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.

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roytheboy added 23:16 - Jun 14 I think that most of us gave up any hope of this happening a few weeks ago, it will be interesting to see where he finishes up, I would have liked him to stay on at Ipswich as he showed real quality and enthusiasm and appeared to control the midfield well.
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