finished 2 places above us and didn't go up. Millions wasted, millions added to the club debts and they are still in the championship. The club transfer policy isn't necessarily what everyone wants, but that's the one ITFC are sticking to. I'd rather be in the position we're in where we can spend money if required, without the risk of having a transfer embargo or fine being handed to us.

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Elto added 14:00 - Jun 29 Nice work Diddle. Couldn't have put it better myself.
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runningout added 14:10 - Jun 29 we are so slow in bringing in signings of note.... Something drastically wrong inside our once great club :-/
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manualthetisfanclub added 15:15 - Jun 29 Not being negative, but if this is all true another season of disaster awaits. Clearly the current squad are not going to be good enough, dont be fooled by them finishing 7th. The football on offer was awful, relying on loans, frees is not the way to go! Not asking for massive fees payed, we just need something to get us excited about, the thought of Douglas and Coke as our midfield fills me with dread!

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hogster1970 added 15:46 - Jun 29 i personally think its not just the players we have or require as its also alot to do with how MM sets us upto play. as we had seen last year when we was playing awfull, he then changes it at half time we thne start to play well only for the next game to go back to the same team and formation and wonder why we was afull again. are we not sure that MM and WOY are not related as thats what basically WOY had done in the euros. i feel these old stalwarts seem to try and be modern but dont realy know what players they have at there disposal to carry this out. bit like 433 in which you dont need 2 defencsive midfielders which basically you have a 6 man defence 1 midfielders then 3 upfront. i think we need to try and go back to basics and build a team that can quickly counter attack as this i think over the years has been missing. and we do have the players who can carry this out. that is how last years prem champions won the leaque. but i will wait with baited breath and see how we play against barnsly and ofcourse the scum and see if i made theright choice of renewing 3 season tickets

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groundhog added 16:23 - Jun 29 Try going to Iceland.
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Surco72 added 16:23 - Jun 29 If the club aren't willing to invest nor will I for next season . Loads of clubs spending at present who want premiership football , we will not be amongst them
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TimmyH added 16:27 - Jun 29 My God! the same tight arsed strategy coming up as per other seasons since Mick has been here = staying in the Championship! After signing Webster and hearing at the end of last season that money (to a degree was available for signings) I thought there was some hope on the horizon, how silly I was.
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ElderGrizzly added 16:44 - Jun 29 Jas0999 - of course you are entitled to your own opinion. All i'm saying is you may be overreacting to something that hasn't yet happened. That sort of post is normally reserved for August 31sr, not the end of June, 1 day into pre-season
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StochesStotasBlewe added 16:56 - Jun 29 Get the feeling this coming season will be another grueller, really hope I,m very wrong but my head is ruling my heart. Still. will be leaving Devon at the crack of a sparrows fart to get back home on Aug 6th in time for Barnsley. Bloody football.
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