Hey - here is a radical plan - why not wait and see what the club have to say - all this Clegg out nonsense - I would rather we got CW tied up and then Chuck and GM than CA - Burnley have money - nothing else and nothing else matters in football - Sad but true

@bluearmy78
I got a feeling, educated guess at our highest earners wages (Fulop 17.5k a week, something Keane said ages ago when Fulop suggested he should get more wages as Priskin has came into form) n I think Bullard's could match that

Burnley is a sh*thole!

Does this club have any ambition or what ????
Keane had players at the club and the deals didnt get done!
Evans and Clegg...you have to take a gamble in football you clowns!
look at cardiff, QPR, Forest etc etc, they are prepared to pay the wages and have ambitions.
Our club has become a laughing stock and a bloody joke!!

Don't have time to read all seven pages - sorry if this point's been made already - but Burnley will have been able to offer him more than Ipswich because of Premier league parachute payment, so if the location doesn't matter, the money's better, it's a no-brainer, his agent ringing around clubs touting whilst he was with us yesterday, after he learnt what our top dollar for him was.

this turned out to be a dutch auction for his wages, clearly he has gone to Burnley for money reasons and not footballing or bettering his career. I can see us having a big impact on the league next season. Im sure our current postion does not help to attract one of the most sought after strikers in the country at the moment.

We need to get our nucleus of the squad right, thats with signing longer contracts on key players such as norris and mac.

The good news is we cna get alot of the dead wood out at the end of season, so Mr Jewell can bring in alot more of his own players

classy im pretty sure its not becuase our nickname is tractor boys!

Legend - who is laughing at Ipswich ?? I'm not - hey we have had alot of positive comments over the past few weeks - played great against Arsenal - Some of you one here are not happy unless you are moaning about something move on - You support the team on the pitch - worry about that - not the Chief Exec
Good times are ahead ...

I'm really disappointed that we couldn't sign Austin but all of this mud slinging won't do us any good. We aren't part of player contract negotiation & so can't comment from an educated perspective because we have absolutely no idea what we offered or what the player was asking for.

You can only expect that Austin's agent would have spoken to all interested clubs because they won't care which team he goes to because they just want to secure the highest wages & signing on fee for the player as well as the highest possible slice for themselves.

We are lucky to have an owner who is rich enough to have stopped us from going into administration for a second time but that does not mean we have a bottomless pit of money. It is the responsibility of the club to ensure that we have a wage structure that is adhered to. We are not Manchester City and cannot give in to every demand of players & agents. In the modern game since events such as the start of Sky Sports & increased tv revenue, billionaire owners such as Abramovich etc & since the Bosman ruling the majority of players are complete mercenaries looking to make as much money as possible.

Players are in very privileged bubble completely detached from the realities of life for the fans whereby it's a real financial struggle to be able to afford our season tickets or for others enough cash to make as many games as possible during the season. I just can't have any sympathy with players moaning because they're offered contracts which will see most of them earn more in a year than we receive in our working life but still they want even more. However given that this the reality of the modern game nor can any of us be surprised that players go to the highest bidder.

In the case of Austin we can only speculate about the financial side of things. What can't be forgotten though is that it's been said Austin & Eddie Howe already have a good relationship. At the same time Burnley have the financial benefit of Premiership parachute payments.

With respect to getting deals done I don't think it's fair to look back upon some halcyon days from the past. How in earth would we know whether every single player that came to Portman Road in say the Robson or Burley era ended up signing a deal? Given the developments of 24 hour media, the Internet etc it's far more likely that in this day & age we just get to hear about things far earlier meaning that you hear about the unsuccessful transfer attempts as well as the ones which go through. In the past prior to 24 hr media & the Internet the first you probably ever heard about a transfer signing was at the club press conference & you were in blissful ignorance about the ones that got away.

Whilst I would have loved it if we had signed Austin the fact is it didn't work out and we should move. Given our inept start to the season promotion is completely unrealistic and so our job is to focus on avoiding relegation. I feel that with Jewell at the helm our current squad is capable of getting enough points to secure our place in the Championship for next season. Striker options of Wickham, Priskin & Scotland are good enough to get goals as long as the rest of the team creates the chances.

Rather than focusing a lot of negative energy on the Austin situation we should move on and back the team from the stands. We should be giving the manager and those players who do want to play for Town our vocal backing to drive us on in the fight against relegation.

COYB!

We are at least ten years away from top flight football.
Norris will be on his way soon as we wont pay the going rate as normal, Followed by leadbitter and G-Mac.
We have small squad as it is, the deals are screwed up by Clegg as he stalls and takes too long to get players signed!

casanovacrow-yeah you're probably right. If he stays fit though he is definately worth that, we definately need something in midfield thats creative which Bullard is. Just hope kis knees hold out!!

well said "blueherts"

Legend - Ipswich town is no laughing stock and i'm sure plenty of teh top flight teams have respect for us after our performances against Arsenal!

Just because we miss out on one lower league doesnt make us a lughing stock!!

Come on people, he went to burnley for the money. It can't be for football reasons, and if he's a money grabbing little t**t then let him have what he wants, don't want people here that are playing for the money and not the club. Onwards and upwards!!!!! BLUE ARMY!!!!!!!!

Is Clegg Delia's secret toy boy?

Stay away, stop giveing this club our money they do not know how to use it waste of time this board, feel sorry for PJ what has he taken on, what chance has he got with this usless backroom lot of building a good side. Maybe RK was right to get away after all.

it just proves how far we've fallen, when a club like Burnley can be a more attractive proposition than Ipswich. I do hope PJ will bring back some good times to our club, but he's having to do it with hands tied behind his back, thanks to years of mismanagement. I remember when Paul Mariner signed for us ahead of West Ham and West Brom - wow twtd

Marcus Evans is a business man not a football fan , you cant run a club like a business its always going to be a loss maker if you are not prepared for that its no use being in football , nothing will change while Mr Evans is in charge , hes looking at money margins while pretending to love our club .

When Paul Mariner came to Ipswich we had the charming and peruasive Sir Bobby Robson in charge ( nothing against Paul Jewell ) who could turn him down. Also Bobby did his deals and dealt with players himself, did not have to worry about the Evans and Cleggs of this world.

If we can't match the wage demands of a 2iyr old striker from league one what hope do we have??
Was the clubs wage structure the reason why RK missed out on his summer targets???
Getting in loan players cheap short term but not good for the future of the club.
21 players out of contract at the end of the season lets sort out the contracts of the players we wan't to keep Norris , Mcauley ,Delaney e.t.c....Think how much we will have to spend to replace these players.
Lets hope PJ doesn't lose faith with the club and can unearth some more gems from the lower leagues(on low wages).

Suffolk Punch - for a businessman, Marcus Evans has made a poor decision here. A good goalscorer would help us attain premier status. A good goalscorer at Chamionship level would also soon be worth far more than the £2m plus wages that Austin would have cost.

We have strikers who cannot hit a barndoor and let a goalscorer go once again this club gets lower and lower each season, all ME wants is to take money out of our pockets not give as a decent football team. PJ we feel sorry for you.

@Elmswellblue,

' Also Bobby did his deals and dealt with players himself, did not have to worry about the Evans and Cleggs of this world.'

he didn't have to worry about money grabbing agents either!

Okay fans we have had a great week until now , lets not ruin it , hopefully there are other players in the pipeline . Our negotiating skills are obviously lacking , Clegg may not come across as passionate enough and Marcus worried about putting more money in , but if that is the case why Bullard ? We must be saving money over last year and making more after the cup run , but alas avrage gates down due to poor perfomances. Mr. Clegg take a leaf out of John Cobbolds book when players come to sign ask them if they drink , get the wine , spirits and beer out tell them not to waste valuable drinking time sign here and off to another venue for more drinks !! Bring the fun back !!!

why would he not sign for burnley? they are near the playoffs, recently been in the Premiership and will pay the money he's after. we on the other hand...

I don't care what anyone says on this website. The facts are that our beloved club lack the ambition to take us out of this division, and as a consequence we have to face the reality that we could be playing division one next season. How our management can get so close to landing the signing of a decade to f**k it up in the final hour is beyond me.

I'm fed up of this talk about getting behind the club. There is only so much disappointment people can take before they wonder whether they'd be better off spending their time and money on something more worthwhile!

Blimey - You cannot compare Football in 1970s and 80s to Football today( Muhrenlf) Signing footballers then was so so different , Agents , Salaries , loyalties(??) , Ipswich were a big club with a great Manager and an owner who had the club as a the family concern and was part of the local community. No sky money , shirt advertising - Basically no real money in the sport at a commercial level ..
So whilst you can have opinions of current regime do not compare signing a playing then to now - It could be Burnley or Doncaster - it is all about the money on the table for the Agent and Player ( and in this instance - he had an existing relationship with the MANAGER )