Chief executive Simon Clegg says it’s important for the club to keep to a budget and not give into the often excessive demands of players and their agents. As the Championship moves towards the Financial Fair Play break-even model, manager Paul Jewell and new signing Luke Chambers believe all parties are starting to adjust to a future in which money will be less plentiful at this level.

Clegg is aware that fans are always desperate to see deals done but says sometimes a line has to be drawn: “Fans want these issues to be done instantaneously and the club should just capitulate with whatever figures are demanded.

“We’ve got to operate within a budget. My number one priority is to safeguard the financial situation of this club. I’m not going to lead us down the road of administration again.

“We also need to recognise what’s happening out there in the wider Championship — wages and transfer fees are coming down.”

Jewell says agents are starting to get the message and that out of contract players will also soon begin to come to terms with the Championship’s new situation: “There are a few players who are out of contract who were getting paid by their clubs, but next month they’ll stop getting paid and they’ll realise that football, as I’m tired of saying, is like any other industry, it’s struggling.

“OK, you’ve got the top guys in the Premier League who are always going to spend, but the rest of football financially is in a bit of trouble. We’ve got to be sensible about it.

“Look at Rangers, I said that last year and people said ‘that can’t happen to us’ but it could do, it could happen to anyone.”

The move to the break-even model doesn’t mean that some sides won’t have significant cash to spend and Jewell admits that the Blues won’t be competing on a level playing field with some of them: “I don’t want to comment on other clubs, but when you come down from the Premier League you do get a £40-odd million parachute payment, so that helps.

“At the end of the day, takeovers happen and sometimes someone decides to have a gamble. Birmingham City’s owner came with big ideas and that went a bit wrong for him.

“We’ve got to be honest, we haven’t got fortunes to spend. Certainly at Ipswich there isn’t a lot of money to spend, we’ve got to work to a budget and I’ve got no problem with that.

“If you said to me I’d got £10 million to spend or £100,000 to spend, I’d rather have the £10 million, but I haven’t got that, so I’m happy to work with what I’ve got.”

New signing Chambers says he’s noticed that Championship wages have been dropping in recent seasons: “It’s not just something a chief executive talks about, it’s a fact.

“I think they’ve slowly been coming down for the last three years and being on a free transfer makes it a lot easier for me personally and a lot easier for the club to conclude a deal.

“From what we understand as players, I think the chairmen meet every year and discuss things like wages and I think these things have to come to account because we’re not living in the times we were living in three, four or five years ago and football shouldn’t be immune to that.”

The 26-year-old became the Blues’ second signing of the summer earlier this week but says fans may have to be patient when it comes to further additions with the Championship market having been slow so far this summer: “When you look at the transfer fees that people are demanding and wages on top, and I’m not putting any pressure on Simon whatsoever, it’s difficult to get players in.

“There’s hardly been any movement whatsoever in the Championship and I think that will continue for the next couple of weeks at least.”

With Jewell looking for three of four more signings, Clegg agrees with the club's new central defender: “There’s not been a huge amount of movement in the Championship so far. There’s still a long way to go until the window closes, so let’s see where we get to.”

Photo: Action Images

Photo: Action Images

saffronblue added 10:45 - Jul 13 Seems a sensible approach to me, lets face facts we are a championship club and should cut our cloth accordingly, we should still try and bring in the best possible players we can afford/attract and I think we are building a team capable of finishing on the edge of/just squeaking into the play offs but we don't want to end up like Portsmouth/plymouth/luton et al. ME owns the club and we have to trust that as a shrewd business man he and Clegg are doing what they consider the right thing to take us forward. I think most suppporters can see this although as some posters demonstrate you can't please all the people all the time (or some of them ever!!)

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itfc1981 added 10:53 - Jul 13 Greenkingtone thats fair enough, but as has been proven in the past there is money to spend.
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alliedaz added 11:47 - Jul 13 so if players take a pay cut will you clegg coz you seem to involved in other matters at mo and wot happened about powell coming to ipswich and speak the truth to the ipswich fans as the big question is why are so many players refusing to come ere
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mugsykets added 11:53 - Jul 13 I believe the word is spelt ~ 'PAUPER'
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BotesdaleBlue added 12:14 - Jul 13 Agree with Clegg on this one. Good to see some sensible comments from Chanbers. He seems to have decent brain, which we can't say about many footballers, I'm afraid.
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JewellintheTown added 12:33 - Jul 13 Not happy, we should spend until we have no money left, players should want to rush to our club and be worshipped by our happy fans when they score 50+ goals a season for the love of it, we shouldnt have to pay to watch the beautiful game ,we should win every match and our CEO, manger and owner should be endowed with the abilty to see into the future to ensure all our signings are certain winners. We won the cup in 78 and 81 you know, and had two managers leave us to manage england (one winning the WC), so its our historical right to be brilliant because we've done it all 30 years ago. Why oh why cant this happen? Its just not fair. I'm taking my 0.005% of your revenue, enough to pay an hours player wages in protest and never ever buy match day pies from you again - ok, well, until the season starts to which I'll conveniently forget my juvenile protest. Take that one Clegg, Evans and PJ, I'll be waiting for your phone call. In the mean time, let me get back to playing Football Manager, to which I'm best in the world.

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sereneblue added 13:23 - Jul 13 Brazil's Hair I stand corrected. Early morning comment. You have to admit "dought"is a good word!
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LincsBluebelly added 13:26 - Jul 13 Jewell: “I don't want to comment on other clubs, but ...Birmingham City's owner came with big ideas and that went a bit wrong for him".
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blues1 added 14:18 - Jul 13 itfc1981. what aprize plonker you are. m.e. has backed 3 managers, including magilton who wasnt his appointment btw with large sums of money, & we still in the championship, so how is that his fault. or cleggs? u say money was available in the past? yes, & now m.e. as is his right has decided he cant afford to keep throwing large amounts at the manager to achieve his goals so is taking a different appproach, an approach that true fans believe is the right way to do things, especially now the fpp is coming into play . im sure if the manager wants a particular player that money will be made available to him, but the owner & clegg have a duty not to allow this club to go the same way as pompey or rangers. so just get behind them on this, & if you are a true fan & want there to still be an itfc for years to come then stop ur constant whining. just support the club, whatever league we're in

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blues1 added 14:26 - Jul 13 oh, as for your post about m.e not being a pauper. of course hes not, hes a multimillionaire. that doesnt put him in the same bracket as the man city, chelsea owners for example tho. they are multi billionaires. when youre putting around £5m a year into a club just to keep it afloat i think youve got the right to limit what you what you spend elsewhere dont you? just be real instead of expecting itfc to compete financally with these people. & remember, there are clubs much worse off than we are.

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jas0999 added 14:43 - Jul 13 I agree we need to be 'careful', but we also need to be competitive. The fair play regs are not in force yet. We need to move towards it and plan accordingly, but if we are not careful we will miss out on all the decent players who will go elsewhere. There needs to be a balance.
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PauloJulio added 14:50 - Jul 13 Finally...some reality at league level. Adoption of the FFP rules has taken the power away from the player/agent and put it back with the clubs. Average players being paid vast sums hopefully a thing of the past. Plenty of players released at the end of last season dont have clubs and it will be squeaky bum time for them hoping that they will get something sorted before the start of the season. Although i dont expect to seem a long queue of out of work footballers at the job centre at this level because most of them probably dont need to worry about paying their mortgage etc.

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Dissboyitfc added 17:07 - Jul 13 Itfc1981.... your avatar suggests a strong connection to the scum, please remove the offensive picture and disappear with it..... Well said Clegg....anybody know what division Rangers are playing in? theres a wake up call if ever we needed one....Coyb
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TractorRoyNo1 added 19:48 - Jul 13 in other words 'town are going to end up mid-table at best, like it or lump it'
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BuckieBlue added 21:53 - Jul 13 Probably SC words would be echoed by the majority of clubs in the Championship. And although the three relegated clubs have parachute payments they've not exactly been 'spend spend spend' this summer (ok Blackburn have bought some but have also lost a few). I think we've got as good a chance as anybody, and although we still need 1 or 2 additions, i am positive about us having largely a settled side.

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h32 added 21:59 - Jul 13 How can there be such a thing as a budget - when there is no spending - and that's the very clear message to everyone. FREEBIES FOREVER - don't dare to expect more ............
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bigolconnor added 22:32 - Jul 13 Jewellinthetown: one of my favourite ever posts.
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h32 added 22:54 - Jul 13 JewellintheTown - pathetic and unbelievably childish post.
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Leithblue added 23:05 - Jul 13 well I liked it JewellintheTown, so that's 2-1!
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bluearmy4life added 23:15 - Jul 13 In any business budgets are critical, and the club are doing the right thing in most cases. My only concern is what is our budget this season for bringing in new players?
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Leithblue added 23:42 - Jul 13 bluearmy4life - agreed, though presumably it's the salary budget (as dictated by FFP) rather than the transfer budget which is now the key constraint
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Dissboyitfc added 09:29 - Jul 14 There really are idiotic posters on here! Would you prefer Clegg to come out and say that club have loads to spend and we are prepared to pay over the odds for average players? or would you prefer money being made available in the right conditions? Phil, i love the site and i am addicted and cant want to get my daily dose. But i have to say i am glad that the site didnt exist when i was growing up and beginning my love affair with itfc, i wonder and i suppose its impossible to calculate, how many young fans come on here and get disillusioned after reading some of the dribble written on here by some posters. The fact is in 40 years of supporting town i have witnessed many lows and they certainly equal the high periods. I am not happy that we are a firmly established second tier team, but i know this much Evans has NOT bought the club so it can remain in its very mediocre state and he will not like where we are either. the man has proven in his other interests to be a winner and given time, WILL get this club right. That may mean in time a fresh manager and ceo, who knows but he'll decide when the time is right for any changes. So my message to any young fans who read these negative posters, is do not let them effect your feelings towards the town, things will soon be on the way up! COYB

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