Blues boss Paul Jewell says he wants to get to the stage where Town are making a few signings each summer rather than making the wholesale changes which have characterised the last couple of close seasons. The Town manager, who played down suggestions he might move for Peterborough pair Paul Taylor and George Boyd, says a squad is freshened up by new signings but when 13 players are added in one go as happened at Portman Road last summer, it takes time for them to gel.
Jewell said: "Any manager will tell you that it’s nice to bring fresh players in in the close season, but certainly when you bring in as many as we did last summer it takes a while for them to settle.
"If you can just tweak it a little each year, that means you’re happy with what you’ve got already and just want to make little improvements here and there. We’re working towards that. I wouldn’t say we’re there yet but we’re working towards it.”
Posh duo Paul Taylor and George Boyd both have a year left on their contracts at London Road and are set to be sold this summer having turned down new deals.
Jewell admitted to being fan of Taylor prior to the Blues’ 3-2 victory over Peterborough at Portman Road recently, but wouldn’t be drawn further on any potential interest and in any case says they may be beyond Town in this new Financial Fair Play world and with Premier League clubs likely to be in the running.
However, he says players of "that ilk” are what he’ll be looking at even if they might not be targets themselves: "I just think Taylor’s a good player. It’s not really fair [for me to talk about them, although I] know they’re going to be on the market but I don’t know what the price would be.
"We would be in the market for that type of player with that desire and of that ability. But there’ll be a lot of clubs in for them, probably clubs in the Premiership, if you listen to Barry Fry anyway!
"If good players come up and are available and we can afford them, we want to be in the market for them, but there will be a lot of suitors for the lad Taylor.
"To be fair to George Boyd, he has played on the left, but this season he’s mainly played in the middle of midfield. We’re in that type of market, but he’d probably be out of our price range, to be honest.”