Boss Paul Jewell believes Town made reasonable offers for their three transfer targets, Portsmouth’s Joel Ward and Jason Pearce and Crewe’s Nick Powell. The Blues have had their initial bids rebuffed but appear certain to make further moves for the trio.

Jewell said: “I think we’ve made the offers that we think are reasonable but everything is open to negotiation. The first offer is very rarely accepted, if at all.

“There’s no mileage in me trying to do these deals if they’re not doable. If we can get common ground, great. If we can’t, we’ll just try and move on. We haven’t just got those targets, we have plenty of targets in mind.”

Town are understood to have offered £1 million for the Pompey pair, while reports in Cheshire claim the Blues made a bid of £1.3 million plus top-ups to Crewe for Powell. The Railwaymen are understood to have targeted a fee of around double that initially with significant further milestone payments. Arsenal, Chelsea and a number of other Premier League sides have watched Powell regularly since last season.

As of yesterday afternoon, the Town manager was yet to liaise with owner Marcus Evans regarding Portsmouth’s situation and the Blues’ next move: “I tried to ring Marcus this morning and I don’t know what their valuation is.

“It’s very difficult. We’re all guilty of putting a higher value on our player and a lower one on an opposition player. I’ll get a feel for that in the next day or two and see whether they’re worth pursuing.”

If they’re not, Jewell says a line has to be drawn and other targets chased: “You have to do that in any deal, whether it’s this one or the next one.

“We’ve put a valuation on the player, they’ll put a valuation on the player and if we can’t come to some agreement, there’s no point.

“I can ring up Manchester United and ask about one of their players, but you’ve got to be somewhere close to start off with. If we’re miles apart, then we move on.”

He says just because Evans is well-heeled it doesn’t mean there’s an unlimited budget: “We’ve certainly got a wealthy owner. I think a couple of years ago there was a misconception that we were out there paying silly money and silly wages. We don’t. We’re competitive, there’s no doubt about that.

“Everyone has to have a price and everything eventually comes down to finances, whether that’s at Ipswich or at another club. Maybe there are one or two exceptions to that but there’s an economic world out there that’s not easy, and football’s part of that. We have to cut our cloth accordingly.”

Overall, Jewell is no fan of the transfer window: “I think the transfer window can be a nonsense really because everything is [intensified in] January or the summer.

“There’s a lack of quality players on the market because everyone wants to keep their good players. It does tend to become a bit of a mad rush in January, and you have to be careful.

“When I was at Derby we brought in eight players in the transfer window in January. It’s not easy, but you’ve got to try and keep a cool head and try and see the bigger picture. We’ve got to try and learn from that.”

The Town boss is looking to avoid being involved in the flurry of deals in the final hours: “I hope not because if you’re doing it on the last day it normally means you’re desperate.

“It tends to happen that in the last couple of hours, certainly with Premier League clubs because they know that once the January window closes they can’t bring anyone else in.

“After a while, Football League clubs can always loan. There’ll be the usual nonsense and the yellow ticker tape at the bottom on Sky will be going 10 to the dozen.”

Photo: Action Images

planetblue_2011 added 10:38 - Jan 20 Just hurry up I can't wait for much longer
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planetblue_2011 added 10:38 - Jan 20 Just hurry up I can't wait for much longer
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LFCITFC added 10:45 - Jan 20 "reasonable" offer, thats why they were rejected, it has to be a good offer. With Clegg in charge of negotiations then we wont land anyone other than more loans
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Legend added 11:00 - Jan 20 face it we are up $hit creek without a paddle and with gaping holes in!! What is wrong with this club? Offer the going rates!! If we fail to get any quality permanent defenders in by next saturday then we a joke and deserve to go down! Had enough of all the bull$sit that comes out of PJ and Clegg!!
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dugoutdave added 11:01 - Jan 20 Message from someone working in offices at Leeds football club - seems itfc fans arent the only ones who have a problem with their teams management; Quote: "hope for good match tomorrow but honestly we have no squad! Those who are there are all loan players and don't give a s**t what happens! Think you will win to be honest! There was a protest at Elland Road last night to support the ‘Get Bates Out Campaign', but don't think he will be going anywhere until he has ruined us completely!

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PauloJulio added 11:01 - Jan 20 £1.85 mill + Ellington for Sharp!
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Lombokblue added 11:05 - Jan 20 When he was at Derby he managed to buy 8 players in the January transfer window and they were relegated shortly afterwards. We don't need anymore players we need a team. Hyam, Smith, Carson, Murray and seven others
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Lightningboy added 11:07 - Jan 20 Let's hope we go back in with another offer sooner rather than later. At least we're getting rid of the deadwood (Ingimarsson,Priskin)..would love to offload Leadbitter & Ellington whilst we're at it.
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Legend added 11:08 - Jan 20 Surely it is better to pay slighty over the asking price and offer decent wages etc than to fail big time and get relegated?? Being in league one would set the club back miles and would cost millions in lost gates etc. Surely our league status is at stake and the owner must invest millions right now to get in the players needed to stop this club going down, and to attract more season tickets? Confused....

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Ozzie_OwDoo added 11:25 - Jan 20 PJ has been publicly saying for some time now that our defence needs strenghtening, Everyone in the media is saying that we have the leakiest defence in the league, and now we have lost Andrews & Collins we have been further weakened. Clegg & Evans know this and they cannot blame PJ after this transfer window if they don't negotiate deals to strengthen our defence. It is critical that we get players in if we want to stay in this league. Evansknows this and has declared he will offer a war chest for PJ to get in players. Having said that Evans is a shrewd business man and he will not offer his highest bid first up for any target players, but will go back & forth until he gets the best deal. I think that he will get in his target players but he will negotiate hard for them. COYB.

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Surco72 added 11:35 - Jan 20 Ozzie how by losing Andrews and Collins have we weakened the defence further when they played the majority of the games in which we have conceded all of these goals ? Hopefully the pompey deals can be achieved ,and a loan option may be De Laet as we tried to sign him in the summer
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AFCblue added 11:53 - Jan 20 Sack Jewell and get Paul Lambert!!!
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Cheshire_Blue added 12:02 - Jan 20 Why do other clubs seem to be able to sign the players they want while we just moan about our failure to do so? Clueless Clegg? Just watch the season ticket sales nosedive next year,Championship or League 1,as I for one won't be taken in by Clegg's hot air.
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Benters added 12:16 - Jan 20 Cheshire blue i for one agree with your post,i will wait and see what happens to our team and management before i renew.
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cornishnick added 12:17 - Jan 20 Yes, offer Leadbitter to sweeten the deal and maybe PJ too. And throw in a packet of hob nobs as well. That should do it
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dawoolah added 12:31 - Jan 20 Having watched Crewe recently on their visit to the Cobblers (I had to go! Day out with my sons Football team) their best player by far was Byron Moore. Drove them forward with skill and pace, would be a great addition if PJ is looking to add to the squad and he's out of contract in the summer!
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Ozzie_OwDoo added 13:15 - Jan 20 Surco I'd say we were stronger with Collins than we are without him and no replacement for him wouldn't you?
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Pessimistic added 13:42 - Jan 20 I have been informed that the second and LAST BID has been launched at 1.5 million. Town won't tkae the matter any further and will look elsewhere if need be.
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Bleedingblue added 13:45 - Jan 20 For who Pessimistic? Crew lad or both Pompey players?
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bluearmy4life added 13:46 - Jan 20 Reasonable offers don't get you players. If your looking to poach TOP players you have to offer there club a bloomin good deal. We should have money in the bank, stop faffing about and get the deals done. Only got 10 days left to survive relegation, If you get my drift.
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Bergholtblue added 14:13 - Jan 20 “I hope not because if you're doing it on the last day it normally means you're desperate." Yep! That's us.
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TownOnTheUp added 17:57 - Jan 20 Tick tock, tick tock They say time makes fools of us all, but none more so than a struggling football club which needs players. Only a few days to sort things out Mr Jewell. 5 players needed. 2-3 minimum required. Tick tock, tick tock.
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lawshallgirls added 21:57 - Jan 20 Tearle-on ellington,leadbitter,bowyer and bullards wages!!
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airliner added 08:30 - Jan 21 Yeah get rid of leadboots to , very keen to go there earlier in the season so whats wrong now GL? admin fears eh? wont get paid for your meagre contribution? Yes anyway lets get these guys in from Pompey, they are now crowing we are taking advantadge of their financial plight ; When Harry was in charge he tried to get quite a few of our players on the cheap so they can just forget slinging mud in our direction. Davis at Crew is now saying we cant afford Powell how the hell does he know; he says a bid has not even been made. hes not even privy to the fact its been made by his chairman obvoiusly so we can discount his statement as pure rubbish.

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