Town have confirmed the signing of Stoke City defender Danny Collins on a three-month loan. Earlier today, TWTD was first to reveal that the Blues were closing in on signing the 31-year-old ahead of Saturday’s trip to Blackpool.

The Wales international, who is set to make his debut at the heart of the Town defence at Bloomfield Road, says the strength of the Blues' playing staff was what persuaded him to opt for a move to Portman Road rather than join other interested parties: "Having looked at the squad here, there are some really good players.

"There is a lot of ambition about the place and with the players here, you can see Ipswich being one of the clubs competing near the top of the table.

"There were a few other clubs interested but I know five or six of the lads here and spoke to them and they said what a great club it is. I also spoke to Jon Walters and he said 'get down there, you'll enjoy it'.

"I've played regularly over the last five or six years, so when I wasn't included in the side at the start of this season I had a word with the manager and told him I'd rather go out and play somewhere than sit on the bench.

"He's knows that I'm not the type of lad that is happy to sit around, so when the opportunity to come here came around, I wanted to take it. Now I'm just looking forward to playing some games and helping Ipswich push on."

Town manager Paul Jewell added: "We're obviously delighted to have been able to bring Danny here. The defence is an area that we have been looking to strengthen and we've also had some injuries there as well, so Danny will add to the competition for places in that department.

"He will give us more pace and has Premier League experience. He knows what this league is like as well having been promoted twice as champions with Sunderland.

"He is versatile and can play at left-back, so he provides options and he's also an international, so we are getting a player with a lot of qualities. He's a good addition for us.

"There were other clubs interested in him, much closer to his home, so it shows his commitment and ambition to come here and play games."

On Friday, Collins was left out of Stoke's 25-man Premier League squad with boss Tony Pulis keen that he and a number of other players should go out on loan to get games under their belts: "These are lads who have not been playing enough recently and so we want to get them out and playing football until Christmas. It's important for Danny Collins to be playing at his age and because he's in the Welsh squad.”

Nottingham Forest and Portsmouth also showed interest in the 6ft tall one-time Chester City man, who plays either at centre-half or left-back.

Collins has won 17 full Wales caps and was on the bench for Tuesday's Euro 2012 qualifying defeat to England at Wembley.

Photos: ITFC

Photo: Action Images

TractorBeezer added 18:47 - Sep 9 Welcome Danny. Nice to hear that Walters put in a good word.
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das_bones added 18:48 - Sep 9 Cool, gd signing pity its only for three months
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Bezzer added 18:50 - Sep 9 Not tall enough for a centre half. I'd play him at left back and give Creswel some competition (after all Creswel is young and showed his inexperience for Peterborough's 2nd goal). As a 6ft tall left back Collins would then give us some extra height and pace. We still need a RB, LW and CF IMO.
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bluepeter added 18:54 - Sep 9 Does anyone else think that he looks like Darren Currie?
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RM909 added 18:58 - Sep 9 'Oooooh no, he'll never come here, too much, too far blah blah blah' A great loanee to get in and even better for proving the negative types that haunt some TWTD stories wrong...
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jas0999 added 19:08 - Sep 9 Although a good signing, I wonder about having 4 loanees in the side. Didn't work for Sheffield Utd nor Norwich a couple of years back. Also what happened to building for the future? Not good. Not good at all.
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legoman added 19:25 - Sep 9 Buy's us time Jas
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DutchTownFan added 19:26 - Sep 9 What do you suggest then jas0999???
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WarkyWonderLand added 19:37 - Sep 9 Surprise surprise. The 2 doom and gloomers of h32 and jas0999 still have nothing positive to say. What ever makes you happy in life? Just keep looking at that picture of rk with those glasses on! Coyb
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runaround added 19:51 - Sep 9 Jas, I think Cardiff had about 8 loanees last season and finished 4th so it can work both ways. The main thing is that they fit in with the team and WANT to be here and I believe both Murphy and Andrews are loans aiming toward permanent moves anyway
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Tractastic added 20:04 - Sep 9 Great news.Nice one Mr Walters. COYB
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pmason added 20:07 - Sep 9 walters did not recommend us to collins ... collins is accident prone just like o'dea, reverse psychology from walters. Collins track record from sunderland to stoke speaks for itself. The bloke is a proven reject, but then that seems all we can seem to sign ?
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rosseden added 20:07 - Sep 9 RetroBlue added 17:28 - Sep 9 edit post : "Collins will bering PACE to the back four" sorry got my norwich city friend to type the original post for me ! ..and he still cant get it right !! Dont mock the NCFC fans Retro, it cant be that easy to type well when you have extra digits.....
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johnwarksshorts added 20:45 - Sep 9 Booakashar!! good business PJ.
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broomfield123 added 21:26 - Sep 9 To be honest to walters I don't blame the guy for haveing a go at the prem league. Could see keane was doing to the club. Fell out with him . The prem came knocking an the rest is history. And the money came with the prem league. Who would blame the bloke. Shame he never had the chance to play under a proper manager such as royle or burley . In all fairness I ccannot remember him knocking the fans or club itself

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Mark added 21:38 - Sep 9 I wouldn't worry too much about having too many loanees. Stockdale is an England's number two goalkeeper, so has to be worth having here even though we won't be able to sign him permanently. Collins is here for three months and if he does well I expect we will sign him permanently in the January transfer window. He is pushing for a place in the Wales team and will want to win a deal here, so should be motivated. Andrews is here for six months and must be on a high after a goal scoring start to his Ipswich career and good performances for Ireland. He's here at least until January and we may well sign him permanently too. Murphy is here for the whole season and is another player who I expect we could sign permanently. I am not worried at all about our loan signings, and I hope we get one more (a right back). I'd also sign Richard Wright as backup goalie if possible.

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alfromcol added 22:02 - Sep 9 jas0999 added 19:08 - Sep 9 Although a good signing, I wonder about having 4 loanees in the side. Didn't work for Sheffield Utd nor Norwich a couple of years back. Also what happened to building for the future? Not good. Not good at all. Jas what has that got to do with ITFC in the here and now?????
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Blue_75 added 22:33 - Sep 9 Good signing, we now have real competition for places in virtually all positions! Bit of a shame we can only have 5 subs on the bench now! Still can't believe there are some negative whingers on here and the Green Un/EADT (in particular) - some people need to take a reality check - when was the last time we signed so many players in such a short space of time! And despite what these "glass is half empty" pillocks have to say, PJ's signings all have pedigree. We haven't just signed a load of cheap unknowns, we (Marcus Evans) has made some serious investment. Even free signings have a wage commitment, probably more so! I was taking to a Bournemouth fan the other day - now they really do have a reason to be down in the dumps!! Sorry for the rant but we need to all get behind the boys and get something decent going! COYB's!!!

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LifeLongTownFan added 22:52 - Sep 9 i agree andygizmo... FOTS! take damien delaney with ya!
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TractorRoyNo1 added 23:17 - Sep 9 you ruddy hypocritzzzzzzzzzzz had keane signed yet another one of his players - like murphy - the morons on this board would have been calling for his blood
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roytheboy added 23:56 - Sep 9 Absolutely wonderful news, I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's game with optimism now.
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GiveusaWave added 03:36 - Sep 10 Good news. Only disappointment was not signing Calvo alongside him (that guy is brilliant). Calvo and Collins would be impenetrable in defence.
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DiamondGezzer added 07:13 - Sep 10 Welcome aboard Mr. Collins and thanks for the reference Mr. Walters. Well done once again all at ITFC. Add pmason to H32 and Jas0999 under the heading Dial-a-Moan !
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alexsmith111 added 07:35 - Sep 10 Good good, 12 new faces, as long as they gel, good things to come, i think pj may be a good scouse, they are rare
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DutchTownFan added 07:36 - Sep 10 Collins is a great signing, but I wonder why we didn't sign Calvo, as everyone seemed to say he's very good. Was he demanding wages that we couldn't afford? I'd be surprised if that were the case. I just hope we haven't rejected someone who will be worth 12 million in a few years time! Our squad looks really good now though. Just a RB and possibly a back up goalie (Richard Wright?) to go!!!

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