Town boss Paul Jewell admits he was disappointed that former skipper Grant Leadbitter moved on to Saturday’s opponents Middlesbrough in the summer after turning down a new deal with the Blues, but says there’s no animosity between himself and the midfielder.
Jewell said: "We would have liked Grant to stay, but he was well within his rights to move on. There was no animosity between myself and him or the club. We wish him well.
"He’s moved on to different things and we’ve moved on as well. He’s a good player, Grant, but he’d been here three years and I think he felt he needed a change of scene.
"He’s from up north, so geographically [it suited him], he got married in the summer and it was a move that possibly was always going to be on the cards.
"We tried to keep him. I don’t think it was a money thing, being honest, it might have been that he wanted to change and obviously it was up north and both those things suited him. We were disappointed to lose him, but wish him well.”
Leadbitter, 26, has started every league game for Boro this season and scored on his debut, the Capital One Cup first round tie against Bury.