Town boss Paul Jewell has revealed that he made attempts to sign England internationals Matthew Upson and Jonathan Woodgate when they were available on free transfers earlier in the summer. The Blues lost out with the duo both joining Premier League Stoke, while Jewell currently has a bid lodged with a club for another centre-half.

Jewell says he has been looking to add to his central defensive ranks — which are currently depleted due to Ívar Ingimarsson’s thigh injury — all summer: “I want four centre-halves, that’s ideally what I’d like. The biggest problem is that we’re all chasing the same players.

“I’ve made lots of offers. We went for Upson, I know he’s left-sided but we were interested in him, but he was going to go to the Premier League.

“We asked about Woodgate but he was going to go to the Premier League. There are lots of names that the media haven’t mentioned that we’ve gone for and haven’t got because there were Premier League clubs in for them.

“That’s where we are. If you’re a player and get a Premiership team and a Championship team interested, more often than not you’re going to go to the Premier League team.”

The Blues boss says things didn’t get too far down the line with Suffolk-born Upson, who was a player in Town’s Centre of Excellence as a schoolboy: “We didn’t get far because it was always difficult. But that’s the type we went for. We spoke to his agent but unfortunately there was Premier League interest. This was months ago.

“The problem with a player like that is he is going to attract Premier League interest. That’s why I don’t comment on speculation or give the media names. I don’t think that name has been mentioned, I don’t think Woodgate was mentioned. I did see Sol Campbell mentioned but there was no truth in that.”

Upson, 32 was released by West Ham at the end of last season, while 31-year-old Woodgate, a former Leeds team-mate of Lee Bowyer, was let go by Spurs.

Photo: Action Images

pazelle added 11:42 - Aug 11 Great scouting Jewell!
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textbackup added 11:49 - Aug 11 wow.... would have been mental if we did
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nitroblue added 11:51 - Aug 11 Shows some ambition to try for those players...if a little unrealistic, maybe it would have been more successful if we had been playoff contenders for the last 2 years rather than spending most of the last 2 seasons in the bottm sections of a p!ss poor league!!!...things are gonna change this year tho..COYB
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tractorintheloft added 11:52 - Aug 11 lucky escape. fantastic players when fit but too much of a gamble for a championship budget. .
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jas0999 added 11:52 - Aug 11 What did people say about Jim and Roy when news like this broke 'What's the point of going for unrealistic targets'. I agree - there was no chance of landing these players - total waste of time and now we are left with only three CB's - one is injury prone, another is doubtful and one wasn't good enough for Colchester. Let's hope PJ can turn this around and quickly.
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NSL added 11:53 - Aug 11 Jewell surely needs to use or be given more scouting resources. Chasing these players is all very well but the chances of landing them are next to nil. What I want to know is where th next Hreidarsson, Tarricco or Gaardsoe are coming from. Ended up being fantastic players aquired for next to nothing who were not fixated on the Premiership but just wanted a chance to play in England. There must be hundreds of decent players in Scandinavia, Holland, Belgium, Germany etc who would come over.

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NottsBlue added 11:59 - Aug 11 I'm sure I read we put in a bid for Danny Collins of Stoke? Surely that would be worth another enquiry as they are bursting with centre halves!? We really need to get the position sorted otherwise I feel it's going to become a real issue. Would be a shame as we seem to have sorted upfront for once!!
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brogansnose added 12:02 - Aug 11 Some of these targets were probably always going to go to a Premier side, but you don't ask you don't get.
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weddings added 12:02 - Aug 11 Thank god we didnt get Woodgate he is another ivar old crock and finished... Upson we had no chance with him....
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Daniel added 12:05 - Aug 11 Sign up Even Hovland from norwegian elite league side Sogndal FC. Fantastic player. Linked with Crystal Palace in norwegian newspapers.
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Essex_Tractor added 12:09 - Aug 11 The fact that we are looking at these types of players shows great ambition by the club and I have complete faith in PJ that he will find a quality CB before Aug 31st Perhaps a solid start to the season will help tempt players of a similar standard in January
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CharlieBoy added 12:11 - Aug 11 nevermind
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randomblue added 12:14 - Aug 11 Great calibre of players to be chasing and at least they are going to Premiership teams. If they were going to other Championship clubs I would question our ability to be financially competative! PJ is pulling in targets and names significantly better than those signed under the last two managers! Quality targets who can help us now and can also help to coach and teach the youngsters that our club was once well known for producing!

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oldbluestu added 12:21 - Aug 11 Even Hovland!!!! Seen him play a few times, he is rubbish at reading the game and is often out of position
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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 12:24 - Aug 11 Good try! And I agree with NSL that there are "hundreds [well maybe not that many, but a lot] of decent players in Scandinavia, Holland, Belgium, Germany etc." I'm not sure they "would come over" to a Championship club, but I'm sure there are several who are worth trying for. [Sweden beat Ukraine 0-1 away last night -I reckon England would be hard-pushed to do better.]

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bahri added 12:24 - Aug 11 Two lucky escape's
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ipswich_is_the_best added 12:39 - Aug 11 Shame if we had of got them both we would be up there Ive heard Bob Harris of queen of the south is supposed to be good Mind you I think he's a leftie
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Fatboy added 12:50 - Aug 11 You could add Lee Bowyer and JET to that list and say "what's the point of going for them?", but we did go for them and got them. If you don't ask, you don't get.
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uefachamps added 12:51 - Aug 11 NSL hit the nail on the head,we need to be scouting europe,lower division leagues and youth leagues from around the continent,forget woodgate and the like,jewell needs to think outside the box ,it easy to target a premier league player who has been released ,young players from sweden,norway,iceland and lower divisions in holland,germany etc would jump at the chance to come to ipswich,but who have we got out there scouting? anyone heard rumours we have a 16year old hot shot center back trialing with us from overseas?

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GeorgiDoundarov added 12:54 - Aug 11 I don't agree with some of the previous comments! Yes maybe it was not so realistic to try those but you will never know until you try. There is always a better chance getting such players if you try than if you don't. And this shows ambition. I was on the same opinion when Jim was trying to get Angeos Charisteas and similar. And I don't agree this is done at the expence of the time you couldd have been looking for other more realistic targets. You always have the time to make a phone call. So I would agree with PJ here - let us aim high and get whatever we can.

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Bluearmy added 13:01 - Aug 11 surely your not moaning again jas very unlike you to moan : )
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muhrensleftfoot added 13:10 - Aug 11 Great player Woodgate, but so are Hargreaves & Owen. It's no good having great players that are on the treatment table all season. A lucky escape I think. I agree with one or two others, that the net should be wider, looking at Holland, Belgium, Scandinavia if good British based players are not available. Maybe this is due to a lack of scouting abroad, but to my mind having scouts in Europe would save money in the end.

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clive_baker added 13:11 - Aug 11 How is it a waste of time? You don't get if you don't ask. Some might have thought that asking Hull for Bullard of Tottenham for Gio was a waste of time.
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East_of_England added 13:15 - Aug 11 Haven't seen Even Hovland in action but 09/10 he was invited to Man Utd so I suspect he can't be totally rubbish... Always refreshing, and a bit surprising, when we target the likes of Struna/Haroun etc.
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Mr_Evans added 13:16 - Aug 11 Yes those players were extremely unlikely to join us however, if players that we are realistically chasing hear I our ambitions it makes ITFC more appealing. I would like to see more Scandinavian players join us, maybe we could recruit George Burley as a director of football working alongside PJ - GB had a great eye for quality young English players and good foreign players (except when given too much money) He was always good with a budget.

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