Town boss Paul Jewell says he was eyeing a couple of potential targets when he watched Huddersfield beat Sheffield United 3-0 at Bramall Lane on Tuesday. But the Blues manager played down tabloid links with Manchester City’s Israeli winger Gai Assulin.

Jewell confirmed that as reported by TWTD on Wednesday, he was in South Yorkshire to take in the game, joking that his target was a former Blues player: “I was there the other night. I was watching the young lad up front — Alan Lee! I was on my way to Manchester [for the Aaron Cresswell tribunal] and I stopped at Sheffield.”

While the Town boss has previously said that not all his scouting trips are related to specific targets, he confirmed that a number of players were in his sights on Tuesday with the Blues previously having been linked with Blades Matt Lowton, Stephen Quinn and Ched Evans: “I was looking at specific targets at that one. I went to have a look at a couple of players, maybe not just for this season but maybe looking for the future.

“In this job normally you don’t get time, but the way I want to do it is plan for the long-term and do things as correctly as possible because I believe if you can plan long-term you can make better objective decisions rather than thinking from week to week.”

The Blues boss confirmed that he has talked to Assulin’s club Manchester City about possible loans but isn’t looking to make a signing at the current time: “We’ve asked about a lot of players and I’ve spoken to David Platt on a few occasions about players at Manchester City that might be available for loan, but we won’t be pursuing that at the moment.

“I look around and I think for the future we want young, vibrant, hungry players to be in this team for next year.

“At the moment our team is very experienced but for the future we’ve got to bring in some young legs and some energy, some vibrancy which will help us to get the right mix.

“At the minute we probably haven’t got the right mix, we’ve just got a lot of experienced players, who are good players, but we need that vibrancy, youth and desire.”

Photo: Action Images

depressed added 15:11 - Sep 16 “At the minute we probably haven't got the right mix, we've just got a lot of experienced players, who are good players, but we need that vibrancy, youth and desire.” Hyam..O'Connor..Carson ? PJ,by not involving these players in the first team you are contradicting yourself.
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itfc1981 added 15:15 - Sep 16 i.e. , bugger why did I sign Bowyer...
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nitroblue1970 added 15:20 - Sep 16 I thought we had a lot of talented young players at the club?...Connor wickham for one...oh yeah hes gone....Troy brown? oh hes gone too....Shane O connor currently rotting away in the reserves along with Luke Hyam...Josh carson is another....but doesnt seem to get a run in the side.....my advice to you Mr Jewell is....say nowt til youve got something positive to say and stop contradicting yourself .....we do have young talent at the club you plank you just dont play them and lets face it your current squad of "experienced " players are hardly tearing the league to shreds are they?

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HARRY10 added 15:40 - Sep 16 " but the way I want to do it is plan for the long-term " So that's why you have brought in a pile of aged has beens, all who it appears were not wanted by their previous club. JET has not lived up to expectations(although Crewell looks promising). Your only other 'one for the future Drury, has now been farmed off to Crawley. We may well be fielding a team on Monday where 4 of them are not our players, 5 are over 30 and 1 doesn't even want to be here. Planning ahead my backside. As you admit " At the minute we probably haven't got the right mix". That is after you have been here nearly 9 months, after you have had a wholes close season to work on the squad and the club has received £8m in one sale alone. Eleven of these who are not the right mix are those YOU brought in. It is patching up the holes at the every best. I cannot see you being here for the long term.

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Ipswich24 added 16:01 - Sep 16 Very confusing all this surely we would have been targetting young, hungry players for this season bed them in with a bit of experience and they will then be ready for next season. This just sounds like we are writing this season off with has beens? Makes no sense
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saffronblue added 16:16 - Sep 16 Usual positive comments from town fans. Lets be realistic PJ has had to build a squad from scratch and he would be the first to admit it isn't finished yet. CW was always going to leave and I think 8M was a good price. Troy wasnt good enough, Hyam has been poor for 9 months, O'Conner has lost his was and Carson was played at the end of last year and a couple of games this year. I think the majority of PJ's signings have been good. Cresswell has been excellent, Chopra will be class, Bullard is class and when he gets fit will be a great foil for Andrews. We have only played a few games, keep faith, get behind, encourage and support your team were supposed to be supporters after all.

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neilanddon added 16:22 - Sep 16 Depressed there is a big difference between young players that are good enough and that are not good enough to gain us promotion. PJ has obviously not seen enough in traing or matches from these youngsters
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Surco72 added 16:35 - Sep 16 Eastman,Brown,OConnor,Peters all not good enough . Ainsley and Hyam jury out ,Hyam started well but then looked way out of his depth ,Ainsley looked poor last season in carling cup and not a lot better this year . Jet ,Carson and Cresswell all good enough to take us further So i agree with Jewell we do need young hungry players but those good enough to play in this league not just any youngsters

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nitroblue1970 added 16:42 - Sep 16 Saffronblue....why did connor have to leave? he is eighteen years old, is he getting games at Sunderland?....but yes 8m was a good price! Troy not good enough, he looked ok to me when he rarely got a game and needed a little confidence that playing matches brings...Hyam hasnt even played for nine months so how can anyone judge is hes good enough?...was a very good player in keanes last season, he looked composed and protected the defence well in the holding midfield role...had half a bad game and got ditched! ....and we tumbled down the table shortly after as i remember but im not suggesting it was because Hyam was dropped obviously!..O connor didnt lose his way....he has got lost under jewell....he was always hungry, looking for the ball, had a good turn of speed .....Cresswell has been adequate i would say, not excellent, no one in a town shirt this season has been excellent in my opinion! If they have then you sir are very easily pleased!...there is no doubting bullard, andrews and Chpra are class players but PJs comments are about youngsters...im mearly suggesting that the youngsters he says he needs may well be here already if given the right opportunity!..and as i said, his team of experience has got us six points so far, an embarrasing defeat at Peterborough and a terrible defensive record! My comments are as positive as they can be but reasonable and guarded!

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HARRY10 added 16:47 - Sep 16 saffron, don't presume some 'better supporter than thou' because you are unwilling to see the obvious. If PJ is 'building a squad from scratch' then why is bringing in loaness and has beens, both who will have a very short shelf life for different reasons. As to why he has to build from scratch I well remember folk like you saying which shouldn't point out the glaring errors in Keane's squad and management skills. We should get behind teh team etc. We do get behind the team and i for one have never boo-ed our players, however this is a forum and criticism is part of that. So this is the time and place for that. I stand by the point that PJ is not building for the future he is merely patching over the cracks. Cracks that will only becoming bigger by the weeks. If we have received £8m and have saved a fair few million also in wages from the likes of McAuley, Murphy, Norris and others ........ yet we still can't find/afford some young promising players then when the hell will we be able to ? With the extra income from all the extra seats and season tickets we will sell this season watching PJ looking for the right formula, the correct mix, the magic spark, the players learning a winning mentality - or whatever excuse is next trotted out ? Just because we are supporters it does not mean we have to be blind

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chripswich added 17:06 - Sep 16 Jeeeez!!.. he just makes it up as he goes along.. more clueless nonsense.. his mantra for being s!te last season was "i kept us up"...(anyone could have done that! we were NEVER a relegation side) his mantra for being sh!te now is clearly "i'm building for the long term.." (how long have we got to listen to that...) We've got some good young vibrant players in the squad...PLAY THEM!!!!!!!!!

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therein61 added 17:35 - Sep 16 experience is all!! i lost my cherry to a lady in her late 30's at a tender age & it was better than football!!!!!!
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jas0999 added 17:36 - Sep 16 No more loans please. Four in one team is too many. Failure to complete our business before August 31st is no excuse for loanees now. Completely pointless. Let's play the players we have - it's up to PJ to MANAGE them. If he can't, get rid and bring someone in who can.
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depressed added 17:48 - Sep 16 neilanddon......Jewells statement is a kick in the teeth for our younger players. If he feels, like you that they are not good enough then i expect more of the youngsters will look to move on. IMO the 3 names i mentioned would all be regular starters at other championship clubs. Finally i personally find it refreshing to see the young un's in the team as opposed to these tired journeyman we have now with the exception of one or two.

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blueblood66 added 18:00 - Sep 16 depressed...I think PJ know a lot more about his squad than a depressed keyboard warrior. Jog on
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Basil_Smallpiece added 18:23 - Sep 16 Poor old Paste. He hasn't got a clue. Worse still, after this outburst, he is beginning to sound like a dimwit. Just a reminder: the average age of the shower that turned out against Blackpool was nearly 29 years and a half. Exclude the goalkeeper, Cresswell and Leadbitter, the remaining rabble averaged more than 31 years. The Invisible Man trousered the proceeds of the Wickham sale, because the Invisible Man is skint. Where does the next wad come from? Sale of rent-a-gob Edwards, perhaps? No. The family silver is all sold. We're down to the tupperware. Good to see some sensible fans writing, even if it is to express their extrreme frustration at the stupidity going on at PR. Nice to see the ITFC stooges (people paid by the club to write ridiculous propaganda) drowned out. Sadly, ITFC is in desperate straits. Division 3 could prove the making of the club.

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Tractamatt added 18:28 - Sep 16 For gods sake the man is doing what he can and he's planning for the future,if we put out a team consisting of Hyam,O'conner,Carsson and Murray we would get slaughtered everytime and you idiots would moan and complain and bitch and winge about that.There are to many trolls on this site and it's time to get rid of them.
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RYITFC added 18:31 - Sep 16 At least he can see what the fans can see, That we have too many older players, Not enough young players who could be here 4 or 5 seasons. But the question has to be asked why say that now the window has closed, Why bring in as many old players as we did. Like he said the mix isn't right, But when youv'e been able to bring 14 players in, That should be plenty to get the right mix. I think we've made a lot of panic signings without thinking about how each player will fit into the team.

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Basil_Smallpiece added 18:34 - Sep 16 Paste visiting Bramall Lane midweek had nothing to do with scouting. The trip allowed him to claim expenses whilst spending a couple of days at home. Bit of a change from staying in an Ipswich Travelodge hotel room with curtains shut watching videos. (Don't go there.Ed.)
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Guthrum added 19:18 - Sep 16 Basil Smallpiece - If those of us posting in a positive vein ("stooges") are "being paid by the club". when do we start to receive the money? Cos I haven't seen any yet. Conspiracy nutters are still nutters.
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HARRY10 added 21:26 - Sep 16 If burying your head in the sand is positive then good luck. Perhaps when you have a look at the real world you could tell us all how bringing six (seven with Andrews, 29) 30 somethings to join the 4 who are already here is planning for the future. Or how leaving us with a squad that has not got the right mix so we will have to being in more loanees to cover us until January is planning for the future. Either Jewell is incompetent or the money is not available. The latter might explain why we could only get the former - and not the likes of Ian Atkins, Gus Poyet. Malcy Mackay or even Tony Mowbray.

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rosseden added 23:01 - Sep 16 if having a personal fortune of £600m is skint then i want to be skint.... there appear to be plenty of villiges which are short of their idiot at the moment, they all seem to be here posting drivel..... watch now for the 'speaker of truth and facts' to come join in with basil cod piece....... god help us...... we're all doomed..... we should all just head to Dignitas and finish ourselves off......

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HARRY10 added 23:07 - Sep 16 " plenty of villiges which are short of their idiot " you couldn't make it up ps the wealth is now £610.75m, you forgot the sales of Walters and Wickham
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rosseden added 23:15 - Sep 16 i really shouldnt update from my phone, reading & typing one word at a time was bound to cause me some sort of aggravation when posting sarcasm! as for the £610.75m, you forgot JET & Chops, so maybe £607.75m, still not bad for being skint though, I'd take £607.75m of 'skint' any day of the week if someones dishing it out........
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HARRY10 added 00:19 - Sep 17 sarcasm ? I would suggest you look up the word And while you at it maybe explain to us all why an owner supposedly worth hundreds of millions seems to be taking out more than he is putting in. We owe him more now than when he took over. But then the matter is whether we have the money top bring in decent players and a decent manager, not how much the owner is alleged to be worth. You appear to have confused the two.

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