McAuley Rejects Town Offer
Tuesday, 11th Jan 2011 15:27

Key defender Gareth McAuley has revealed that he has rejected the new contract offered by the Blues and says his future should have been sorted last summer. The Northern Irishman, who is amongst 21 players out of contract at the end of the season, also confirmed that the Blues turned down offers for him in the close season.

McAuley said: “It’s a funny one. And it should have been sorted out last summer. Ipswich turned down a couple of offers for me and if they were keen to keep me they should have offered me a new deal then instead of letting it drag on for months.”

SPL giants Rangers were believed to have made offers for the former Leicester and Lincoln man during the summer and may well renew their interest with the 31-year-old able to talk to other clubs now he has fewer than six months remaining on his current contract. Premier League Bolton were also linked.

The former skipper confirmed TWTD’s earlier reports that he, along with current captain David Norris, had been offered a two-year deal by the Blues but says it doesn't match his expectations: “I was eventually offered a two-year contract four weeks ago, but it was not right for me and I told the club with the ball now back in their court.

“There have been further discussions, but we don’t seem any further forward. I’m happy here, but I have got to look after number one at this stage of my career.

“There is no way I look at the grass being greener on the other side of the fence and I’m not after silly money. The contract offer is not right at the moment.”

Prior to his sacking, former manager Roy Keane had targeted signing veteran Irish international centre-half Andy O’Brien - who has subsequently moved from Bolton to Leeds - which may have indicated that he expected McAuley to leave Portman Road at some point in the months to come.

Photo: Action Images

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Suffolk_n_Good added 21:18 - Jan 11 Crazy, Clegg yet again shows his incompetence. As previously stated surely it would cost us £2m+ to replace him. I suppose the situation is the same with Norris, he'll probably go public in the next couple of days.....
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nkotb_sect5 added 21:21 - Jan 11 Saw the headline on the Star 3 hours ago - thought oh no!!!! Only just read up on it and now think OH GOOD not the attitude we want or need. A man who was relieved to relinquish the Captaincy. Just go, and all the other non-performers who have been a big part of taking the club to the brink.
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nobrain added 21:31 - Jan 11 Sign of the times, I'm afraid. Bit naive of people to expect players to show 'loyalty' to clubs these days - unless they've come up through the youth system thenselves, why should they? It's a free market ... ...and clubs will move players on if they see a profit. That's business folks.
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dude added 21:41 - Jan 11 twin tower gareth town remains in winter, cold glenohumeral
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fourth added 21:52 - Jan 11 Goodbye Gary we don't need you Though it breaks my heart, I feel We'll soldier on without you And build a TEAM of steel So off you go now, out the back door Slide away fast my boy And leave the Men to cover your Backside and make a team of Joy
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Blue_Fred added 21:54 - Jan 11 ^^^^^nice rhyming fourth ^^^^^ agree 100% with the sentiment also
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h32 added 21:59 - Jan 11

Loyalty from players is scarce today, but you can understand McAuley's case - he wanted it all sorted long before now, and of course it left him in limbo for several months not knowing what was happening. At 31 it is a crucial time in his career and he is probably seeking a 3 year deal, and who can blame him. If he doesn't get it here he will elsewhere, remember he has been playing well in anything but a good, settled team.
In terms of how players look after themselves, how about Managers ? - Paul Jewell has now got himself a pay packet for the next 30 months without any guarantee that he will win a match for us (god forbid)- not bad business hey !!

StowTractorBoy added 22:21 - Jan 11

Ah well we had one happy day and I fear now we have to take a leaf out of the budgies book and take players in from lower leagues who will be honoured to play for this Club at a reasonable cost. Had this been the close season I would not have worried about losing McAuley but if we lose him now it will be a big miss and if he stays until the end of the season he won't care too much about our predicament so its catch 22. Perhaps we should sell now and cash in after all something is better than nothing. Thanks Mac for dampening all our spirits.

robboo92 added 22:42 - Jan 11 maybe if we offered to make his legs the same length then maybe he will stay
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bigfish added 22:57 - Jan 11 Give him a reasonable offer
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Marshalls_Mullet added 23:04 - Jan 11 Couldnt care less, he's getting on a bit and wont get a great deal elsewhere, especially if Prem clubs were watching at the weekend. Lincoln may need a centre back??
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WREXHAM_BLUE added 23:09 - Jan 11 Give him what he wants; simple as!
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tractorblue99 added 23:58 - Jan 11 Not very good planning by clegg and evans. Macca is a key player in our defence, the same situation with norris. We should have sorted it out ages ago.
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TractorRoyNo1 added 01:16 - Jan 12 "nice" to see that Clegg is now the 'bad guy' now that Keane has gone, come on boys just for a few weeks, the club needs our support so please pull in the same direction!
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delias_cheesy_flaps added 01:56 - Jan 12 Thanks for your efforts McAwful now feck off you average Joe defender.
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cameltoe added 04:17 - Jan 12

This is extremely bad management on the part of the Clubs management. 21 players simultaneously coming to an end of their Contract. So in the current market, they can basically go to another club, who can use the money that they could have paid on a transfer of a player, to pay directly to the player. Lets say that the transfer value of the players in question is between 500k to 2m, that is between another 20k to 84k/month for 2 year Contract that the receiving club can offer to a player, because we havent managed the Contracts of these players.This makes it almost impossible for us to offer similar terms. The management of the Clubs staff contracts is the responsibility of Mr cLegg. He needs to get away from the cameras and microphones, and get on with the basics of his job. What a mess.

GiveusaWave added 04:27 - Jan 12

This is an appalling piece of management from Clegg. Wish he would go like Keane!
McCauley has been one of our best defenders week in week out and will prove difficult to replace. Most likely destination being QPR (and read somewhere that Norris' most likely is Norwich!)
21 contracts simultaneously at an end. Surely somebody could have seen that this was going to happen? We should be aiming to renew about 8/10 contracts at the end of each season AT THE MOST.
Hate to say it, but still fear greatly that we are going down. Marcus Evans is going to have to dig deep both this season and next to ensure our survival. I think the right man is on the job though (PJ)

BrandonsBlues added 07:27 - Jan 12 Off you go then. 6 of one, half a dozen of the other.
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bluelady added 09:14 - Jan 12

i think no contracts have been offered as the board knew Keane was on his way out months ago, just waited till a time when pay off was affordable.... they wanted to give the new manager time to build and choose who he kept or let go. I honestly beleive both Norris and Big Mac will sign if Jewell is the manager we think he is........... we can offer a pay rise too dont forget as we can offset the cost of actually replacing these guys..... no need to panic yet its not over till the fat lady sings!

itfc711 added 10:52 - Jan 12 Boo him tonight. get someone else in now and sell him before the end of the jan trasnfer window. ridiculius!
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BlooooCD added 12:59 - Jan 12

With so many players out we have a serious issue to deal with... All of the players that are half decent like Macauley, Chuck and Edwards etc. We will lose the lot to mediocre clubs as none of the clubs will have to pay transfer fee's and therefore can offer the players better and improved deals!
This is really poor on behalf of Clegg and if I was Evans and had paid so much for the players (which are essentually the clubs assets) I would have wanted them protected and thus tied down on contracts or sold...This is farcical at best!
Oh Clegg you really are proving to be a completely useless 'TIT' in this business!
COYB's - Bloooooo Army!!!

lunatic38 added 13:15 - Jan 12

This is NOT a Clegg/Evans problem!!! McAuley was playing sh.t last year hence the delay on a new contract and now Rangers have tapped him up we have got NO CHANCE!!!
But You wanted Keane out as i did now to the next step and clear out all the sh.t that is left and give funds to PJ to rebuild. Be under no illusions this Club has got to rebuild and that means clearing out Jims has beens and Roy Keanes .. well i am lost for words BUT a bit of patience and backing here from Ipswich fans is needed, we wanted Keane out and he has gone, we want to win the championship not with the squad we got at the moment SO clear out time!!!!!!!!!!!