MM getting the money to re-invest? It's already spent on Webster.

I imagine that will be the logic put forward by Mr Milne in his next update

I have no confidence in any 'footballing' decisions made by McCarthy and would like him out of ITFC - previous comments apply.
In this case it seems a shame - Smith not a world beating player but failry good, if anything has gone backwards the more we have played hoofball - Smith is a better player than Chambers

Selling to recoup the money spent on Webster obviously, we still don't want Bennet here either town second best as normal of late.Personoly I believe Tommy wants to leave .

Best defender at the Club currently. Bonus that he is so Blue and that losing seems to actually bother him.

Make him captain, put him on his side of the back 2 and use the ageing Berra as required or release.

FYI as much as i like Chambers has he improved us ? Made any impact at Right Back. Think of how important Cresswell and Mings were, and how Knudsen looks like he will be next year and ask yourself if Chambers is such a fantastic defender to compensate for that lack of impact in the role ?

Keep Tommy, get rid of the dead wood, and let's take a mid table finish and a more youthful and progressive set up for a year if we have to.....i suspect we might do better than mid table anyway........Come on Mick i dare you !

....if this or any transfer like it happens it helps makes sense as to why MM was given cash to spend .
What doesn't make sense though is that we could have lost two CD (Matty Clarke and Smith ) and just got one back ....why not keep Matty Clarke?? .
Posters are asking for money to be spent on younger talent...isn't that however what we have just done with Webster.....
I would hate to see Tommy go but if this forces MM to then buy a trained RB and for him to put chambers back into CB then this is a sacrifice we have got to allow

£750k....that would be a joke as clubs are spending a fortune .....we need to get back more than we have laid out to remain in a positive cash position ..and Fulham have been used to spending. £13m on a player ......Tommy has got to be worth £2m in that environment

COYB

This is what you call "Balancing The Books". £750,000 for Webster paid out, so we sell Tommy to Fulham for the same fee to recoup that money. I would hate to see Tommy go, as was said above get rid of the dead wood and keep him. But if we got rid of all the deadwood we'd have no team. So realistically speaking if Tommy goes we have spent no money. Roll on another season.

On the basis both Smith/ Berra are left footed CBs and we're agreed in that we want a balanced back 4 next season, sorry Tommy you are the one for me to go.

Berra is a leader and would be able to marshall Webster ( assuming he'll start CB ) and talk him through games. I wouldn't want Smith leading the defence. His decision making isn't the best, although like people have said he's improving and is a good defender.

That said, if he does go with that ££££ around at the minute I'd want £1.5 mill in order to tempt me.

He gets done far to easy when we defend high up the pitch.

He is easily turned and lacks pace.
OK in the air but no loss if he goes.

Its in the Sun, Only read and believed by village idiots.
Next joke please.

Not happy about this at all, why would we sell a player who has improved massively and is now in the prime of his football career in favour of keeping Berra who is on his way out? We need to think about the long term future because short term we lack the funds to compete in this league.

Smith is Ipswich through and through, future Captain and a very good CB. Hasn't been many positive news stories this transfer window but I honestly think this would be a big mistake.

It's in the sun 100% rubbish tommy WON'T be going anywhere

Arguably our best defender last season, but despite Mick's proclamations of how great the defence was, that is not a massive compliment. Tommy Smith is a good strong, wholehearted footballer, who is playing at his level in the Championship. Because he has come through the ranks here we tend to value him more than his worth at times (we see this a lot when one-time promising youths or local lads are released).
His natural position is the left side of a central defensive partnership, but to be fair, he has done well on the right side. He still has mistakes in him & his judgement is questionable at times, but this was the case when played on the left side also. Mick prefers to play Berra there & after 2 excellent seasons with the club, prior to last, it's not difficult to see why. I am amazed by the number of posters who have called for Berra to be dropped or sold over the last few months. He was one of the best defenders in the league for 2 seasons, came back late because of an injury & had a slow start and lots of people were on his back. He didn't finish great either, I understand that, but he is only 31 which is a good age for a centre half so there is no reason to think he won't be back towards his best come August. With a natural right-footed partner in Webster, who is a footballing defender, his experience could be invaluable.
I do not want us to sell Tommy Smith, however for the good of the team I would drop him out of the starting XI to accommodate Webster (would have done it to play Chambers centre back too — before years at RB sent him backwards). A partnership of Smith - Berra again this year will not help us improve as a team. I really do believe balance is important (we still need a right back). As I say, I hope Tommy stays because he is an able deputy for Berra and we certainly need good cover in key positions; also because of his age.

No, no, no.
Would be a mistake and anyway isn't Webster right sided? I assumed he was a replacement for Malarcyk.

Should have been player of the year last year, big step back if we lose him.

750k for our third best player last year is a complete joke. Simply can't see it happening, especially as we paid 750k AND swapped a promising player for a player from League 2.

Huge loss if we lose him and terrible for team morale given the lack of new players coming in. Haven't we lost enough of our players already???

Would hate to see him go but I could understand if Tommy wanted to progress his career.
He is coming in to his best years as a CB and has experience to be a top Championship center back.
Blackburn are paying ridiculous wages and likely Fulham too.

I wonder if Blackburn have put in a cheeky bid considering Ipswich are linked with Bennett??

750k haha. Surely hes worth a lot more than that. But i guess that means we break even with the webster deal meaning we would have invested 0 again in the squad.

Is our aim simply to avoid relegation this season? I have seen plenty of the u21 and 18 squad last year and most aren't anywhere near ready for Championship football. Dozzell, Kenlock and Emmanuel are the only ones that could play a part. Smith leaving could compound this disaster that is waiting to happen. What next? The arrival of Bennett? A player whose heart is with Norwich? Seriously worried about this season. I do think we are destined for a long and hard battle once again against the drop.

Need to keep hold of smith. Look at the interested..... Supposedly ambitious clubs this season, show some ambition and keep hold of him,town.

I'd rather see Berra go for free, than Smith for a fee.
People slate Tommy for lacking technical ability but Christophe at times appears to have none at all. While Tommy could be described as one-dimensional, he is an experienced, solid championship centre back and perhaps the only one we own (hopefully Webster, we'll see) that could cut it in the top division. Christophe Berra and also Luke Chambers on the other hand are both aging players who I really can no longer imagine playing 46 games in a promotion winning season in this league. One of them should depart if a centre half is leaving. Whilst it would be a great story to have homegrown Tommy Smith, who struggled so much earlier on in his Ipswich career, help us to achieve, he also deserves a place in the starting 11 on merit.

Tommy smith would be worth more but with only 1 yr on his contract his value seriously reduces,as in 1 yr he can leave for free.
Tommy is a good player and developed well but his big weakness is being able to play out from the back.

I don't want to see Tommy go, but he is 26, his next contract will probably be his most lucrative as over the next 3 to 4 years he will probably be at his peak. I understand that a new contract was offered to him last season but he didn't sign it, hence why Ipswich triggered the clause for him to stay another year. I assume that the offer from us wasn't acceptable to him, his agent will no doubt of touted him out to various clubs and this is probably why the figure of £750k is being quoted as you are not going to get much more for a average to good championship defender with under a year left on his contract. My issue is the fact that Berra also has a year to run on his contract and it is no secret that he will be off back up to Scotland on a free next season, so would rather us try to keep Tommy but clubs like Fulham will probably double his salary. We are no longer an attractive proposition for anyone unless you are a young player in League 1 or 2 and even then I doubt we would be able to compete financially with 2 thirds of the championship.

Don't forget we will get round about 500k compensation for losing Charlie Brown to Chelsea. If we sell Smith we are seriously skating on thin ice if we get an injury. Malarcyk is the obvious replacement if Berra or Webster are out and he's not been good. He's too slow and can't handle players with pace or skill. He also struggles against strikers who are good in the air. Right now we have a good set of defenders to begin the new season.

I think the main thing being missed here RE the fee mentioned is that Tommy is into the last year of his deal, he may be worth double the price being mentioned under normal circumstances, but if we don't cash in for what we can now we run the risk of losing him for nothing next summer, which after Norris, MCauley, Leadbitter ETC the club said they would not allow to happen again.

I can't see MM allowing him to leave for free and we appear to have learnt from recent mistakes. £750k is better than £0 in a years time. From a recent Radio Suffolk interview though TS seemed to declare that he was settled in the area and that his GF/Fiancee was too and he indicated he would sign the contract. So what's changed? I suspect he has been told that he is no longer guaranteed a starting place. No doubt he has been a great servant for the club, one of the few to come through the RK,PJ eras unscathed. I like many others I'm sure was immensely proud to see him play at the World Cup and he has been a great ambassador for the club over the years. If he was to leave I would wish him all the very best for the future and he could leave with his head held high.