Town boss Mick McCarthy hopes to continue his ongoing transfer discussions with owner Marcus Evans over the weekend when they take part in the Sir Bobby Robson Celebrity Golf Classic at the Pestana Vila Sol course in Portugal. The Blues are understood to be in talks with Blackburn Rovers regarding the signing of winger Elliott Bennett and are also targeting Premier League loanees.

McCarthy and Evans are both regular participants in the tournament, which legendary Blues boss Robson instigated in 2004 to raise money for a homeless children’s charity, the Refugio Aboim Ascensão, which is based in Faro.

Also amongst those taking part will be Charlie Woods, Simon Milton, Terry Butcher, Russell Osman, Alan Brazil, John Wark and George Burley.

“I don’t know how much time we’ll get to spend together, but I hope to get a chat with him,” McCarthy said.

The Town manager, whose priority is adding wingers to his squad, says he and Evans maintain an open line of communication during the summer, regularly discussing the club's transfer business.

“Absolutely,” he added. “We’re kind of waiting on a number of different things that we’re trying to do. Players that we’re trying to bring in. We’ll just have to wait and see.

“But Cameron Stewart’s doing really well playing wide left and I think Bish has been excellent on the right, so we have got players who can play there.”

Town and Blackburn are understood to be discussing the terms of Bennett moving to Portman Road with the Ewood Park club keen to recoup the reported £250,000 they paid Norwich for the 27-year-old in January.

Quizzed on links with Bennett on Wednesday night, McCarthy wouldn't confirm or deny his interest, although admitted that the former Brighton and Norwich wideman is a player he likes.

With no friendly on Saturday, McCarthy is giving his squad a break: “Over the weekend [they’ll be having some time off] and then we’re back in on Monday to prepare for the Colchester game [on Wednesday] and then that’ll be us all the way through then.”

He says players will start to get more than just 45 minutes from the Colchester game onwards.

“Quite clearly it’s just been two mixed-up teams with some youngsters and some experience so far, but it might be getting to where they’re getting 60 minutes, then others will get 60 or 70 minutes at Cambridge.”

Striker Daryl Murphy returned to pre-season training on Tuesday having been given additional time off having been away with the Republic of Ireland at the Euros and McCarthy says the 33-year-old won't be involved in a game until next weekend.

“It’ll be Cambridge on Saturday that we’ll be looking at," he said. "Adam Webster has every chance of playing some part against Cambridge as well, that’s great.”

Meanwhile, former Blues striker Paul Taylor, 28, has rejoined his former club Peterborough United, having failed to find a club during 2015/16 following his release by Town during the previous season.

Photo: Action Images

MicksZzzTactics added 10:05 - Jul 15 WTF!!! Discussing the hyper crucial importance of ingoing transfers, transfer funds size and thus in other words the overall ambition level of this currently very very moribund looking once-proud Ipswich Town football club .... on a golf course (with only 4 weeks to go before the regular season starts)???!!! Ohhh but why I'm not really surprised after all folks, considering among many other hapless thingies the well-documented utter lack of general football knowledge as well as "How to successfully own & run a football club with AMBITIONS as well as appointing the RIGHT people around you in this process" knowledge, displayed by our shy owner the nowadays seemingly perfectly content & tax-benefit-fixated-only Ebenezer Evans. And as to the possible positive outcome of this here 18-holes little cozy "golf-talk with The Dinosaur, from a fan perspective at least, .... hmmmm .... well let me just quote the famous 97 year old American evangelical Christian evangelist Billy Graham: "THE ONLY TIME MY PRAYERS ARE NOT ANSWERED IS ON A GOLF COURSE!"

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muccletonjoe added 10:16 - Jul 15 Lets be honest. - If we signed messi there would be some on here looking to put a negative spin on it.
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essexbluey added 10:17 - Jul 15 People can criticize people who moan on here but the so called MOANERS have every right to feel fear, its like mick has no passion for our club he has taken more in $@#&?# wages then he has spent on our team. Wish i could find the time to spend a week in a five star hotel in ireland and play a pointless game of football, THE CLUB'S GOT NO MONEY BULL $!&/$&G S $&T
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midastouch added 10:17 - Jul 15 Glad to see a fair portion of the Mings money is being reinvested into the team as promised! What happened to that one then? http://www.itv.com/news/anglia/update/2015-06-29/ipswich-town-vow-to-reinvest-mi I can't believe so many are still prepared to defend the hierarchy despite the owner showing zero ambition whatsoever for how many seasons now? Even when we got ourselves in a great position (when we were well in the hunt the season before last) the cheque book remained closed at Xmas when it might of made all the difference! Clearly some of our fans are perfectly happy to continue being mugged off! But how much more can even the most diehard fan take? Xmas might be the tipping point for many I expect if things are looking grim. Hopefully we can punch well above our weight again but it's going to get harder and harder every season if we continue to invest so little in the team. The only thing that might rescue us is the youth, but it's a risky strategy! Look what happened to Villa. Lerner kept getting tighter and tighter with funds and we all know what happened there!

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blues1 added 10:21 - Jul 15 70slegend. Is that the same David Sheepshanks who got us in this financial state in the 1st place, who knowing we were going into administration, just a week before got himself a brand new company car. By throwing money at a manager who totally misspent it, leading to relegation and so on. Evrns also tried throwing money at it, for 3 managers on the trot and it got us nowhere other than into more debt. Thus he changed his approach to what it is now. Do NE of us like it, no, of course not, but risking the clubs future by spending loads again surely isn't the right thing to do neither. We do need to spend some money, absolutely, but take ur pick guys. Have a club to support or spend big and risk losing it. And before ne1 says other clubs are. Yes, they maybe, but I couldn't care less if they do. I only care about our club

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JimmyJazz added 10:23 - Jul 15 I think the problem is the headline - which is what people read first - that makes it sound like this is an initial conversation, and only an hopeful one at that. If our next 2 transfers are Bennett and AMN on loan then that's not going to raise a single bit of optimism. I'd rather see Stewart given a decent chance than bring in Bennett
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midastouch added 10:24 - Jul 15 McCarthy is looking more and more like a yes man who's happy to work with whatever he's given, even if it's just scraps and peanuts! An ambitious manager would not stand for it and would walk. That would then put the owner in an awkward place having to defend his near non-existent transfer policy to us the fans. We need somebody with the balls to stand up to Evans and say back me or sack me!

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midastouch added 10:31 - Jul 15 http://www.ipswichstar.co.uk/news/with_marcus_evans_worth_765million_more_than_s Marcus Evans says he's just as committed as ever, but since Keane he's hardly spent a dime on transfers, so really it just doesn't seem to be the case! Imagine if any of us had millions burning a hole in our pocket, wouldn't you want to spend at least a few million on putting this team back on the map again? Ask yourself that question and you'll get a feel of how committed Marcus Evans really is IMO! Actions speak louder than words!

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Millsey added 10:32 - Jul 15 boo hoo
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midastouch added 10:46 - Jul 15 And I'd rather sign Gordon Bennett than Elliott Bennett! Being linked with yet another player with too many miles on the clock! Some fans will be putting their season tickets on Gumtree soon at this rate!
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hoppy added 10:52 - Jul 15 and to all the people still looking for a negative, despite highlighting in bold extracts of the statement where it says CONTINUING and ONGOING etc...I'm sorry that there isn't an option to show these in flashing neon so that they can be read easily enough... "there should be no "hoping" to have continued chats with the owner. An owner of a club should have regular ongoing conversations with the manager throughout the summer." - Agreed, as also stated in the story, this is already happening... "There should be no uncertainty about having any budget/transfer discussions." Who said he is uncertain? "We are being made to look very amateur with Mick's continued silly statements." Are we, are we really? Statements suggesting that he's hoping to continue discussions regarding transfer business, despite playing golf, rather than having a break from these ongoing discussions whilst they're playing... that sounds like dedication to me...

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midastouch added 11:02 - Jul 15 what happened to the promising southend youngster we were being linked with? these are the sorts of players we want to be getting linked with in order to get the fans more upbeat about what is to come. not players that half the championship have already played pass the parcel with! players that have had serious injuries and have lost a yard or two of pace are not going to get bums back on on seats! surely we want to see players who have their best years ahead of them (like when we signed holland from bournemouth) not players that have their best years well behind them! man i'm losing the will to live and we have hardly kicked a ball yet! at least the 2nd half was very encouraging last night, at least according to mick, we only let 1 in to barnet! a positive omen surely for the happy-go-lucky brigade on 'ere!!!???

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midastouch added 11:12 - Jul 15 The point I'm making is this... is it not time for a MEXIT? If ME has lost interest then seriously what is the point? If he hasn't, he should prove it by buying somebody decent to make us want to part with our hard earned cash and come and watch the team play again! If you went round half the fans in the country and asked them to name 3 or 4 Ipswich players they'd be hard challenged, that is how far we've dropped in the last decade! Sad but true! The rose-tinted brigade don't seem to care much about that but I for one bl**dy well do!

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HARRY10 added 11:18 - Jul 15 "I hope to get a chat with him" It should beggar belief, but it merely highlights how disinterested Marcus Evans is in our club. If the manager of the football club is at the same function then surely a definite time should be allowed for a meeting/update/planning etc. Not a bloomin' hope, that a chat might happen. And it also suggests that the constant talk of youngsters is not part of some long term strategy, but simply that they will be little no more than squad fillers to patch up the gaps. And we are hoping to get promoted like this ?

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midastouch added 11:31 - Jul 15 Remember when Alan Hansen said you can't win anything with kids. Well how about this take instead: You can't win anything with bids! (As in old biddies!) Or alternatively, you can't win anything without bids! As in actually bidding some real money to buy somebody decent that can actually play a bit! Pre-Season at Portman Road is becoming like the Britain between Sept 1939 and May 1940, i.e. the Phoney War. They may as well shut Portman Road down for a couple of seasons so we can have a proper refurb and in the meantime we can just hold reunions in Planet Blue so all the fans can just watch Escape to Victory, the Uefa Cup run in '81 and the 78 Cup Final. At least they are worth watching!

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chripswich added 11:50 - Jul 15 Have to say i am very concerned about the coming season. Unless something unexpected happens (like a couple of players surpass themselves or murph goes on another scoring spree..iows 'something' I just cant see happening at the moment) then we are more likey to be in a relegation battle than promotion push. I suspicion will be a mid table mediocrity season without a chance of either occuring. Whilst the golf event is for a great cause and in the name of our own messiah. The thought of this lot (plus all the usual hangers on) bigging it up in Portugal sticks very frimly in my craw. Get back to Playford Road and get on with it!!!!!

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bizman added 11:53 - Jul 15 We have a big chunk of budget that is still to be allocated -The cash that was allocated to Ainsley Matland-Niles, Feeney, Fraser, Pringle, Tabb, Toure, Varney, Foley etc ...McCarthy was pretty shrewd last season with the Mings/ Pitman Fraser deal and I am hoping that he has something fairly similar lined up this year but we are just waiting on other clubs to buy players etc before that can happen...maybe a boro or other promoted club player.. I will stay as patient as I can be but will complain if we havent signed anyone and are proper balls come the beginning of the season!!

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lightingblue added 12:26 - Jul 15 The only talks that should be taking place now should be advanced talks to the identified, which taking another step forward should have already signed by now. In all fairness yes players have their holidays but how comes other teams can still manage to sign players a lot further than us lot. The industry I work in like many others is all about planning, preparation and organisation, te 3 key elements we struggle to deal with. Any chance we could get boris Johnson to look at this Belgium team, understand his in brussels next week. We could employee him as a our overseas coach with his new government job role

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jas0999 added 12:39 - Jul 15 Evans and Mick are as bad as one another. Both responsible for this sorry mess. Three weeks from the kick off and we are seven or so players short from the squad which failed last season. I don't like the word 'hoping' ... There should be no ifs, buts or maybes ... Forget the golf and have extremely urgent discussions regarding the lack of transfer activity. Barnet showed us how much work there is to do. Forget the result, irrelevant, there are still many issues which need addressing. Urgently. Transfer discussions should have taken place early May, with the vast majority of the business concluded in order to bed players into early pre season games. So far we have played two games with a significantly weaker squad! We are becoming a joke.

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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 12:39 - Jul 15 No disrespect, but chasing someone who has been replaced by a fairly average player at Blackburn seems very much like scraping the barrel to me. We seem to be slowly heading for League 1 rather than the PL, cos there are at least10 clubs offhand which I think could easily overtake us this season.
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BrettenhamBlue added 12:42 - Jul 15 Midastouch Payne signed for Huddersfield; presumably offered better terms. Sad as he wanted to stay in the South-East and Ipswich would have been an excellent option geographically but money talks, as it did with Feeney. Foley rejected our contract too and is now off to find a better one with Charlton. We have Coke. In Coke we trust.
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BrettenhamBlue added 12:55 - Jul 15 Eliott Bennett is available because they've signed Feeney. Classic isn't it, and like others have pointed out he's a Norwich fan so his heart won't be in it. It's like asking Hyam to play for Norwich. Don't misunderstand me, it's a massive test of character. But if I had to play for Norwich I'd find it hard to give my all for one game let alone a seasons worth. Look at the results of u21 and u18 last season. Most of the youngsters aren't ready.

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gosblue added 12:56 - Jul 15 I think I remember a line from Bobby Robson's biography in which Sir John Cobbold and Bobby as he was then, bumped into each other in a corridor - Sir John reportedly said something like 'We must have a meeting one of these months'. I think we did alright back then despite the lack of board interference because those were the days. When Robson took over in 1969 Ipswich were struggling for survival in the top division and it took 3 years to build a squad that could compete. But boy was it worth waiting for. I remember beating Man U 6-0 when our entire squad cost less than £700k and United's cost just under £7m. It's not always about the money. Good times will be back at PR but it takes time, hard work and patience to build a sustainable club that can compete at a higher level, let alone survive financially. The squad is probably the strongest it's been under Mick but there are gaps that Mick is looking to fill. Let's hope this is our year but if it isn't, we will still be ok financially, thanks to Mick and the board.

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Surco72 added 13:18 - Jul 15 MM's style of play is not even the same sport as that of Bobbys and should not be compared . The best points average MM has achieved over half a season was with the squad he inherited not one he has put together . This squad is painfully limited . 23 players have left premiership clubs for the championship by fees or loans so far , this time last year deals for Fraser , Pitman , AMN had already been signed and they were pre season training . All we have signed is an injured player who has not played at this level who may not be fit for the start of the season

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runningout added 13:29 - Jul 15 I find this titled story line hard to swallow.. and very odd if true
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