Boss Paul Jewell says he’s confident that skipper David Norris wants to remain with the Blues but concedes that the 30-year-old — along with Gareth McAuley and Damien Delaney — will have to make the decision which is right for his family. The Town manager was unable to announce the signing of any contracts at yesterday’s press conference as he had hoped.

Jewell said: “I think Chuck wants to stay here. I’ve had numerous chats with him. He’s the captain and he’s a terrific professional.

“He has to do what’s right for his family, there’s no arguing with that. The three lads that we’re talking about — McAuley, Delaney and Chuck — whatever happens with their futures they’ve all been model professionals.

“They shouldn’t be at this situation, that’s a lesson we have to learn — come next year we don’t want to leave it so late, for whatever reason it was.

“If we want to keep players we’ve got to get them signed up quicker and if we don’t want to keep them, we’ve got to sell them.”

The Blues boss says he finally spoke to Norris’s agent again last week and says he now has a better idea of what has been offered to the midfielder by other interested parties, Portsmouth and Crystal Palace having targeted him in January: “I was trying to get hold of the agent to find out what they are looking for. We now know what they are looking for, whether we can get to what they’re looking for is a moot point.”

Jewell says he’ll make sure the same contract issues don't happen in the future: “There’s no good crying over spilt milk, we’ve got to try and learn about how the situation has come about and redress it.

“If we lose Chuck it will be a blow, if we lose Gareth or if we lose Damien it will be a blow, we don’t want to lose any of our better players.

“But if we do lose them, this club will survive, but we want to keep our better players here and those lads who are out of contract that we want to keep we’ve got to make sure we tie them up earlier next season.”

With that in mind, Jewell revealed that talks have already begun with some of the players whose contracts are up at the end of next season, although wouldn’t be drawn on precisely which members of his squad.

The Town boss says there have been no new developments regarding the Jimmy Bullard situation: “We’ll see at the end of the season. We’ll be trying to do something but it’s a complicated deal because he’s got two years left on a lot of money. That might be difficult to deal but if we could do a deal, we’d love to do it.”

Ultimately, Jewell says he believes the likes of Norris, Delaney and McAuley want to remain at Town but understands that in the current situation they will receive interest from elsewhere: “When it gets to this stage you’re always going to get into a bit of a bidding war because of the Bosman rule. But I do believe the players like it here and genuinely want to stay. Unless it’s a mind-blowing offer, I’d be hopeful that they’d stay.”

Town have also offered contracts to three more senior players, Brian Murphy, Colin Healy and Arran Lee-Barrett as well as to six youngsters.

Photo: Action Images

We8Norwich added 09:26 - Apr 16 If any of them want to leave let them go. Don't get me wrong i'd be gutted if we lost McAuley but these players have to remember our club (and fans) were here long before them! No player is bigger than our beloved ITFC!
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blueswan added 09:28 - Apr 16 Chuck wants to stay, but wants a 3 year contract. It's not about the money - it about that extra year. I can't believe we're not putting a 3 year deal on the table and getting him signed up! Top scorer, captain, in his prime.... err... it's a no-brainer surely!
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rosseden added 10:08 - Apr 16 ''Chuck wants to stay, but wants a 3 year contract. It's not about the money - it about that extra year.'' this may have been correct previously, i would seriously doubt thats all it is now......
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Mungo added 10:30 - Apr 16 Glad to see that PJ does not want this sort of situation to happen again. The club invested £4.5m in these players less than 3 years ago and they could all be about to walk away. Financial suicide, especially in this league and with our rising costs!I wouldn't be very impressed if I was ME...
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bluebare added 10:37 - Apr 16 let chuck go he is not the future of the club if we intend to play 4 4 2. he is slow (hence so many bookings) weak in the tackel not sure what he brings to the party certainly not a leader
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muhrensleftfoot added 10:45 - Apr 16 This contract situation is disgraceful. Clueless Clegg should resign or be fired! Can't blame it all on RK, Clegg is ME's man in charge of contracts at the club.
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Back_The_Boss added 10:59 - Apr 16 Leads from the front, good energy sign him up!
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hampstead_blue added 11:13 - Apr 16 Not good enough. Take a deep breath PJ and let him go. His best years are behind him and they where rather average. Go and find another Holland and Magilton partnership.
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bedsitfc added 11:23 - Apr 16 We need to move on and i think pj will have targets in mind if they go, this is a problem created by our very poor early season form and the club didnt want to resign big contracts if we were to go down after all we all want our club to be here and not a housing development on portman rd.
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Karlosfandangal added 11:25 - Apr 16 2 years at town on 20k a week or 3 years on 15k week at say portsmouth. The portsmouth deal is better for the money but then you have the family to think of, moving schools, moving away from the wife's family etc, could be loads of reasons. would expect Ipswich are one of the better payers in this division so i doubt if money would be the issue I think the problem will be the budget we have for this year, if they have budget for these 3 on a 2 year contract and we make it a 3 year contract that could be an extra £2 -£ 2.5 million out of the budget. on the other hand to let them go and then have to replace them would cost far more than that, If letting Norris go will help secure Bullard, no problem with that, Delaney I think we could replace as there are just as good out there, but McAuley would be a very big loss and feel we should go that extra mile for him. Still think Delaney and Norris could do a job for us but would not be the end of the world if they did not sign.

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Blue041273 added 11:35 - Apr 16 I think that PJ has hit the nail on the head when he says all players should be under contract and if, at any stage, the club don't want them they can sell them. When they're contracted they have a value; if they're out of contract they have no value, will be anxious about their futures, and will distract everyone, fans included, from the main business of winning football matches. The main issue here is whether or not ITFC are deadly serious about striving for promotion to the Premiership. If they are, and I'm sure PJ is, serious investment is required. If PJ thinks that Norris, Macauley and Delaney are the guys that will help to achieve that aim he should make certain that ITFC match any offers they receive from other clubs. I don't think that any of them are Premiership players but even two years down the road we should be able to sell them if they're deemed surplus to requirements if and when the promotion aim is achieved.

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corshamblue added 14:54 - Apr 16 A blow to lose Macca, A blow to lose Delaney, A blow to lose Chuck - what if we lose all 3 !! Not PJ's making granted but it still grinds me that no deal has yet to be agreed, in my understanding they're been 3-4 offers each thus far. Must be really crap offers, but for all 3 they might be the last decent contracts they sign ?? good luck to all 3 what ever. For me wouldn't be too upset to see Delaney move on. Macca is a Town player and will ultimately sign unless a great offer comes in from elsewhere, ie a promoted club. we'll see. fingers crossed this doesn't cost us too much in the longer run.

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BlueArmy01 added 17:26 - Apr 16 Both Norris and Mcauley want more money than what has been offered!
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Garv added 21:07 - Apr 16 Change my mind on Norris everyday. Goals is all he brings to the party, and you can't deny there are players out there who will provide that and more.
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DiamondGezzer added 06:58 - Apr 17 You'd be hard pushed to go out and get a better defensive partnership than Mac and DD on the kind of money we are likely to spend. Also, yes they are subject to the odd error, but I sugest this rather more down to them being human [ all defences make them ]. As for our captain, he brings an awful lot more to the team than some give him credit for. IMHO we should sign all three and if, as sugested they do end up surplus to requirements then at least they have a sell on value. Hope you all sign boys.

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