Town boss Paul Jewell has revealed that the club has ended its pursuit of former loanee Jimmy Bullard. The 32-year-old Hull City midfielder spent a hugely successful spell at the club in the second half of the season and won the the Blues' Player of the Year award but the Town manager says the financial side of the deal is beyond the club at present.

Jewell said: “Jimmy was great for us and we were good for Jimmy but realistically it just isn’t going to happen.”

The Blues boss says he talked to Tigers director of football operations Adam Pearson last night but the deal just can’t be done: “We just can’t afford to pay what Hull want and what Jimmy wants.

"He’s not just on a Premier League contract, he’s on a top Premier League contract.”

Jewell had been keen to sign his former Wigan player on a permanent basis but always admitted that with Bullard having two years remaining on his £45,000-a-week contract at Hull it would be a very difficult deal for Town to do. Hull are unwilling to loan the former Peterborough and Fulham man unless a large proportion of his wages are paid by the loaning club.

Bullard has been reported to have been in talks with QPR in recent weeks, while Norwich, West Ham and Wigan have also been linked.

The one-time England call-up made 16 appearances for Town having signed on loan in January, scoring five goals.

Photo: Action Images

bluelady added 15:31 - Jun 13 TBH with his injury record id be amazed if any team were happy to pay over the odds, Hull may have just shot themselves in the foot.
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Marshalls_Mullet added 15:33 - Jun 13 He started to get a few niggles towards the end of the season, I think the same would happen next season after 15-20 games.
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icetruckiller added 15:35 - Jun 13 Fantastic player for us last season, however the comments about 'it's not about the money' seem a bit distant now. Unfortunately just like every player, in it for the money.
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thebeat added 15:36 - Jun 13 marshallsmullet i doubt he wanted a like for like deal.hes not gona get that wherever he goes and he knows it.i think 30k wud av tempted him,add on a bonus for 10 or more goals,promotion etc.we probly stuck to our rigid 10 to 15k a week.u pay peanuts,u get monkeys,simple as
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AndyUK61873 added 15:36 - Jun 13 Alot of interesting comments, I for one am glad we are not putting a lot of money on a risky move. Proven injury history, if you pay noth of 20k and he is out for 6mths there is no way to go get cover and not break the wage structure....and tlaking about that for those that say we should pay him, as soon as oyu pay one person that, the unrest in the team starts and you have many agents knocking on the door looking for a piece of the pie. so @thebeat, your $3m for Bullards suddenly becomes a whole lot more for the rest of the team and if it fails it is catastrpohic and promotion again would be the least of our concerns.

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62WasBest added 15:38 - Jun 13 Shame, but you cannot blame the man for doing the best for himself. He's no different to the rest of us and is doing nothing wrong in that. He's getting on now so has little time let to coin it. He'll probably take a wage drop wherever he goes anyway. And don't slag him off. Who's to say that wherever he goes - especially to the Premiership - he won't end up loaned out again. You wouldn't mind him coming back to us on that basis would you? It's not a sprint. It can be a long game.

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bluelady added 15:41 - Jun 13 thebeat 30K for an injury prone player is insaine and not the sign of running a good business...... for 30K a week there would be plenty of decent FIT players we could look at. I too really liked him BUT am realistic.
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JayITFC added 15:44 - Jun 13 Quality player but can't say I'm to upset. He'd have wanted a 2 or 3 year deal and his legs might have gone in 12 months. Add his injury record to that and it would always have been a gamble/risk.
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Marshalls_Mullet added 15:49 - Jun 13 thebeat; Did you see the link I posted re his move to Celtic. He is cash oriented, and £15k pw drop is significant. He would want the shortfall making up somewhere. We know ME forked out c.£20k pw last season, give the fella credit for that rather than moaning.
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Ipswich24 added 15:56 - Jun 13 If Jimmy really did 'love it here' and want to play for us and as he said is not about money then why does he not mutually cancel his contract with Hull and then come and sign for us? Thoughts
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Ryorry added 16:06 - Jun 13 Shame some people posting here don't read the comments posted by others before - maybe, Ipswich24, because he's had an offer from a Prem'ship side. Just another thought.
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Marshalls_Mullet added 16:08 - Jun 13 "If Jimmy really did 'love it here' and want to play for us and as he said is not about money then why does he not mutually cancel his contract with Hull and then come and sign for us? Thoughts" He told us what he thought people wanted to hear. But it was bullsh1t. No problems with him, we move on.
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brogansnose added 16:09 - Jun 13 Thanks Jimmy for being virtually the only ray of sun in an overcast season. I will miss your cheeky smile as you trotted over to take a corner as you looked up at the lower North and your dead ball ability. Also the way you managed to find that extra bit of time and space to pass the ball whilst being chased by championship midfield dogs. Thanks also for the goals that got us wins that helped keep us up, in particular the 2 against Cardiff because really if it hadn't been for you we would have got nothing there. So thanks Jimmy and good luck wherever you go, especially with the £45 G a week because I can't see who is going to give you that!

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FriskinPriskin1 added 16:20 - Jun 13 Jason Koumas anyone? Move on.
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DiamondGezzer added 16:31 - Jun 13 Many thanks Jimmy for last season, and I hope all goes well for your next. However, should you find yourself without a club to play for and Hull do want to loan you out again, I'm sure you still have PJ's number.
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ITFC4daprem added 16:40 - Jun 13 :( :{ NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO what if we sell wickham
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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 16:49 - Jun 13 No surprise. It was never going to happen. We move onwards and upwards.
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Suzanna_Gekkaloys added 17:17 - Jun 13 Come on people - get over this Bullard thing. He's a fanny merchant!
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robdaful added 17:29 - Jun 13 Not suprised. We will move on to the next target.
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thebeat added 17:37 - Jun 13 marshallsmullet im not moaning, i just dont believe we made any real effort to get him.to offer him the same kind of money that the useless lump Jason Scotland or the crab Leadbitter is on is an insult and was never gona b enuf
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trctorby31 added 17:39 - Jun 13 Come on this deal was never going to happen.The only reason no-one snapped him up when hull got relegated was the injury concern and the fact that he strung 12 games together at town makes him a premier league target now. There was a gulf in class between him and anyone in the championship. Good luck Jimmy see you in a couple of years maybe.
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jas0999 added 17:45 - Jun 13 Good. Thanks PJ for confirming this as we can now all draw a line and move on. There was zero chance of us signing Bullard. I said this at the time and was mocked on here. Bullard wants PL football and a large fee - sadly several people were fooled by his 'I'd take a pay cut' talk. Bottom line is he won't drop to a Championship wage. This was always obvious and I don't blame him. More importantly though, Hull were never going to wipe off the massive contract. Thanks Jimmy for the memories - albeit during your very short period at the club. But we can not afford the inevitable risk that Jimmy has - we could pay a fortune and he is out for a season. Same applies to Dyer.

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h32 added 17:48 - Jun 13 .......... surprise, surprise - and to think that many were naive enough to vote him as:- ITFC Supporters PLAYER OF THE YEAR. What a joke ! - hope you've all now woke up - he was NEVER going to sign.
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h32 added 17:53 - Jun 13 ........... now watch him sign for Norwich !!!!!!
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Sparky85 added 18:05 - Jun 13 I for one am gald this is all finished. With the amount we would have to pay combined with the wages you are looking at 2-3 players elsewhere. We move on and about time to. Thanks for your efforts Jimmy, highlight of an average season
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