Town boss Paul Jewell has revealed that his decision to sign keeper Richard Wright for his third spell with the club was triggered by interest from Millwall and QPR. Wright, 34, joined the Blues on a contract until the end of the season on Thursday, having spent much of the last few months keeping fit with the squad at Playford Road.
Jewell said: "Richard’s been training with us all summer and has been absolutely terrific. He’s been in every day, every afternoon almost, and I was thinking about giving him something to the end of the season, then [Millwall manager] Kenny Jackett rang me up to ask me about him, so I signed him.
"I think QPR came in [on Wednesday] as well, but I think Richard, being on the doorstep here and having such close ties with Ipswich, was delighted to sign.”
Millwall wanted Wright as cover for David Forde, who has a thigh problem, while QPR saw the former England glovesman as a replacement for ex-Blue Brian Murphy, who is out with a calf injury.
The Blues boss says Wright’s age is no concern: "I know he’s 34 but that’s not that old for a goalkeeper and he’s been absolutely terrific in training.
"I was thinking about giving him a deal to the end of the season because you never know what can happen and obviously we’ve got Stocky on a 24-hour recall. There is a lack of goalkeepers out there, so Richard is definitely in the reckoning.
"He’s as keen as mustard, he comes back in the afternoons and he’s a credit to the game really. He’s not been getting paid, he’s just been coming in, keeping fit and training with the first team.”
While it’s unlikely that the new signing will come into the side for David Stockdale when the Blues face Reading at Portman Road on Saturday, Jewell admits he has a dilemma whether he names Wright or fellow Ipswich-born keeper Arran Lee-Barrett on the bench: "I’ve got a decision to make, but that’s what we get paid for, making decisions.”
Wright ended up being the Blues’ only signing close to the loan deadline. Speaking yesterday morning, the Town manager says he’s more likely to make signings when the transfer window reopens in the new year: "Sometimes in the emergency loan window you can get a bit panicky, but January might be the time when we strengthen more, looking towards the future rather than more short-term stuff.
"In January you can buy players. I don’t want people to think I’ve got millions of pounds to spend, I don’t know if I have or I haven’t, what I’m saying is that in January you can take stock of the season.
"I think what’s happened this year is that we got players in in one hit in June, July and August , and it takes a long time for people to get to know each other.
"If you can get players in January with a view to being here for the next two or three years, it helps everyone settle down when we start next season. That would be my thinking.”
Jewell admitted he had looked at bringing one or two players in sooner than January and was clear which aspect of his squad most needs strengthening: "We’re a bit light in the centre-half area with injuries. Damien’s out, Sonks has been out, so we are down to Ãvar, Danny, who goes back on the 17th, and Tommy Smith.”
The Blues boss played down one or two of the transfer rumours which have been floating around in recent days: "Rob Hulse’s agent rang me [on Wednesday] to ask if we were interested in him, and we said no.
"I had Rob at Derby, but we’ve got strikers. We’ve got Jason, Duke, Daryl Murphy’s fit again, we’ve got Chops, We’ve got Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, who can play up there. We’re OK for strikers.”
Cardiff central defender Darcy Blake, who also plays at full-back or in midfield, wasn’t on his list of possible signings either: "I was reading Wales manager Gary Speed really bigging him up in the paper. I always thought he was a full-back [rather than a centre-half].
"He’s not one we’ve mentioned. I’m not saying he’s not a good player but he’s not one I’ve asked about.”
Aston Villa youngster Gary Gardner joined Coventry on loan but contrary to reports the Blues hadn’t made an approach, although Jewell is a fan of the 19-year-old midfielder: "He’s a good player. The England U21s trained here before the Iceland game and I was watching them. Certainly for the future we want to try and get some more young players here.
"He won’t be available for [permanent] transfer because he’s contracted to Villa for a while, but he’s one that we’ve spoken about.
"That’s the type of player that we want to try and get here long-term. We’ve got some experience, we need experience, but we’ve just got to get some more young, hungry players and I think we’ve got to be stronger in certain areas physically. In the future, that’s what we’ll be looking at.”