Chief executive Simon Clegg has wished departing duo Gareth McAuley and David Norris well for the future and says he doesn’t regret the club not offering them new terms last summer. On Monday the pair told manager Paul Jewell that they will be leaving Town with their current deals up at the end of the season.
Clegg told TWTD that he wanted both of them to remain at Portman Road: "I think it’s clear that we would have liked Gareth and Chuck to stay here.
"We offered them new contracts but they decided their aspirations were greater than we were able to meet, and as such I wish them all the best for the future because they’ve played an important part in this club.”
Asked why the club allowed their contracts to run down, the former British Olympic Association chief said: "There are a number of factors, I don’t really want to get into the specifics of it.
"We were very clear that once we made a change of manager we didn’t want to tie the new manager’s hands and wanted to give him a completely blank sheet of paper to work from.”
Clegg says a decision not to offer new deals was taken last summer: "We took a long-term view in terms of what we were going to do and why we were going to allow their contracts to run down, and we move on and wish them well for the future. We now need to bring into the club good replacements for them.”
The Blues chief executive disagreed that looking at the situation as it developed, deals should have been offered a year ago: "I don’t think that at all. Hindsight’s a great thing. We are where we’re at.
"The decision was made then on very conscious grounds and we move on. I’m not going to get into the specifics of it. It’s the position that the club took.”
As for those replacements for Norris and McAuley and other additions to the squad, Clegg was tight-lipped: "Things are ongoing. I’m not going to comment on any speculation because to do so just puts yourself in a very difficult position.
"As soon as I have something firm to say, then I’ll let you know. Consistent with the club’s normal policy, I’m not going to comment on any speculation.”
Clegg wouldn’t be drawn into reacting to former manager Roy Keane’s comments about him over the weekend: "I enjoyed my time working with Roy, that’s now history and I’m focused on supporting the new manager and that’s going very well.”
McAuley is believed to be on his way to West Brom, while Norris is interesting a number of Championship clubs including Nottingham Forest, Leeds and Portsmouth.