Peterborough United chairman Darragh MacAnthony says Town won’t be throwing around stupid wages this summer and has revealed a conversation he had with Blues CEO Mark Ashton earlier in the summer.
MacAnthony says he hadn’t spoken to Ashton for a while until earlier in the close season while they were both on holiday.
He says they discussed agents linking the Blues and other bigger League One clubs with players, Posh midfielder Jack Taylor having been among those mentioned in connection with Town.
"When I was in Dubai, I spoke to Mark Ashton, he was in Croatia, and we had a really good conversation, I hadn’t spoken to him since he was at Bristol City and now he’s at Ipswich,” MacAnthony told his The Hard Truth podcast.
"He said to be on the phone, he said ‘Darragh, do me a favour, we’re getting the agents playing their usual game, Ipswich and Sheffield Wednesday are in for the same player’.
"I said, ‘Of course Mark, every year you get a couple of clubs who are spending money allegedly and the agents will try and use that against you’.
"He said, ‘Next time you get one, let’s do a three-way call and we can blow the f… out of the water’. I was like, ‘Love that, absolutely’.
"And I believe him. Everyone’s out there saying Ipswich are throwing around stupid wages and whatever else. He’s not a mug, he’s not going to run a football club badly and he’s not going to be offering players twice what they’re actually worth.
"That’s the s*** that gets out there and I’m sure it pisses Ipswich fans off, everyone saying they’re spending loads of money.
"They’re doing things their way, and don’t forget they’ve a massive fanbase. They spent a million quid on a left-back [Leif Davis from Leeds] but what people don’t understand is they probably made £2.5-£3 million [sic] from the Flynn Downes sale from the sell-on when he went from Swansea to West Ham, and they’re doing things sensibly.
"Them spending that kind of money on a left-back they see as having a lot of upside, and he won’t be on the stupid wages everyone says, they’ll be sensible. It’s a well-run football club.”