Blues boss Paul Jewell has admitted that he’s had a thoroughly frustrating time in the transfer market this summer. Despite adding four players to his squad and having another bid provisionally accepted by a Premier League club, the Town manager says “everything that could have gone wrong in the transfer market has gone wrong” as he has sought to strengthen ahead of a 2012/13 season which starts with tonight’s Capital One Cup tie at home to Bristol Rovers (KO 7.45pm).

Jewell said: “There’s not as many [new] faces as we would have liked, that’s for sure. Elliott Hewitt’s only 18 and he’s not going to be fit until September, but we knew that when we signed him.

“Massimo Luongo hasn’t made his league debut yet, but we’ve got high hopes for the two of them and we’re really pleased to get Luke Chambers and Scott Loach.

“We’re not unhappy with the players we’ve brought in, what I am unhappy with is the lack of players that we’ve brought in to add to the squad.”

He says deals have broken down when he thought they were close to being confirmed: “We’ve had players here, we’ve agreed terms, medicals have been passed, then at the last minute something’s happened at the other end.

“Last week, a player from a Premier League team, everything was agreed for him to come for a year’s loan and then someone got injured at his place and we’ll have to wait until August 31st. It’s been one continuous knockback for different reasons this season.

“I don’t want to go into particular cases because that’s not right and proper, but everything that could have gone wrong in the transfer market has gone wrong so far. We’re due a bit of luck soon.

“It’s been frustrating because a lot of time and effort from a lot of people has gone into these [deals].”

Those abortive signings have broken down for various reasons: “One was an injury to a player, the other one was a change of heart at the last minute by a manager and there have been one or two others where we couldn’t afford them - we’d agreed with the football clubs to bring them in at a price but the players haven’t been able to agree terms.

“We only want players to come to Ipswich who really want to come to Ipswich for three or four years, not just for the short-term or for a pay day.

“We want players who are committed to the future of Ipswich. If we’ve got the impression that they are only coming for the money, we quickly decided to pull the plug on one or two.

“We’ve also spoken to clubs about players and we haven’t been able to agree fees,” he added. “That’s another reason why transfers haven’t happened. We won’t be the only club where that’s happened this close season. Whether those things can get reignited, I don’t know.

“What I do know, and what I’ll tell the supporters, is that the squad is light and it’s very young and we need to improve it.”

He says one potential deal is currently ongoing: “We have got a bid in for one player — and it has been accepted - but that is dependent on the Premier League team involved getting a replacement in. I don’t want to be vague but that’s exactly the situation.”

Jewell is unsure whether the squad will be improved before Saturday’s Championship opener at home to Blackburn: “I said I was 100% certain after the Southend game because I was, then the day after I thought we had a player tied up — everything was done, the player had agreed to come, then an injury at his club prevented that. I know we’re three players short of where I want to be, at least.

“At times in pre-season we’ve looked a little bit sluggish but in the last couple of games we’ve looked really good in the first half when we’ve kept that team together. Then when we’ve made changes, we’ve not got quite the strength in depth that’s needed.”

He says adding players from Premier League teams may be a simpler matter towards the end of the month: “I think it’ll be easier to get them in as the window closes or after the window closes because that’s what Premier League teams do. With this transfer window Premier League teams don’t want to let their players go until they know they’ve got replacements in.

“Once August 31st comes, whereas we can trade in the loan market, Premier League teams can’t and it makes the transfer market very frustrating and very difficult.

“That’s what we’re finding. We find it every year, but this year more than others. Also, I think it’s more important that we have to be more selective in the players [we sign] because we’ve got a long-term project here and I think people can see that we’re definitely going down the route of younger players.

“We want to bring one or two experienced players in and, of course, that’s important, but if you take Carlos Edwards out of the starting XI from the last two games [we’re a very young side] — our midfield four’s average age is about 19.

“We are building for the future and we want to continue on that route, but we also want to add one or two experienced players to the group to help that along.”

Photo: Action Images

Fatboy added 09:35 - Aug 14 Why the transfer market doesn't end on 31 July is beyond me.
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muncer added 09:46 - Aug 14 He doesn't like making it easy for himself.
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Cheshire_Blue added 09:57 - Aug 14 Of course the 'moaners' on here exceed the 'supporters' by 5 to 1 as in the main it is only the 'moaners' who bother with the site. Thank goodness they represent a very miniscule proportion of those who turn up to give real support to the team on Saturday afternoons.Remember,20 'moaners' on this site represents only about 0.15% of a 15,000 crowd!
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Cattee11 added 10:00 - Aug 14 Keep the Faith! Atleast we're trying! God, some fans! Atleast we're not in a position that we have to sell all our talent like some clubs. Support the team or we wont succeed! SCUM got where they are today through support and faith form the fans (as hard as that is to say) its fact! COYB
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TownLad21 added 10:18 - Aug 14 in terms of starting 11 we have a good team for next season however considering how weak our back up players are (ainsley, ellington, etc...) we shouldn't just be continuing to get rid of players like bullard without a replacement definitely joining because now we are playing catch up not only finding players to challenge for first team, but for signing back up players aswell

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GTRKing added 10:21 - Aug 14 Why is every one Moaning? PJ doing his Best & we only want players who will Give 100% & Want top be at Ipswich. So Back the team. I hope we do well this season.
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ChrisMakin2012 added 10:23 - Aug 14 Jewell and Clegg have to go! Really is beyond a joke how incapable these two clowns are!
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Juggsy added 10:26 - Aug 14 Screw the prem players and teams, look at the lower leagues. I think most people would be happy to get a few more 'Hewitt' type players with a bit of talent and desire in and would therefore be happy to give them a couple of seasons to grow together. If we have no money and will pay wages within the FFP structure then these are the only type of players we can realistically go for, at least until current Prem/Champ players get used to the FFP level of wages anyway. I'd rather this than getting bloody loans in from Prem clubs.

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JohnyJohnson added 10:27 - Aug 14 In a way it could benefit us not signing too many like last year as it unsettled the squad and pushed the young'uns down- just can't believe we are offloading with no cover. Bit worrying, lets get behind the youth and hope we get 3 more deals in to cover sooner rather than too late.
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havinit69 added 10:37 - Aug 14 Surprising to see that all the truth posts are largely disagreed with. PJ only doesn't talk about speculation when it suits him and conveniently doesn't want to name 3 or 4 transfer targets that we have missed out on at the 11th hour. If 8/10 supporters believe him then the club will probably settle for that, but I certainly don't. Same excuses, same old stories, same end result. The fact remains that the club has spent approx £500k this summer and if they think that that is going to be enough to mount a promotion challenge then they're in for a shock! Agree with Ipswich24 - Young and hungry players is the way forward. Drury turned out OK, Cresswell already worth £3m + and Hewitt looks a decent addition. I think Marcus Evans has been brilliant for this club but needs to dip a bit deeper if he wants a return on his investment. Connor Wickham's cash must be burning a hole in his pocket by now ?!

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Guthrum added 10:38 - Aug 14 I'm not going to be judging the manager or the administration of our club on how many signings they've made over the summer. We're not in a competition to see how many players we can accumulate. The only test which means anything is on the pitch, during the season. And besides which, after several seasons of fairly wholesale changes (only one senior player left whose been here more than three seasons - and he's on his way out), I'm happy to see some stability in the squad. Most of the players we've let go are those people on here spent most of last season grumbling were no good (Bowyer, Leadbitter, Bullard). Murphy (a returned loan player anyway) is the only important player who has gone and not been replaced. Plus posters on here are constantly raving about our youths and young players (Carson, Hyam, Lawrence, etc.) - well now it's time for them to step up and prove their worth!

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LFCITFC added 10:39 - Aug 14 Its all about money, which PJ is clearly not being given enough of. At least he's trying. Last year people moaned that there were too many old freebies and loanees. This year there moaning that he cant buy anyone. The latter answers the original problem. ME & Clegg need to back PJ, but they are looking at the balance sheet and do not want to end up like Portsmouth. Its very difficult to get out of this league and if you spend a lot of money on wages then you have to get promoted immediately to get the rewards. Its a cruel circle,

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Guthrum added 10:44 - Aug 14 Oh - and as to these marvellous "lower league" players who are waiting to be snapped up - there are, in reality - very, very few of them. The vast majority of lower division players are in those teams because they're only good enough to play at that level! There are exceptions (e.g. Drury), but they are rare. Whereas the "Prem cast offs" have at least, at some point in their careers, displayed enough talent to be picked up by the big boys. Makes it far less of a risk to bring them into the team.

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Daleyitfc added 10:53 - Aug 14 Jewell really is a whingeing scouse git.
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itfc1981 added 11:10 - Aug 14 Clegg!
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WorcesterBlue added 11:28 - Aug 14 I actually think posters have got every right to express frustration with this situation and it has got nothing to do with lack of support so some of you need to wind your necks in. Yes it looks like the budget is tight and we will have lost out on some players who wanted more than we were rightly prepared to play but if we'd had a cohesive transfer plan, decided before the end of last season (as we were told we had) and we'd acted on it, then I am sure we'd have been far more successful than we have been. Instead we are relying on being opportunistic at best and potentially desperate at worst. The likes of Richie, Caddis, Judge should have been targetted early, made to "feel the love" and brought in as part of a long term strategy for the club. Church and Wilson on the other hand are just not good enough and Edu is a pipedream (though Bocanegra could do a job?). The shame is we have a good 1st 11 with some potential to boot so with a bit more cover we could play some great stuff throughout next season. However, instead we're getting the same excuses dolled out by a persistently unenthusiastic, downbeat and negative Manager who just seems to be waiting for something to happen and yes it is frustrating!!

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nitroblue1970 added 11:30 - Aug 14 Its nice to see Jewell has learned a lesson from last year and got the excuses in early. I understand Harry Redknapp is available on a free transfer....as a mate of ME I think this may be a positive move forward, expect the new signing to be paraded before the press around late November..... This may sound a pessimistic outlook but I have not seen or heard anything from Jewell that inspires confidence in me that he will take the club forward. He has made a couple of good signings admittedly but I think any manager would do that anyway, this does not make him a cut above ....in my opinion. I will continue to support the boys of course...and part with my hard earned cash....

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charsfield added 11:31 - Aug 14 i dont understand some people! last season we were moaning that we'd signed too many players and they didnt gel. This time weve added a few to a team thats used to playing together, its a much better recipe for success. I agree one more quality defender/mid/striker would be ideal but its not going to change our season either way, the way the TEAM plays together will, individual players arnt good enough at this level to make an average team excellent looking at the soccer tab thing Birmingham Leeds etc have signed about 12 ABSOLUTE DROSS players each and they'll suffer for it. More fool them I say COYB!

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Urchin added 11:41 - Aug 14 Daleyitfc : Jewell really is a whingeing scouse git. I presume the only difference between you and him is the 'scouse' bit
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saffronblue added 11:45 - Aug 14 Charsfield, I agree last year we signed loads of players and most were poor short term signings (Cresswell and JET aside) this year we have signed four players all who i believe will take the club forward The first team squad actually looks pretty good but we don't have the strength in depth and clearly PJ is constrained by the lack of cash available. For all those who blame PJ thats your choice but I think we are moving forwards and this team will finish higher than it did in the last two seasons. COYB

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Lombokblue added 11:59 - Aug 14 The last few seasons we seem to have bought and sold dozens of players, I'd rather stick with what we have, than panic and buy some more Steads, Priskins and Ingimarssons. I would love to see Carson, Hyam, Smith , Murray and Lawrence given a decent chance rather than being sent out on loan but as soon as the season starts and other clubs sort out their squads it will be back to loaning in/out bollocks. Jewell could try and be a bit more upbeat than "bare bones, everything has one wrong" it hardly fills anyone with any confidence about anything

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itfc94 added 12:00 - Aug 14 Some of you lot type through the rear. Getting players isnt as easy as football manager you know. Jewell has explained why brilliantly for me, and I dont want transfers to be rushed, thats the same as previous years!!! I want players who want to play for Ipswich
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Big_Foot_Blue added 12:19 - Aug 14 So hang on, last year Paul Jewell got slaughtered on here for signing has beens like Bowyer on high wages and short termism in his approach... Now he is looking out for the club, only signing players whos wages are not ridiculous, only signing long term deals to create a core of the club and getting rid of anyone who tries to mess him around during negociations... these are all good things. By setting a precedent yes we may not get all the players we need but in the long term this is going to help our club and I for one am very encouraged by this news. Also the fact we have had loads of bids for players and negociations means the club knows we need improving and is capable of talking to other clubs which is something we sometimes wonder about.

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theblueginger added 12:46 - Aug 14 Quaality, not quantity IMO. At least the signings that have been made were the ones we most desperately neede. To be honest, i cant think of many clubs in the championship who have signed many more thanm four players. COYB
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billlm added 12:54 - Aug 14 only the scum from yorkshire and if they dont get investment they have already flown close to the wind and may well do again as theyve signed a lot more than four players on good contracts hopefully bye bye cant stand them
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