Lee Martin has cast doubt on his Portman Road future by revealing that contract talks between the club and his agent have stalled.

It may not be significant but a number of Ipswich fans are concerned that Martin will go the way of Gareth McAuley, David Norris and Grant Leadbitter before him.

That trio were all allowed to move on when their deals expired, their respective moves to West Bromwich Albion, Portsmouth and Middlesbrough on free transfers meaning Town did not receive a fee for any of them.

Martin, 25, is in the fourth and final year of the contract he signed when then manager Roy Keane signed him from Manchester United in a £1.8 million deal in July 2009.

Current boss Paul Jewell has said he would like to retain Martin’s services - mentioning preliminary talks between owner Marcus Evans and the midfielder's agent in the summer - and the player has consistently reiterated his desire to remain at the club.

He said: “The last I heard was that my agent got an email saying ‘We’ll be in touch’ and that was in August. We haven’t heard anything yet.

“The ball is firmly in the club’s court and other than that, as far as I’m concerned, all I can do is keep working hard and coming in. All the time I’m here I will be fully committed.”

Martin, who has scored six times in his 79 appearances for Ipswich, admits he is frustrated by the lack of progress in securing his future in Suffolk.

But he added: “That’s life, isn’t it? That’s the life of a footballer and you just have to get on with it. Sometime you want to get your future sorted but you just have to keep getting on with it.

“I want to stay, of course I do, but I haven’t heard anything since August. The ball is firmly in their court regarding contract talks. It’s never nice, the not knowing, but I will be giving it my all for the club for the time that I am here.”

When asked if he would be prepared to follow in the footsteps of several team-mates, notably Carlos Edwards and Jason Scotland, and accept a wage cut to extend his time at Portman Road, he replied: “That’s what negotiations are for but they’ve never really got going.”

Photo: Action Images

tractorblue99 added 17:52 - Oct 1 LET THE FLOUNCING BEGIN!!!
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SheffieldBlue1 added 17:54 - Oct 1 I have no toys left to throw out of my pram, I did not envisage further bad news for at least a couple of days.
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sirbenofmorlingshire added 17:54 - Oct 1 Interesting comments from Martin... wonder if thats heads up to fans or a 'pull your finger out Ipswich' move on his part. Time will tell I guess.
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pazelle added 17:55 - Oct 1 Ah typical!
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ChrisMakin2012 added 17:57 - Oct 1 he wont stay, he wont want a relegation battle
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tractorblue added 17:59 - Oct 1 Oh well,just get's worse,even worse tomorrow if we lose at Brighton,as Wednesday morning ME and Idiot Clegg will give Jewell there backing again. Dark,Black Clouds up above our Portman Road lads.
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sudburyblue16 added 17:59 - Oct 1 I bet he wants to stay cos no other club will want him. Has done next to nothing since he's joined us. Doesn't score goals and certainly doesn't create any. He's one of a huge list of players in our current squad we need rid of. Only thing that concerns me is it's yet another £1M+ flushed down the drain. But Town may as well write that money off now.
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irishtim added 18:02 - Oct 1 I dont knw what to say anymore. The club i love being flushed down the drain.
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casanovacrow added 18:04 - Oct 1 he's willing to take a pay cut but not enough of one. We will have to sell him in January if we still haven't got him contracted, no more letting players go for sod all when their contracts run out. He may be the best player when behind a single striker but I don't think we should be playing that formation, we need 2 up front, and out on a wing he looks like he's gonna get sent off too much.

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Edmunds5 added 18:06 - Oct 1 Its what I've come to expect. Its what you get when you combine a modern day footballer with a clubs overly disciplined hierarchy.
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Lightningboy added 18:10 - Oct 1 Here we go again..before long transfer fees will go out of the window and players/their agents will just move on form one club to another from season to season..this is why football has become such a shambles over the last 10 years,certainly since the Bosman ruling...supporters no longer have actual "teams" to get behind,just one set of different players from one season to the next...utter mess imho. As for Martin,don't want to lose out on a transfer fee but for a player who is supposedly an attacker,shouldn't we be expecting more than 6 goals in 75+ matches?...he's one of a number who really need to up their game here.

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cornishnick added 18:15 - Oct 1 As with previous years, perceived uncertainty surrounding manager's future probably doesn't help, nor does our lowly league position. But blimey, our inability to tie up contracts is sooooo depressing.
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GTRKing added 18:24 - Oct 1 Looks like he wan'ts more money & we can't offer it to him. So let him go in Jan for 800k+ So we don't want to let him go for free.
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pabloc added 18:28 - Oct 1 Another one bites the dust.
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hadleighboyblue added 18:29 - Oct 1 if he really wants it sorted , he should have been pushing the club for talks , sounds like we are going down the usual route of losing a player and he is happy to let his contract run down players and their agents have too much power , we should put him on the transfer list before his value dips even more
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Mark added 18:32 - Oct 1 Martin said in August: “I'd like to get it all wrapped up sooner rather than later. To be honest, I just get on with playing and leave everything else to my agent. Some players get caught up in all the talking but that's what agents are for.” So perhaps the agent and Marcus Evans could not agree terms? If I were a footballer I would not just leave it to my agent, I'd want to know what is going on and get involved!! The agent should work for the player and keep him fully informed. Perhaps Martin should just knock on Simon Clegg's door rather than speak out in the press like this?

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footyblue added 18:36 - Oct 1 We are in the same situation again where several players will leave at the end of the season, because we will be in league 1 probably why the club will not discuss contracts just like 2 years ago when we were in better shape than now expect more loan players to try and steady the ship rather than the squad buliding Jewell said I seriously think things need to change for the better. we need a football man in charge at the top, since Jim was sacked I have seen the worst football at the Club in 40 years of watching Town...........

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floridaboy added 18:39 - Oct 1 He either leaves it to his money grabbing agent or he deals with the club. Cannot have it both ways. If he wants to stay as bad as he says then he needs to stick it into his agent to get his act together and talk to the club Why is it the club always get the blame. Lets be honest there are not many clubs who will want to buy him. He is not that good IMHO!!
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arc added 18:44 - Oct 1 No surprise--he was signed to relatively big money, so even though he has done well (in the last year or so) he will have to take a pay cut and presumably (and understandably) won't want to. And I doubt it will be possible for us to sell him in January, for much the same reason.
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neillrumsey added 18:55 - Oct 1 As a club this should have been sorted months ago. We are in a position where it will be hard to keep players and hard to attract players. Martin would be a Premiership player if he could score goals. Great touch and application , shame the clown that is PJ plays him out of position. Sign him up>>>
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JackITFC96 added 18:56 - Oct 1 this is absoloutly ridiculous, if we dont sign a new deal with us we have nothing left, he is our best player in my opinion he has realy flair to his game, we loose martin I reckon we will get even worse, Paul Jewell get off your fat lazy arse and try your hardest to keep him, we need to keep our best players, Im really getting fed up with this club on a whole now.
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StowTractorBoy added 19:00 - Oct 1 The ship is slowly sinking and whilst I am not surprised about Martins scenario he will hardly be missed especially when Jewell continually plays him out wide where he is so ineffective. Can't blame PJ for the contract position, only the owner but its his money so if he wants to throw away another transfer fee thats up to him. This does not however help the serious plight of our Club and I really wonder if the powers that be realise we are in grave danger of dropping into the 3rd tier of football for the first time in over 50 years. I could cry at the way the running of the 1st team has gone. Don't get me wrong I am grateful for Mr Evans' cash as in the cold light of day it saved us but looks like it was just a stay of execution. I just want something positive to come out of our Club but won't hold my breath.

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afrodids added 19:03 - Oct 1 is it any wonder why we can't sign new players when we can't even sign the one's we have got!!!see ya later lee thanks for your effort. when will we ever learn. this club is a mess from top to bottom. Evans please sell up,glegg 0121 and bye bye Jewell rotten to the core!!! Sad days at town.
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sparks added 19:03 - Oct 1 Ofg course- the ball could be in the clubs court because they said "here's a good offer. " He said no- improve it, and the club said " we'll let you know if our position changes, but its not likely." Dont make assumptions without knowing the facts...
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peteswindon added 19:13 - Oct 1 I don't blame the players, after all they are not supporters of the clubs they play for. It is up to the club to give good enough offers to make players sign, Think about it if your current employers offered you a contract, and you knew you could get a much better one somewhere else what would you do?
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