It is being reported that Richard Wright is set to sign a new deal when he returns from international duty. The Town goalkeeper's agent, Jonathan Barnett, has been in talks with the club and it seems Town have secured the services of the keeper for a longer period.

Last season saw Barnett and Town fall-out during negotiations, with Town chairman David Sheepshanks publicly slating the agent. Recently it seems that the relationship between the two has improved and negotiations have been ongoing for a couple of week now.

Town try to get players under 30 on long-term deals and it seems likely that Town will have sought to tie Wright down for at least another three years. Given the speed that the deal has been agreed it appears that the deal is of the long-term nature preferred by Town and not another one-year top-up as Wright signed last year.

The goalkeeper is currently on duty with England and his wife Kelly will join him along with the other squad members' wives at their hotel on Saturday. Manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has allowed players' wives to join their husbands before the trip to Albania.

Fabian Wilnis is also thought to be close to signing his new deal which leaves only a few Town players out of contract in the summer, mostly youngsters. Reserves Sean Friars and Neil Midgley, Academy players James Pullen and Benoit Subrin and the more high profile Johns Scales and Mike Salmon.

Pullen is in talks over a new deal, while the others must be concerned that they have no Town future. Friars and Midgley have failed to make any impression on the first team squad this season and neither have secured loan deals which might have given them a chance to gain League experience. Previously Midgley had loan spells with Luton and Kidderminster and he is likely to find a lower League club without difficulty.

Despite numerous Northern Irish U21 caps Sean Friars also seems destined for the lower leagues. The winger has made just one first team appearance, as sub against Crewe last year, since joining from Liverpool. The only clubs interested in taking him on loan have been Northern Irish ones, not the kind of clubs where he would have played a level of football that would helped him improve his game.

Frenchman Benoit Subrin joined Town's Academy last year after a trial, but despite being on the bench for several of the FA Youth Cup games he seems unlikely to have done enough to be kept on.

As for the high profile players, Mike Salmon is approaching the end of his career and is now Town's third choice keeper. He joined as back-up to Wright at the beginning of last season. However, Keith Branagan's signing meant that even when Wright has been out Salmon hasn't started. With Town talking to James Pullen about a new deal it looks unlikely that the 36-year-old ex-Charlton player will spend any more time at Portman Road.

John Scales joined in the summer on a free from Tottenham and has had long spells out with injury. However, the TWTD columnist is still working to push for a new deal: "I've got to see how I play on Monday for the reserves and beyond, and hope that I can still prove my worth to the club."

Other than that All Town players are tied down to deals with the majority of the first team squad signed on for some years to come. The only exceptions being those over 30 who are only given one-year extensions, these include Mark Venus and Keith Branagan whose deals are up in 2002.

Town are running coaches to the FA Youth Cup semi-final first leg at Highbury on Thursday 5th April (KO 7pm). Further details from the ticket office (01473 400555).

The date for the Portman Road leg are still unavailable. It is thought the difficulty in finding a date is partly due to the problem of finding a date for the Liverpool first team game. Due to the Merseysiders involvement in the FA Cup and the UEFA Cup as well their previous success in the Worthington Cup they have a lot of games to play in a short space of time. Finding space for Town is proving tricky.

Town have received a copy of the Ipswich Town Supporters' Handbook from the 1937/38 season. This will join large amounts of other Town memorabilia in the Ipswich Town FC Museum below in the Pioneer Stand.

The handbook was presented to Pat Godbold, who runs the museum, by 77-year-old George Thornally who said: "It cost me 3d from a newsagents on Major's Corner and I was offered £50 for it years ago."

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