Pompey boss Michael Appleton says Town’s trio of targets Jason Pearce, Joel Ward and Stephen Henderson never wanted to leave his club during the transfer window, despite their ongoing crisis. The Blues had several offers rebuffed for central defender Pearce, while keeper Henderson and midfielder or defender Ward were unable to agree personal terms.

Appleton said: “You can talk about Ipswich and the three boys but as far as I’m concerned — and I’m probably exaggerating — you could have Manchester United interested in your players but if they don’t want to leave, they have the final say.

“You can’t literally gag them, put them in the boot of your car, drive them to the club and make them sign.

“I’ve not made a big deal of it but I’m sure they will want to show that they have made the right choice. You could tell they had a sigh of relief on their faces once the window was shut.

"We take it as a massive compliment as a club that, even under everything that’s going on and all the circumstances that have arisen over the past few months, that they want to hang around. We must be doing something OK.”

But Appleton admits that with Pompey set to enter administration, the closing of the window might not be an end to the matter: “It may come up again if they try to make another offer or try to get them on some kind of loan agreement, but as soon as the window was shut we moved on.”

Photo: Action Images

Photo: Action Images

singtown added 13:27 - Feb 14 Hey Appleton you are such a clown. The trio would have volunteered to join man utd for half their current wages! You sure made my toes laugh! I'm going to laugh again tonite, Pompey 1 - Town 3
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Warkys_Tash added 13:34 - Feb 14 @AppysBWA & appysbluenwhitearmy - I actually think you are the same person but just trying to double up Pompey's fanbase. As for your 'big attractive club' comment, its true we are not as an attractive club as we were 10 years ago but we are still a more attractive proposition than your sorry state of a club and we ARE a bigger club with a far more prestigious history. Fact. As for mercenaries, if the '3 times current slary demand' allegation is true, then yes the cap fits. Footballers earn far too much money as it is, thats why we are in lots of debt and you are almost going under. As for tonights result, it won't be a season breaker for us, remember we have already collected 3 home points from you this season. Now jog on and comment on your own fan site - assuming it has fallen foul of the financial crisis as well?

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SpecialK79 added 13:37 - Feb 14 @Warkys_Tash well said mate, we'll just have to see if HE is still commenting on here tonight after we collect all 3 points ;)
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Stato added 13:39 - Feb 14 You can tell it's half term with all the pompey kids on here. I'm looking forward to jumping on their site after I get from the game and hopefully some of them will still be up. Henderson, Ward and Pearce will all be playing elsewhere next season and although that is unlikely to be Ipswich it doesn't change the fact that Pompey are broke and will need to sell the family silver. With those 3 gone they still be stuck with the worst ground in the championship and a side a lot weaker than this season.

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bluehayes added 13:40 - Feb 14 And when Appleton walks, HE will have to change his user name,lol.... but it may be a few seasons till he needs it on this forum
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Keaneish added 13:52 - Feb 14 Question for the Pompey Fans on here: Do you think Lampitt has done the best thing for your club given you're now facing a 10 points deduction, a winding up order and still without funds to pay off your debts even with the sale of Williams to Fulham and the final parachute payments? This question has nothing to do with our interest in Ward, Henderson or Pearce.
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appysbluenwhitearmy added 14:02 - Feb 14 @Keaneish I think Lampitt has had a very difficult job and to be honest i dont think there is an awful lot he could have done to prevent the situation we find ourselves in it purely comes down to the crooks that have been involved in our club for the last 5 years. I think he knew that if we kept the players until after the window shut we would have the players to keep us up even after the point deduction. Also administration saves us from the winding up order and plenty of time to find a new owner who can get us cheaper in admin.

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runaround added 14:10 - Feb 14 You have give the 3 players credit for wanting to stay and help out the club even though their loyalty may end up being misguided if it ends up with Pompey being liquidated. I hope this doesn't happen as I never like seeing teams fold and wish the Pompey fans luck in saving their club in some form or other. As for tonight game, our record at Fratton Park is amazing so hope to extend that run, just hope there's no trouble

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arablue added 14:25 - Feb 14 Lampitt did what he thought would buy some time for Pompey...the Tax Office though could challenge the application (as the likelihood of payment to the Tax Office would be reduced with further PAYE due from the January and subsequent payment of wages)... Provided that the Court struck off the Tax Office's challenge, Lampitt's bet might pay off as Pompey does have a better squad than the muppets currently occupying the bottom 3, and thus able to escape relegation even after having 10 points docked. Having said that, not sure if there are anybody out there who wants to get themselves in bed with Pompey in it's present form. There's too much financial baggage to sort out with little hopenof getting any haircut for their debts given their abysmal track record of paying off their creditors as and when they fall due. I share runaround's "hope" that Pompey can sort this out but there is a likelihood that the Pompey that we know now may cease to exist, and that the "loyalty" shown by it's current players, as admirable as they are in some people's eyes, would come to naught... As said in an earlier posting, the likes of ward and Henderson mint rue their decision in turning down a move which would at least have guaranteed them their weekly wage...

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arablue added 14:29 - Feb 14 For tonite's game: Pompey 1 - Ipswich 2 COYB!
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Scribble added 15:03 - Feb 14 For someone who has "moved on" he talks a lot!
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northdevonblue added 15:35 - Feb 14 AppysBWA pee off back to your own website we dont want you on ours and you can stick your 9-0 where the sun dont shine (the administraters wallet)
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jas0999 added 15:45 - Feb 14 The question therefore is why on earth did we spend all transfer window chasing these players when a) they didn't want to join us b) Pompey didn't want to sell and c) in the case of Pearce was unavailable. We need a PERMANENT CB or two - PJ and Clegg delivered us a loanee keeper and a CM from Hearts who we certainly don't need. Idiotic at best. This club simply won't move forward if we keep going along the same lines.

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sereneblue added 18:23 - Feb 14 If the duo wanted to stay at their club,why not just come out and say it rather than making themselves look money grabbing mercenaries.This could back fire on them when Pompey go under and they need another club.
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TractorRoyNo1 added 23:29 - Feb 14 so they could not persuade their players to leave i will laugh like a drain when they have 10pts taken away, their fans will be bleating (again), when they could have taken our money and saved the club ps - if for one moment i thought norris needed his wages i would laugh even more
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