Skipper David Norris says the reason he turned down the new Town contract which was on offer at the end of last year was down to its length rather than him wanting more money. The former Plymouth man, whose current terms are up in the summer, says there has been no new progress towards sealing a deal.
Norris said: "I had an initial offer two months ago and it wasn’t quite right for me. I was hoping for three years and it was only two years and I haven’t heard anything since.
"I read something last week about certain demands, but it hasn’t even got that far, to be honest. It was more the fact that initially I was hoping for three years. I was hoping that might be negotiable and we could talk, but I haven’t heard anything since.
"I’m fully committed then. If I sign for only two years, come the following summer, I’m back in the same position where I’m in my last year again, so I’d like to fully commit to the club.”
The midfielder spoke to new boss Paul Jewell last week, along with Damien Delaney and Gareth McAuley, who will be in the same position as him at the end of June, and says he’ll keep pushing for a new deal until Town tell him one definitely won’t be forthcoming: "He spoke to us last week, he just said there were a couple of bids in in January and that he didn’t want us to leave.
"I said that that was fine by me. Until this club comes to me and says ‘Thanks, but we’re going to let you go’, I’ll keep trying and hopefully get a contract.
"It’s an unusual situation but there was the change of manager at an awkward time and maybe he wants to come in have a look and that might be part of the reason it might not have happened. I’d rather have it done yesterday.”
Norris took Portsmouth manager Steve Cotterill’s claims that he wanted to move to Pompey with a pinch of salt: "I read about those. I don’t tend to take too much notice. My agent deals with anything else away from the game, I tell him not to bother me too much until it’s concrete.”
The Blues' top scorer for the season with nine goals says he very much wants to stay at Portman Road, having signed from Argyle for £2.25 million in January 2008: "I’ve never said anything different. We’re settled here, I never said I wanted to leave. I haven’t signed anything with anyone else when I possibly could have.
"It’s just a little bit frustrating because I don’t really know 100% where I stand. Are the club happy? Do they want me to stay and sort a deal out? Do they want me to stay until the end of the season and then I go? Or in January did they want to cash in on me? I’m just not sure exactly where I stand.”
Norris says the situation doesn’t affect him during games but that there are serious matters to be considered and he Delaney and McAuley have discussed their positions: "Off the pitch you think about it, you don’t know where you’re going to be playing and I’ve got to be careful. Coming towards the end of a contract I don’t want to get injured.
"It plays a little bit on my mind but once the games get going I just want to concentrate on the football and enjoy it.
"I wouldn’t say we’re unsettled," he added, "We’re enjoying our games here. We’re not unsettled and it’s not causing problems, but we have the conversations, ‘What’s happening with you?’ and this and that. We’re still enjoying our football, as you can see.”
The Peterborough-born player admits that if Town don’t tie him down soon he could find himself in a strong position in the summer where he’s able to pick and choose from various offers, but the 29-year-old doesn't appear particularly interested in moving elsewhere: "Yes, if I carry on OK it’s a strong position but sometimes the grass isn’t always greener.”