Blues boss Mick McCarthy admits he’s frustrated not to have made further additions to his squad and says deals have broken down "for various reasons” this summer. McCarthy’s record Town signing Adam Webster, who joined from Portsmouth for £700,000 plus Matt Clarke, and former loanee Paul Digby, who was recruited on a free transfer from Barnsley, are the only signings so far this summer.

“Still working on it, hopefully we’ll get something but at the moment there’s nothing happening,” he said after Saturday’s 1-1 friendly draw at Cambridge United.

“We’ve tried and can’t do it at the moment, so we’ll just keep trying. There’s a bit of frustration but that’s not through lack of trying. [Deals haven’t come off] for various reasons.”

He added: “It’s not through want of trying, far from it, that’s the frustration, not with anybody else, not with the club, not with [owner] Marcus [Evans], just the fact that we can’t get anything done.

“And a lot of it stems from a lot of players being away on pre-season and we’ll just have to wait.”

He admits he would have liked more signings in by this point but says it’s not a huge concern that new players will now come in with the season about to start or already under way.

“Yes I would, but I take the view that they’re all doing pre-season elsewhere. So if we get one in the week leading up to the start of the season, or even the week after, they’ve all done their pre-season, they’ll all be fit, they’ll all be ready to go.”

Lack of signings wasn’t the only reason McCarthy was frustrated at Cambridge on Saturday, the Blues boss having been angry that his team was unable to hold on to their lead, Joe Pigott netting an equaliser a minute from the end after Andre Dozzell had put the Blues in front on 83.

“The game is coming to an end and we’re keeping the ball but we’re not going anywhere with it,” he said.

“And we kept it and kept it and passed it and it gradually slowed down to where we gave the ball away here and it ended up in our net. It’s just unacceptable.

“It was collective responsibility for slowing it down so much and not passing like we’ve tried to do. One stray pass and they break up the field and it ends up in our net. Not good enough.

“I’m not going to start accepting that, we had too many goals against us late in games last year for whatever reason, whether it was a freekick or a corner, I’m not bothered, we can’t afford to do that. So I might as well start snarling about it now. I don’t want to see that again.

“I think they were trying to be sensible in keeping the ball but it wasn’t going anywhere, it was just nothing and we probably got our just desserts.”

He added: “It’s important for our fans [to win]. This could have been a cup game on a Tuesday night, we could have come away, we don’t want a replay and we end up with a poxy replay and then we’ve got another game and then we’re playing on the Saturday.

“We’ve got to win that game. What was it 88 minutes or 89 minutes? You’ve got to win the game. That’s unacceptable.

“I had a few words with one or two of them. I’ll be all right on Monday when I see them, I’ll be back at it, but as a collective thing, as a team, we can’t do that. You’ve just got to manage the game.

“Even if it’s somebody on the pitch who says, hold on a minute, come on, do it properly. And we didn’t.

“I’ve just said to them, we’ve got Barnsley at home on the opening day who’ll be breathing fire and brimstone. They’ve just got promoted, they got promoted well and finished the season brilliantly, so they’ve got momentum.

“That’s our home game and then we go to Brentford, who are spending money. Wolves have just been taken over and are spending, then Norwich at home. That’s a helluva start for us, so we need to be right at it from the very start.”

Town have two friendlies remaining, at Charlton on Tuesday and at home to Belgian side Royale Union Saint-Gilloise next Saturday.

The Blues boss says he'll give players full games in those matches: “They’ll be getting 90 minutes, hopefully. Whether that’s the team that plays [against Barnsley] is another matter.”

Photo: Action Images

MicksZzzTactics added 09:13 - Jul 25 Guessblue (+ others with similar views): Partly agree, however in all "fairness" to our increasingly disliked & distrusted front office, owner ... AND manager ... I, a nowadays well-known anti-MM. anti-SM and anti-ME loooongtime Ipswich fan, still nevertheless truly believe -- and this belief of mine is obviously without knowing what goes on behind the scenes (and on the golf courses! lol) -- that in this transfer window exactly like previous recent ones btw, a very substantial part of the problem and thus major stumbling block here is that very very very very few "decent" ... or better ... players being in their so called "RIGHT FRAME OF MIND" mentally really wanna come here!!!!!!!!!! Especially if they so much as ask their agents to kinda fill them in on this here club's otherwise fairly visible-to-the-naked-eye UTTER lack of ambition it openly has put on "display" in later years, or pretty much throughout MM's years here (As shown through it's absolute minuscule amount spent on incoming transfers and it's alleged pretty tiiiight (i.e. uncompetitive!) salary levels, MM not previously having shown remotely enough faith & trust in using The Young Ones, MM's by now notorious arrogant and stubborn managerial ways + oldschool & primitive tactics (i.e. way too often direct anti-football tactics!) etc. etc. etc. etc., and this briefing by their agents doesn't necessarily have to even include the also commonly well-known ever sooooooooo "noble" uber strict adherence to them clunky "Fair Play" rules by our mostly golf & tax-benefit fixated shy owner!), unless: 1) they come from a club at a distinctive lower level! Whether that's in the UK or abroad, and are not seriously currently been sought after by much better and much richer teams than ITFC! 2) are real desperate for 1st team football! Either because they are/were blocked by one or several players at their current/latest club (albeit just "another" loanee the 2015/2016 agreement with the unequivocally skillful Mr. Fraser is one example), fell seriously out of fervor with their current manager, youngsters somehow otherwise not shown enough confidence by their manager at their current club which are simply eager to take a CHANCE here to further their own development, and lastly those ones simply needing more playing time to desperately cling on to their fading hopes of them being selected to their National Squads. 3) distinctively "has-beens" & "over the proverbial hill" ones -- This group ehhhhh being sort an old little favorite of Pennyless Mick's :-) especially if they ever played for Woles or he managed them somewhere else! lol -- having a hard time finding work elsewhere and are thus basically more & less just looking a one final or penultimate decent pay-check!

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bingboast added 09:39 - Jul 25 Don't worry about the manager or the team at least reading here we know what a great bunch of fans ITFC has got ! ! !
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blues1 added 09:48 - Jul 25 Guess blue/regencyblue. Don't think you'll find wages are the biggest issue tbh. Last season we were among the highest wage payers in the championship. There are other factors in whether a player agrees to sign or not. And before u say Feeney went elsewhere for more money? Yes, he did but he had agreed terms with us, so while the extra money offered by Blackburn helped i guess it was also the fact he didn't have to move miles from his present home. It's not ALWAYS money that decides these matters.

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brittaniaman added 09:54 - Jul 25 itfcbam : Unfortunately the silly money has been spent,mainly on poor signings like Priskin and Taylor to start with , by the last two so called managers and if Taylor had played more it would have cost us another million ???? So with Evans and McCarthy at the helm we are just going to carry on surviving in the Championship with the ambition gone !!!! We have just got to be content on watching our Neighbours up the road going Up and Down from the Premiership ????? it does not seem that long ago when they were on the verge of Bankruptsy !!!

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cats_whiskers added 09:58 - Jul 25 It could be that they have seen how we have played under McCarthy and just don't want to be part of that set up Or we are still paying the price of "CLEGG" being the CEO? (He has to be the worst) But I do think the hierarchy currently in place has quite a lot to do with it Manager included. I do wonder what stories would come out if he was to leave!
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woohoo added 10:03 - Jul 25 Money talks. Hence we don't do much talking. And the plan is....... ???
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BigAlsMate added 10:12 - Jul 25 You are frustrated Mick? How the hell do you think we feel? Half of our new signings still injured and likely not to be ready for the start of the season (and he is the expensive half)! Players not willing to come here - the preseason excuse is just that as everyone else appears to be signing players - now that really is the worrying point for me. Sorry to say, I will be happy just to see us survive in the Championship this season. Frankly I don't think we will be any better than that under the current management at Portman Road (both pitchside and in the boardroom). I can only hope I am totally wrong

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BrettenhamBlue added 10:13 - Jul 25 Hoofball woohoo. Always the most effective tactic to use against stronger teams. What's the betting on a Coke Mk2 arriving on transfer deadline day for free from Stockport County or somewhere similar?
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itfcbam added 10:27 - Jul 25 Suggestion. How about all those moaning about a lack of investment, put forward the 6m to cover the operational losses every year and then find money on top of that to spend the millions on players your all demanding! Not easy is it? Any offers? Thought not.
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onthehoof added 10:30 - Jul 25 Not sure if there are any more excuses in the book MM.
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Garv added 10:31 - Jul 25 Frustrating that this sort of attitude, ie wanting us to kill the game off, isn't enforced during competitive matches. Seems a very sudden change of direction.
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DebenBlue added 10:35 - Jul 25 Who is truly to blame ?? If the figures quote are correct MM's salary budget has increased 25% in the last year after the playoff's yet last season we missed out on the playoff's by 4 points, not an insignificant amount. Bearing in mind the season we did make the play off's we nearly screwed that up after being in the top 2 going into the New Year, since then we as a club have gone backwards and the football has got worse & worse, with the negative approach particularly at home. What I would much prefer is someone from the club to be open & honest and state that we are going a transitional period, we will be utilising the kids, but the football philosophy will change and we will look to play attractive attacking football. I do believe the only real way we will get fans back to Portman Road is for people to go home enjoying the match, even if we haven't won & watching the youngsters progress. The question though is MM the man for that. If things stay the same as they have been with dull, negative football, players being played out of position I genuinely feel that we have dark times ahead.

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cats_whiskers added 10:42 - Jul 25 Evans bought our club and has taken full control with his share stake with something like an 85% ownership. So there's not any other on the board who can physically displace him. In his time here he hides away as to why (only he can actually answer that!) Yet when it comes to big staged events like; Olympics, World Cups, and other major tournaments, Whose name surfaces as being behind all the corporate seating areas and upsetting the Official establishment.. It will be “Marcus Evans” name you see reported. The guy has to be definitely shady in character; there can be no doubting it! I fully expect his name to surface in the forthcoming Brazil Olympics, so he is very unlikely to be in attendance at our games whilst that is going on. All the fuss what goes on at Leeds with what their owner (and his past history) does make me wonder how Evans escapes scrutiny? And when it came to appointments he places Clegg who had no previous experience of football in a top position of CEO. He seeks advice for manager appointments from the likes of Harry Redknapp and Alan Shearer to name just two, (Why would either of them have our interests at heart?) Evans is well out of his depth in being associated with any football club, let alone one such as ours. The guy unfortunately is like a cancer, and one that will hopefully disappear from the club and we can be healed and become healthy as we were under the Cobbolds.

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Daz added 11:00 - Jul 25 “And a lot of it stems from a lot of players being away on pre-season and we'll just have to wait.” So what there is not many actual buying/free targets (if any) justs loans which the club is waiting for. Guys the club pay good wages so not all about wages.
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Lightningboy added 11:14 - Jul 25 Just makes me wonder where we're looking for new players? Said before that we've got enough experience in the squad and a lot of promising kids coming through - what we need are a couple of top players from leagues 1 or 2 who are in their early 20's but have 150 games behind them - rather than premier league kids on loan or championship journeymen. Do we actually have a european scouting network anymore?

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woohoo added 11:30 - Jul 25 Debenblue - you're right. Attractive football, combined with a display of commitment, will bring people into PR. I'd rather watch an exciting 2-2 draw, than a boring 1-0 win, due to a dodgy penalty decision.
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Geoff added 11:31 - Jul 25 Stop blaming Keane and Jewell for our plight it is now boring All were appointed by one man Evans, he is the one to blame for our predicament why not put the club up for sale and stop treating us fans with contempt and false promises just to try and sell season tickets to watch a league that we cannot no longer compete in. We are dying a death from a million cuts.
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Bluroo added 12:04 - Jul 25 I think Evans is going to wake up too late to turn the tide... Evens changed his investment philosophy after successive expensive failures by previous managers. He was no longer prepared to spend his way out of this league. Fair enough. BUT... due to that lack of investment and an aging, thinning, demotivated squad over a number of subsequent seasons, investment is no longer required to get out of this league, it's essential to stay in it. Perhaps Evans thinks that MM's experience and pragmatism will be enough to maintain our stability for eternity. I don't. I think once the decline of performances takes hold within a squad lacking investment - which I beleive started to happen last season - it becomes very difficult to turn the tide without wholesale changes to a club. As we're never going to get promoted under the current regime, I'm not sure the doomsday scenario is so bad. Perhaps Phoenix will rise from the ashes...

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Kesgraveblue57 added 12:09 - Jul 25 Who in their right mind would want to play for McCarthy
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Woodbridgian added 12:12 - Jul 25 Lots of comments on here about the debts of the club, Most of the debt is internal debt owed to ME Group the fact that internal debt was used to purchase the club and not equity was purely an internal decision within ME group. Both as it will be tax efficient and also retains the equity within the holding companies balance sheet which in fairness is also good practice. But the "internal loan" while recallable should also be looked at as sudo-equty and not used to hide a lack of investment behind FFP rules which it is at the moment

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BlueGoonie added 12:17 - Jul 25 Since when has "helluva" been an actual word? Does everyone have to type written speech like a teenager these days?
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jas0999 added 12:28 - Jul 25 Mick has a record of defending Evans and will continue to do so in public. Local media have regularly been told to not print anything negative. I appreciate one or two fans are still buying this spin and although I expect MM to tow the corporate line, it's worth remembering back in May that Mick stated he had drawn up different lists for possible purchases. Therefore, surely it's a case that Evans hasn't done the deals. Webster was on division two wages so relatively easy to attract. But in previous seasons we have failed to be competitive with wages and even this year has proven that others have a larger wage structure than us. feeney, whether you rate him or not, was offered significantly better terms by a Blackburn club who aren't very much different to ourselves. Feeney was a player Mick wanted. Evans didn't do the deal. We are paying league one wages. It's as simple as that. People who think Evans has nothing to do with this are quite clearly deluded. Coke, Toure the polish fella. Cheap wages for average players, because we didn't compete financially for the better players last season. Same again this. Yet the frustration is Evans will happily ask the fans to pay more, when he is spending less and we have a weaker product I.e. The team. I blame Evans 100%.

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Woodbridgian added 12:50 - Jul 25 itfccam: re your point on ongoing losses I think you will find the club made a £5.2m profit in 2014-15 not as you suggest a £6m loss.
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PSGBlue added 13:43 - Jul 25 Phil, why are you repeating old stories. I am sure that I read this on TWTD a year ago, or was it two years ago.....
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essexbluey added 13:46 - Jul 25 I would get a season ticket even if we where non league but iam now getting wound now that mick can't attract new players because everyone in football know his non style of football, Mick did a great job getting us out of s@$t but we wont be moving on with him in charge.
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