An attempt by Town manager Joe Royle to end a cahs row with former side Manchester City has been turned down by the Premiership club.

Royle has been claiming £750,000 compensation from City for his sacking at the end of the 2000/01 season in which City were relegated, ironically at Portman Road.

The Town manager says he is due the £750,000 because City were still a Premiership club at the time he was dismissed, despite mathematically already being down.

City paid him £150,000, a figure due if he was sacked when City were in Division One.

The latest development saw Royle offer a settlement which involved City vetting his autobiography, which is out in the new year.

The book, written in conjucntion with journalist Bill Thornton, is understood to have several chapters based on the Town boss's period at Maine Road.

However, City rejected the offer, an insider reported to have said: "We have nothing at all to fear from this book.

"It is ridiculous for a pay-off claim, which we are contesting in any case, to be linked with a book which can, of course, be published at any time."

The matter is now expected to be resolved in the High Court.

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