Manager Paul Jewell says he wouldn’t be at Town if he believed the club was unwilling to go the extra yard to sign the players he wants. The Blues boss was speaking in the wake of last week’s failure to agree personal terms with former Swindon striker Charlie Austin, who subsequently joined Burnley.
Jewell says he doesn’t believe the failure to sign Austin was an illustration of the club not going far enough to attract players, citing the acquisition of Jimmy Bullard on loan: "I wouldn’t say that because if I thought that I wouldn’t be here.
"I think it’s important not to get carried away with one player, we’ve signed Jimmy Bullard from Hull and everyone knows Jimmy is on a lot of money there. They’ve stuck their neck out and done well there.
"Maybe Charlie Austin knows Eddie Howe, he was with him at Bournemouth. All I can say is that we tried and it didn’t happen, I would have liked to have had the lad here."
Jewell says Austin was impressed with what he saw at Town: "The kid looked around, I spoke to his dad and he was really excited but we couldn’t agree terms. I spoke to the agent late on the Thursday night — and the money we offered him was decent — and he said to me that he wants, out of courtesy, to go and speak to Burnley.
"I just said then that it wasn’t going to happen. He was on his way to Burnley overnight. I didn’t want to get into a tug-of-war really.”
Former boss Roy Keane was unhappy that the club was unable to land players such as Shaun Derry and fans have been critical of chief executive Simon Clegg since the move for Austin failed, a viewpoint Jewell feels is harsh: "Since I’ve been here it’s just one deal that didn’t happen. Whether that’s because of the chief executive, I don’t think it’s fair to say.
"My job’s football, I spoke football with the lad and I think he was happy to come, but at the end of the day if the player wants money that we don’t think he’s worth, there’s nothing we can do about that. It can be frustrating, but that’s life. You win some, you lose some."
Jewell says the club’s decision not to sell players who are out of contract in the summer — Crystal Palace made an £800,000 joint bid for David Norris and Damien Delaney — should be seen as a positive sign: "We could have cashed in on those players but we realised we’re in a dog fight and the owner and the chief executive, along with me, are not prepared to sell those players. I think that’s important to say.”