Town boss Paul Jewell has confirmed that the Blues could look to try to sign Portsmouth defender or midfielder Joel Ward in the summer. The 22-year-old, one the Blues’ three Pompey targets in January, spoke to the Town manager last week and was interested in what he had to say but the crisis club ultimately decided against allowing any more of their players to move on.

Jewell said: “We spoke with Joel Ward on Sunday and the agent did say that if they got a result on Tuesday Portsmouth would probably keep the squad in the hope of getting out of trouble because they’ve got some good players and it’s not all lost for them.

“That’s something that we might try and revisit for the long-term for next season.”

In January Jewell also tried to sign keeper Stephen Henderson, who is now with West Ham, and central defender Jason Pearce, who may also be a player the Blues look at again in the close season.

The Town boss says the talks with Ward went well: “He was really interested. He was impressed with the set-up and what we had to say.

“We’d like to bring him here, he can play in a lot of positions and he’s young. But there’s a lot of work to do on that.

“It’s up to the clubs to come to an arrangement and I’m sure they’ll be a few other clubs trying to get him as well.”

As for exits, Jewell says the club received no interest on deadline day: “I don’t think Ipswich Town’s phone number is in the book because no one rang us!”

Photo: Action Images

BillBlue added 15:59 - Mar 23 Why? This has become a complete bore. There are bigger and better fish in the sea than those at Portsmouth and, with their love of that team, they are not for us. Come on Paul, I see you as becoming an outstanding Town Manager, get out there and find us some good defenders who are young, good prospects and will take a pride in wearing the Town shirt. COYB
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JewellintheTown added 16:00 - Mar 23 Pompey are messing us about. No wonder off field they're in a mess.
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naa added 16:03 - Mar 23 BillBlue: I like how these player's loyalty to their current club is being seen as a negative! So, if they were happy to jump ship at the earliest opportunity to a club that's not that far above them in the table that's the kind of player we want is it? Ridiculous. It's good to see players care about their club. Matty Holland didn't want to leave Ipswich, but I'm sure the Charlton fans were happy with the years of service he gave them. It's a good trait that these players are loyal to their club, not a bad one.

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JimmyJazz added 16:13 - Mar 23 The summer after we got relegated we had two 4 million bids for Matty Holland (4.5m A Villa) and Hermann (WBA). They both refused saying they wanted to stay at Town. 12 months later we had to sell for 900,000 and 800,000.
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JustSpivvyChops added 16:27 - Mar 23 I'm just amazed that a club in administration is allowed any say in whether they keep players, or not. I'm pretty sure we were forced to accept paltry offers for our better players when we were in the shoite, so why is it any different for these clowns? The administrator should be solely responsible for these decisions and if he is turning down the opportunity of removing large salaries from the books and guaranteeing future income for player sales, then he is clearly negligent in his duties. Not only is the administrator not serving the best interests of the creditor's of Portsmouth FC, he is actually allowing the club to accrue more debt. He should be sacked and replaced, gross misconduct, or negligence, call it what you will, but he could not contest either satisfactorily. As for the Ward/Pearce saga, they both had the opportunity to join and neither were interested, so fook em and move on, very tedious now.

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naa added 16:30 - Mar 23 Spivvy: thing is, these guys probably aren't on big wages, hence his lack of desperation to sell. Mind you, from saying that they might not have enough to finish their fixtures to suddenly not needing to sell is a bit much really.
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BillBlue added 16:36 - Mar 23 Naa. I am sorry friend but I strongly disagree. I would agree with what you say about player loyalty but both of these guys had the opportunity to further their careers by joining us but chose to take the mickey. I live in the area and am fully aware of everything that goes on down here and some of it is not very polite. Enough is enough so let us look for a better bone. COYB

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Toepunt added 16:39 - Mar 23 naa: perhaps the money from West Ham for Henderson ensures that they'll complete their fixtures (probably the main reason W.Ham bought him, to protect their 6 points).
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naa added 16:44 - Mar 23 Toepunt: could be right on that one (especially about the reason West Ham bought him!). BillBlue: obviously none of us knows the full reason why they said 'no' to us in Jan, but as has been pointed out, Matty and Herman turned down moves to the premier league when we were in the championship, for good money to stay with us. Isn't that much the same situation? Obviously, in turning those moves down Matty and Herman actually helped us go into admin, but I'm sure the fans still appreciated the loyalty at the time. As I see it, these players wanting to help out their current club is just loyalty, it's not a snub to us.

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BillBlue added 17:03 - Mar 23 Naa. Oh well, that is your opinion and you are entitled to it. In my opinion there is no comparison with Matty Holland or with anyone else. COYB
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irishtim added 17:07 - Mar 23 i admire their loyalty. Its not seen too much anymore.
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Eireannach_gorm added 17:43 - Mar 23 The Portsmouth crew are waiting for the likes of West Ham or Southampton to pick up their contract in recent window/next season. If they are not successful they will be back to us. In the meantime they know their wages is legally protected so they have no problem remaining with Portsmouth. .......Oh yes, they are very loyal to the club also.
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ruffcider added 18:30 - Mar 23 If I were you I would try for giovani dos santos, if we do get relegated I'm sure they'll go somewhere else, they've publically said they aren't interested in the move, it's all jewell. Can't you see that?
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NoCanariesAllowed added 21:05 - Mar 23 Really couldn't care less about these Portsmouth boys now. Never rated them that much anyway and frankly they all have the makings of another stupid summer transfer saga.
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hanoidave added 21:36 - Mar 23 JewellintheTown : Don't believe that Portsmouth are messing Ipswich about at all. Nobody is asking Jewell to constantly go back with new bids. The fact is that the players don't want to leave their club so fair play to them for that. SpivvySpackyChops : The fact is that the club (Portsmouth) isn't having any say whatsoever in what happens to their players. The Administrator IS the club at this moment in time and following the release of funds that were due from the Football League plus the obtaining of funds that were overdue from clubs in both Italy and Greece plus the loan fees from West Ham, Cardiff, Reading and Birmingham for the loan of four of their best players the club (Portsmouth) has enough funds to fulfill its fixtures. And the Administrator isn't allowing the club to accrue more debt as the players that have been brought in on loan are having their wages paid by their own clubs (who probably retain the right of recall). Eireannach_gorm : Different planet that one!! You have to consider that the South Coast rivalry is far more intense than the Norwich/Ipswich rivalry.

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buryblue77 added 23:00 - Mar 23 @ ruffcider 'If I were you I would try for giovani dos santos, if we do get relegated I'm sure they'll go somewhere else, they've publically said they aren't interested in the move, it's all jewell. Can't you see that?' What planet you on mate?
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glassblower added 23:00 - Mar 23 Hanoidave - very possible that people at Portsmouth are constantly asking Jewell to bid for your players. Sorry if it's not obvious but Pompey need the money. - the administrator is not the club, he gets paid whatever happens to you. - your players will go where the hell they like, including Southampton. You are not that special. That said - good luck and hope Pompey pull through.

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Eireannach_gorm added 01:06 - Mar 24 Hanoidave - my mistake, so it's West Ham or Reading
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ruffcider added 07:57 - Mar 24 'What planet you on mate?' what bit?.....i thought you lot always talk about getting gio back? (I watched him for you guys against Bristol City and thought he was a great player, and hes not doing too much at spurs) or is it that theyve said that they dont want to leave, despite all our troubles?
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gypo added 09:05 - Mar 24 Summer it is then you can't blame pompey or jewel at least he's trying and now ward has been here and knows what we're about. Yes he might be in some eyes focusing on these two more than others but this has been made public by pompey and jewel has only confirmed this after that has happened. Yes we want to see movement but the players we should be after are most probably involved in promotion races or relegation fights

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Ebantiass added 09:26 - Mar 24 Its getting a little boring now and nothing will happen until Pompey know their fate at the end of the season.
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