Town boss Paul Jewell says skipper David Norris has told him that he wants to stay with the Blues despite the player’s agent having suggested he plan for a 2011/12 without the midfielder. Norris is one of the 21 players whose current contract is up at the end of the season.

Jewell says he was given the impression that Norris, a £2.2 million January 2008 signing from Plymouth, would be on his way when he spoke to his representative, while the player himself appears more disposed towards remaining at Portman Road: “I spoke to Chuck’s agent last week and basically his agent was saying to me that you can plan without David Norris for next year because he’s got a few offers on the table from other clubs.

“I spoke to Chuck yesterday and I think that he probably wants to stay here, so I’m going to speak to his agent again to see whether we can come to some kind of agreement. But if he’s got an offer [from another club] that’s mind-blowing for him, I understand that he has to put his family first.”

In January Portsmouth made a £250,000 offer for the 30-year-old, while Crystal Palace made a joint £800,000 bid for Norris and central defender Damien Delaney, who was offered a new deal by Town earlier in the week.

Pompey boss Steve Cotterill has made no secret of his desire to sign Norris, much to Jewell’s annoyance — “I think some of the comments he made were just wrong” — while the Eagles and other clubs could also be targeting the Peterborough-born player, with Leeds, Nottingham Forest and Premier League Wigan all linked by one of this morning's papers.

Norris turned down a new Town deal before Christmas because he wanted a three-year contract as opposed to the two years offered by the Blues and Jewell says that ideally the situation ought to have been sorted sooner: “At the end of the day you don’t blame Chuck because the contract issue probably should have been dealt with earlier, but that happens in football, we all make mistakes and we’ve got to learn from it.

“I think the club made David what they considered a decent offer a while ago. Maybe there wasn’t enough dialogue between the two parties, but I don’t really know.

“I knew when I got here there were a few contract issues but Chuck has been a terrific professional and I know he wants to stay from what he said yesterday. But if he’s got an offer that secures his family for the next three years and the rest of his life, no one blames him for doing it.”

Jewell says all the players whose current deals are up at the end of June have behaved impeccably despite the lack of certainty regarding their futures: “When it comes to this late stage I can do nothing but speak very highly of the players involved because even though they were out of contract and we stopped the possibility of them moving [in January], they’ve been outstanding professionals.

“Never for one minute have they sulked, in fact the total opposite. They’ve been brilliant. I have no problem if David’s got an offer which sets up him and his family for the rest of his life, I fully understand that.

“But, if there’s something we can do, we’re interested in trying to keep him. If we could keep him, we’d love to keep him but obviously I have to work within a budget, like most managers do, and because he’s a free transfer there’s a lot of interest in him and his agent’s words were ‘You can plan without him for next year’.

“I spoke to Chuck yesterday and I now want to speak to his agent to see where they are with their figures to see if we can get somewhere close to them.”

The Town manager is hopeful that Delaney and Gareth McAuley, who he told would be given written contract offers before they went away on international duty, will stay with the club: “I’ve been speaking to them quite regularly and as everyone knows I met the owner last week in Ireland and came up with some packages and have put them to their agents and to the players. Hopefully they’ll come back with a positive answer.

“If they do, then great, if they don’t, that’s their prerogative. I think they’ve both been offered two years turning into three, although I’m not quite sure.”

Jewell would love Norris to join them at Portman Road for next season, but if not says both club and player will be fine: “If a sensible deal can be done I’d love to do a deal. If it can’t be, it can’t.

“We’re all big boys and David Norris will survive without Ipswich and Ipswich will survive without David Norris. That’s life.”

Photo: Action Images

floridaboy added 08:01 - Mar 31 If he wants to stay then there is a simple answer. SIGN THE CONTRACT IN FRONT OF YOU!!!!!
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mickeyjb added 08:09 - Mar 31 Just shows what complete t*ssers agents are, my guess is that the agent would be inline for a nice little bonus if Chuck moves but bugg*r all if he stays. However as stated above if you want to stay Chuck, sign the dotted line, if you dont then thanks for the service...
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DJ_Kesgrave added 08:18 - Mar 31 Oh no you don't..
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Blu added 08:32 - Mar 31 I'm sure Norris does want to stay - on his terms. Midfield has been our main problem for a number of years, and certainly since Norris joined. We have never been a real force with him in the team. Time for a new direction, starting with a clear out of most or all of our current midfield. We need pace, control and creativity, which we dont get from Norris and Leadbitter. Martin is another headless chicken who promises much but delivers very little, and Hyam has not progressed since the start of the season. Civelli is a write-off. Healy and Drury are the only ones I would keep. Midfield is where we need to concentrate funds in the close season, and I don't mean on Bullard. Good as he is, he is too expensive and won't be here in August. We need to look abroad or in the lower leagues for players with a will to win.

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PeekFreans added 09:05 - Mar 31 Agents...waste of money
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TractorMan added 09:13 - Mar 31 The agent will get a signing fee whether he signs on here again or moves on, although likely to be smaller for a contract renewal. Unfortunately this is the way of the game now and the player/agent holds all the power and Jewell has admitted publicly that it was a mistake not to get the key players signed up before the end of last year to stop this happening. Norris is a goood player, but there are others like him around who we could get for much less. We also would do very well with a midfield of Leadbitter, Drury and Bullard with Martin and Edwards on either wing supporting either Wickham or a new striker, or if we go to 442 there is even less need for him with Leadbitter and Bullard in the middle.

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Matteo_Sereni added 09:19 - Mar 31 He will be leaving....pity its not Leadbitter instead.
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MaySixth added 09:37 - Mar 31 The real story behind all of this is why this has been left to the last minute. It's mismanagement of the highest order. Clearly it is nothing to do with Jewell and possibly not much to do with Norris. Without knowing all the facts, I think Keane probably dragged his heels and took his off the ball and now we have a tricky situation.
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cats_whiskers added 10:09 - Mar 31 It's all hype this story and he'll still go... Really when you truly analyse what Norris contributes and there are equally other players out there who can do his job and who don't get booked as often. His fee + wages could have got and produced better if we had a better scouting system which at the moment seems totally useless e.g. Steve McCall He's no Ron Gray, who unearthed a steady stream of talent years ago

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Lightningboy added 10:32 - Mar 31 If only players could think for themselves! The majority of agents should be lined up against a wall........
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Thetruth added 11:00 - Mar 31 Sorry but to be frank our club is not paying wages for the benefit of these players families, forget it. If he wants to take big money from another club on a 3 year deal, let him go. I would rather see another Drury come into the club, fresh and hungry to make a name for himself and earn his money!!! Norris is not for the future, time to part ways
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osborne1nil added 11:21 - Mar 31 Don't think we will have any midfield left if you had the choice Blu? Norris is hard working and has scored more goals than anybody else from midfield and that includes the time he has been out injured. Leadbitter playing in a similar position doesn't help, hasn't scored and IMO would rather see him go than Chuck. If Town can agree a fair deal with Norris then this is surely a good thing, do we really want him to go elsewhere on a free? Peters for me still deserves a place on the wing and hopefully Jewell will give him a chance soon? Bullard is undoubtedly expensive and clearly we couldn't pay him what Hull do, but if he is prepared to take a decent pay cut for regular football then Town would be silly to ignore this. I tend to agree that Civelli is still some way off his best but being out for 18 months will do that. Drury was a relatively cheap buy but IMO has had mixed performances since joining Town so time will tell. I wouldn't right Hyam off yet Blu either as he is a young lad who has shown great promise. Again he had been injured and deserves at least another year to see what he can develop to. He may not be premiership yet but Town can't afford to but in Premiership for all over the pitch and need to develop the youth. If Chuck wants to stay and Town come up with a fair deal then he will be here next season, irrespective of what the agent wants.

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Garv added 11:40 - Mar 31 Take the 2 year deal mate, I can't see many other clubs offering you three to be honest. He's not a exactly a must have or top quality player now and has injury history (not what you might call a 'risk' though) so I can't imagine many managers would want him starting every week when he's 33/34.
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dirtydingusmagee added 11:41 - Mar 31 season nearly finished, it'll be a few months of rumour, counter rumour,guessing,wishing...........just a big yaaaaaaaawn now till August .
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osborne1nil added 11:54 - Mar 31 Don't forget the game against the scum, dingus!
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uppersirbob added 11:59 - Mar 31 If he wants to stay then great, but if he leaves free up some wages for jimmy !
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BlueVelvet added 12:26 - Mar 31 Its all part of the negotiation process
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thechangingman added 12:30 - Mar 31 Am I the only one who feels uneasy about managers calling their player by their nick-names? Remember Steve McLaren, "yeah, Wazza is doing great and so is Stevie G..." Apart from being REALLY embarrassing, it also shows (IMHO) a total breakdown of the appropriate parameters in a professional relationship. In other words, these players aren't your mates Paul, they play FOR you and the CLUB and they need to have unswerving respect for you. I am a teacher and the day I start using the kids nicknames is the day I've lost all semblance of the proper order of things. You don't hear Sir Alex chatting about 'Giggsy' or 'Wazza' - come on Paul - lead from the top, not from AMONGST...

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Doctor_Albran added 13:14 - Mar 31 Changingman, as a teacher it could be argued that you'd not be aware of the parameters in a professional relationship!! :o) Footballers aren't serf's or underlings and respect needs to be earnt - you need to create a comfortable working environment for all parties given the area you are working in. The teacher / pupil relationship needs to be a formal one (to a certain extent) as you are explaining a lesson or topic, however, are you suggesting that the owner of a garage, or the supervisor in a call centre acts formally to his employees, insisting that they call him sir (or Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms whatever) and he refers to them only by their given names? Not in the real world - sorry. If he wants to call him Chuck and Norris is happy being called Chuck and it doesn't get in the way of their shared objectives (i.e. winning or at the more fundamental level, getting paid - it is a job afterall) then what's the problem? Maysixth, get over blaming Keane, Clegg has been the owner of contracts negotiations from day dot - Keane did alot wrong at this club, but this isn't one of them. And note to others - Keane is no longer our manager, Jordan Rhodes, Shane Supple and everybody else who's left don't play for us anymore so get over it and start living in the now!!! The future's bright(ish), the future's Ipswich!!

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Doctor_Albran added 13:14 - Mar 31 Rant over...
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SouperJim added 13:29 - Mar 31 Yawn, same thing different day. How about we all wait for the corpse before we start the autopsy?
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thechangingman added 13:35 - Mar 31 Hmmm, to respond or not? Okay, can't resist it... :) Nope, I am not suggesting that in every field of work and endeavour that there should be a chasm between the boss and those under them. Rather, I am contending that (IMHO) in an environment such a a school or a football club, where there are distinct differences between those running the show and those appearing in it (as it were...) that there out to be a healthy, professional and respectful distance... The buddy-teacher will ironically lose the respect of the kids and they simply won't be able to achieve their best and a consequence. Also, once familiarity has bred contempt there's no way back... Instead, I am merely expressing a concern that Jewell maybe ought to not cosy-up too much with these young lads but rather lead them from the TOP and from the FRONT so that they'll have someone to look to and, indeed, someone to look UP TO... Just some thoughts....

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Dorsetblue added 14:16 - Mar 31 as the bbc is saying "Tottenham are close to beating Arsenal and Manchester United to the £15m capture of teenage Ipswich striker Connor Wickham." we should be able to offer a three year deal..
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DJ_Kesgrave added 14:23 - Mar 31 Having a nickname Chuck, is the only creative thing about Norris.
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daniel2302 added 14:27 - Mar 31 im glad his staying. his done alot for the club and if it wasnt for some of his goals at the begenning of this season we would still be lacking at around 19th... but lately his been lacking effort lately, maybe thats due to his injury? god knows? but id like to seem him stay.
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