Chief executive Simon Clegg has wished departing duo Gareth McAuley and David Norris well for the future and says he doesn’t regret the club not offering them new terms last summer. On Monday the pair told manager Paul Jewell that they will be leaving Town with their current deals up at the end of the season.

Clegg told TWTD that he wanted both of them to remain at Portman Road: “I think it’s clear that we would have liked Gareth and Chuck to stay here.

“We offered them new contracts but they decided their aspirations were greater than we were able to meet, and as such I wish them all the best for the future because they’ve played an important part in this club.”

Asked why the club allowed their contracts to run down, the former British Olympic Association chief said: “There are a number of factors, I don’t really want to get into the specifics of it.

“We were very clear that once we made a change of manager we didn’t want to tie the new manager’s hands and wanted to give him a completely blank sheet of paper to work from.”

Clegg says a decision not to offer new deals was taken last summer: “We took a long-term view in terms of what we were going to do and why we were going to allow their contracts to run down, and we move on and wish them well for the future. We now need to bring into the club good replacements for them.”

The Blues chief executive disagreed that looking at the situation as it developed, deals should have been offered a year ago: “I don’t think that at all. Hindsight’s a great thing. We are where we’re at.

“The decision was made then on very conscious grounds and we move on. I’m not going to get into the specifics of it. It’s the position that the club took.”

As for those replacements for Norris and McAuley and other additions to the squad, Clegg was tight-lipped: “Things are ongoing. I’m not going to comment on any speculation because to do so just puts yourself in a very difficult position.

“As soon as I have something firm to say, then I’ll let you know. Consistent with the club’s normal policy, I’m not going to comment on any speculation.”

Clegg wouldn’t be drawn into reacting to former manager Roy Keane’s comments about him over the weekend: “I enjoyed my time working with Roy, that’s now history and I’m focused on supporting the new manager and that’s going very well.”

McAuley is believed to be on his way to West Brom, while Norris is interesting a number of Championship clubs including Nottingham Forest, Leeds and Portsmouth.

Photo: Action Images

mickeyjb added 19:32 - May 11 My issue is now instead of needing 4-5 new players, we now need 6-7 because I'm quite sure PJ was not looking at replacing them two. It is rather stupid that we've let 2 players like that go for nothing. How many other teams have let their better players run down their contact. If he new they were not likely to sign then he should have got rid earlier for a nominal fee. Something's better than nothing. Oh and if Norris is looking at coming to Pompey, good luck cos when I've watched them this season (including the Norwich game) they made us look like a class act!

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blues1 added 19:40 - May 11 mark. i agree, reacting 2 cleggs comments is fair, but most on here arent simply reacting to these comments, theyre just looking 4 an excuse 2 slag him off. at the end of the day it was the owners decision not 2 offer players contracts at the start of the seaon, not cleggs. he is just stating t5he clubs position on this subject. mickeyjb, u ask of other teams letting contracts run down, well pompey 4 1, nugent now out of contract, man utd, owen, in fact, think u will find many clubs have allowed players contracts to run out, so it not just us.

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suffolkpoker added 19:43 - May 11 i dont want to paste a real link here ###football-rumours.co.uk/ipswich-rumours.php### lol @ norwich bidding for wickham. this is the rumour site people on here are talking about, it makes me laugh lol
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Suffolktractor added 20:26 - May 11 Are people really saying that they think our future should include another three years of McCauley and Norris in our team?
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Lay added 20:35 - May 11 IS IT TUE THAT WIKIPEDIA SAYS COPPINGER IS OUR PLAYER???????????? Sorry im fed up of these lies
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sheepdags added 21:48 - May 11 He's not done the new manager any favours by allowing two of our best assets to go for nothing. PJ will now have to spend at least 2mil to replace them, money that could have been spent on the striker we need so badly. Some people say they are glad to see them go but these two players were voted man of the match by twtd followers more times than any other last season and didn't Norris score more goals than any of our strikers? This has just made the rebuilding job PJ has to do much harder and Clegg should admit he's blundered.

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TheCurly added 21:49 - May 11 Seams to me on a purely business level this whole situation is a cock up, wether the blame lies at Cleggs, Keane's or ME's door is imaterial. To let two of your better players (assets we brought for around 3.5 mil BTW) contracts run down so allowing them to walk away is poor management. Clegg saying they wanted to give PJ a "blank sheet of paper" is to put it blunty....crap. Even if PJ did not fancy either Norris or Mac, he would have been able to sell them and raise money to bring in players he did want. Still nice to see Clegg squirm a little :-)

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TractorRoyNo1 added 22:31 - May 11 think about it - you have a house worth 400k if you keep up the mortgage payments for 3 more years it is yours to keep or sell tomorrow for (say) 300k, if you don't it will be repossed - sscchimple
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Tractastic added 22:39 - May 11 Ok Keane wasn't the correct choice but Cleggs name keeps coming up as a problem and this interview leaves me concerned with our position with Clegg at the club. What experinece does he actually have at a football club apart from Ipswich ? Don't want to appear cynical but he won't go until after the 2012 London Olympics. http://footytweets.com/ipswich/news/496847
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blues1 added 22:53 - May 11 what does it matter whether clegg got experience at a football club or not. he is here 2 run the business side of it on behalf of, & on the instructions of M.E. those who have in posts on this subject cited sheepshanks as a football man who better equipped 2 run the club seem 2 have 4gotten that he led us in2 administration a few years bck, so being a football man clearly not an advantage. just get off his back, 4get wots gone & look 4ward 2 the future. im sure if as u clegg slaters think, that hes that bad, that M.E. will find out 4 himself & do something about it. til then, hes here, so we should back him. remember hes only M.E's front man at the end of the day. M.E. is the man who makes the decisions.

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Tractorog added 23:11 - May 11 It's not the end of the world, but a sensible man would have looked at the number of players leaving in June and planned for it. It was predictable. Saying hindisght is a wonderful thing, is a bit pathetic. You did not need special powers in June last year to predict the situation we are in now, if you did nothing about the contracts in between times.
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blues1 added 00:01 - May 12 this my last post on this matter, & should be the last post full stop on this subject. at the end of the day, its happened, nothing can b done 2 change it, so put it 2 bed, look 2 the future when im sure this wont b allowed 2 happen again(even tho this happens at many clubs, or there wouldnt be players available due 2 being out of contract, ever). lets all just look 4ward 2 new players arriving, & hopefully a much better season 2 come in august.

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itfc1981 added 07:30 - May 12 Suffolktractor added 20:26 - May 11 'Are people really saying that they think our future should include another three years of McCauley and Norris in our team?' No way people are saying why didnt you give them new contracts or sell them last summer! It so simple it makes me feel sick stating it.
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tractorgirl2 added 09:57 - May 12 Lay in answer to your question, Wikipedia did say for a while that James Coppinger was an ipswich player, but any one can go on the site and change the details, if you remember it was done with dos santos last summer.
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simonsays added 13:06 - May 12 You are clueless Clegg.
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nickyblue added 16:13 - May 12 In all honesty good riddance to them both. Norris will be missed but if he wants to move to an average Championship side then thats his choice, but Macauley is a liabilty and inconsistent. He's a weak link and thankfully thats gone. We don't want two players in our squad who are here entirely for money and not for passion.
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h32 added 17:46 - May 12 How a Chief Exec can ever come out with such a statement is amazing - and we really do have problems here, because it's obvious that some fans (or whatever) still cannot see through him, and backing him. Bizarre to say the least, and really, really worrying.
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h32 added 18:11 - May 12 Vexorg - a few words - but they describe the situation well indeed.
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bluekeen added 19:26 - May 12 agreed that MrJewell should be given a blank canvess to work from, but why were they still not signed up last summer to get a fee this or in january and if 800k was on the table form crystal palacve why was this not taken - we paid a hell of a lot of money for these two and will now get nothing back on the investment...... man utd got ronaldo to signa new deal to protect transfer value and did the same with wayne rooney in the december !!! we shoudl be thinking like this alos - protect the investment

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