Blues boss Paul Jewell says the likelihood that Jimmy Bullard would only be a bit-part player at Portman Road this season was what led to the club and the midfielder to decide to terminate his contract by mutual consent. Town confirmed that Bullard, who had a year left on his deal, would be leaving with immediate effect earlier today.
Jewell said: "There’s no big story. This has been going on for nine or 10 days, the decision was made then. I got Jimmy in and told him I couldn’t guarantee him first team football.
"I know Jimmy from old and know he just wants to play football. He’s missed an awful lot of games over the last four years with injury and we both sat down like grown-ups and said ‘Let’s find a solution, what’s the best way out of it?’ And we’ve mutually agreed to cancel his contract.
"No ulterior motive, no hidden agenda, basically, ‘Look Jim, you need to go and play football. I know being a bit-part player won’t be enough to satisfy you’.
"He agreed, he didn’t agree with me [that he wasn’t going to be in the first team], but we sat down, we’ve known each other a long time and I’ve had only one problem with Jimmy, and that was dealt with.
"In all the times I’ve had him, I can’t speak highly enough of him as a person, as a player and as a professional. He caused me one moment of anguish but other than that, in all the years I’ve had him, he’s not been a problem and whoever gets him will have a decent player.”
The settlement of his contract is likely to see Bullard receive an agreed proportion of what he would have been paid across the remaining year of his deal, probably over a longer period of time.
Jewell says he left that aspect of things up to chief executive Simon Clegg and owner Marcus Evans: "The money side of it is nothing to do with me but he and his advisors sat down with the club and came to an agreement and he goes with our best wishes.
"I don’t know how much we’ve saved on his wages. It wasn’t a money decision, it was a football decision. I know that Jimmy Bullard, being Jimmy Bullard, wants to play every game, he wants to play every training session, never mind every game and every minute of every game.
"No one’s guaranteed a place in anyone’s team but he wouldn’t be in our starting XI. He disagreed with that, as I would expect everyone who isn’t in our starting XI to do.
"Knowing Jimmy and how keen as mustard he is to play football, I thought we’d meet the problem before it became a problem, as simple as that.”
Bullard’s time at Town started with one of the most impressive loan spells in the club’s history, so why does Jewell think things went awry once he was signed on a permanent basis after his acrimonious exit from Hull City: "Hindsight’s a wonderful thing. He came in and won Player of the Year, the supporters loved him and I’ve still got a lot of time for him.
"He was a vital part of the team that went on that terrific run [in the autumn] when we were playing some fabulous football.
"Since November, since Burnley, he hasn’t had a start, but he hasn’t had too much of a look-in. There are different reasons, it’s not just Jimmy’s fault. The team hasn’t played great at times when he’s been in it.
"Things in life don’t always work out, but one thing I couldn’t accuse Jimmy Bullard of is not giving everything he’s got. He’s had one misdemeanour but that was dealt with and Jimmy took that on the chin.”
He says the 33-year-old’s exit is illustrative of the approach he’s taking from now on: "I’ve just made a decision that we’re going down the route of trying to get younger players in and that Jimmy wasn’t going feature regularly in the starting XI and it was best to tell him that.
"Knowing Jimmy from old, that’s not going to be enough for him. He accepted last season that he didn’t play well after the Burnley game, he couldn’t quite get back in, then he had a few illnesses just as he was going to get an opportunity.
"He probably came back this pre-season thinking he was going to get in the team when he came back with a clean slate.
"I just decided that it wasn’t going to be that way. That wasn’t going to be enough satisfy him because he loves to play football.”