Town skipper Matt Holland has returned from Finland, where he played three minutes for Ireland last night, and is set for talks with his family, his agent and Aston Villa.
Holland, describing Town as a great club, says whether to go or not will not be an easy choice: "It's about more than money. This is a massive decision for me. My people have been at Villa during the day. Now I have to go home, talk to my wife, family and agent and decide what we are going to do."
His agent Jonathan Barnett was talking to Villa yesterday with Graham Taylor's club likely to have offered the Town skipper wages which are pretty much the same as the £15,000-a-week is getting at Town.
One of the move's biggest obstacles could be persuading Holland's family to leave the Ipswich area where his wife is understood to be very happy and the children settled at school.
While many fans, for footballing reasons, will be praying he stays it is unlikely that David Sheepshanks is joining them. With Town's finances badly hit by relegation and football's overall crisis, the sale of the skipper will help fill the current hole in the season's budget.
Holland, one of football's brighter players, clearly knows the state of affairs and that he would be helping his club's finances out in a big way if he moved on. Just as he did with AFC Bournemouth in 1997, another club who would be helped by his proposed transfer, to the tune of 25% of any profit Town make on the £800,000 they paid the Dorset club.
If Holland (and probably at least one other player) don't leave before the August 31st deadline then it is difficult to see what the club can do regarding the shortfall. Some commentators have naively suggested that the board conjure some financial wizardry, although neglecting to give the chairman any hints on how this may be done.
Holland has been a terrific servant to the club in his five years here and no one will ever forget him holding up the play-off trophy at Wembley just over two years ago. Sadly, it seems that the price of the current financial malaise and relegation will be the loss of one of supporters' all-time favourite players and a great servant to the club.