Town chief executive Simon Clegg has confirmed that manager Paul Jewell will be given money to spend during the transfer window as he looks to add around six additions to his squad, but says there is no hard and fast set budget. Clegg hints that on-loan Celtic man Daryl Murphy could still return to Portman Road for 2012/13.
The Blues chief says that as in previous windows each deal will be taken on its own merits rather than Jewell being handed a pre-agreed sum to spend: "There’s not a figure on it. Exactly the same as last season, for the right players, the right money will be available.”
Last week Jewell said he expected signing loanee Daryl Murphy on a permanent basis to be beyond Town’s means, however, Clegg isn’t quite so negative about the possibility of doing a deal with Celtic: "Let’s see where we get to. It’s fairly early days. I think Celtic will be taking a view on it and see where they go.”
The SPL champions currently want a fee for the Irishman, who has a year remaining on his lucrative contract at Parkhead.
Jewell believes that big fees will be rare in the Championship this summer but says money will be there as and when he wants to spend it: "We are looking for bargains. There definitely won’t be any £3 million signings.
"If I went to Marcus and said a player of that price would make the difference I am sure he would back me, but there won’t be too many big money moves in the Championship. Not when I hear there are 13 clubs in this league on the brink of administration.”
Clegg says owner Evans remains as committed to the club and taking the Blues back into the Premier League as he was when he took over in December 2007: "His enthusiasm hasn’t waned one iota since he bought the club.”
The Town chief says that unlike former chairman David Sheepshanks, who famously worked to a five-year plan, he’s not keen on putting a timescale on returning to the top flight: "I think it’s a very dangerous situation to put a timetable on achieving the goal that we’re after.
"There are 23 other clubs in the Championship who all aspire to the same goal with differing degrees of financial robustness and owners with different depths of pockets and different ambitions.
"What other clubs do you can’t control. What we’re trying to do is find that winning model for this football club. I don’t think you’ve ever heard me put any time frame on reaching that aspirational goal, apart from that we want to do it at the earliest opportunity.”
Elsewhere, former Blue Ed Upson has signed a new two-year deal with Yeovil Town. Upson, 22, was the scorer of the winning goal in Ipswich’s 2005 FA Youth Cup final victory over Southampton.
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