Keeper Scott Loach has joined Championship new boys Rotherham United on a two-year deal after his contract with Town was cancelled by mutual consent. Boss Mick McCarthy had previously made the 26-year-old available for transfer with his opportunities having been limited during 2013/14.

Loach, a Blues supporter and academy schoolboy as a youngster, returned to Town in the summer of 2012, joining from Watford for a fee of £150,000 and signing a contract which was due to run until the summer of 2015.

He made 32 starts and one sub appearance but never firmly established himself at Portman Road.

“My time at the club is over but I just want to thank everyone for making me feel welcome here,” the former England U21 international told the club site.

“I’ve always had a great reception from the fans and I think the club is a credit to itself. The people at the club and the fans who support Ipswich all deserve a big future and I hope they get just that.”

A Town spokesman added: "The club would like to thank Scott for all his efforts in a Town shirt and we wish him well for the future."

Rotherham boss Steve Evans told the Millers' official site: “Scott has made over 150 starts for Watford in the Championship so he has great experience at this level.

"He has played under the likes of the excellent Malky Mackay and Brendan Rodgers and they are two individuals who know a player when they see one.

"He has just turned 26 so he is at a good age; he has previously been called up to the England senior squad and has been capped repeatedly at U21 level.

"He has great stature, he kicks well, he has all the attributes that a top keeper needs and he fits in perfectly to what we are looking for.”

He added: “Similar to Matt Derbyshire and Conor Newton we are signing a player who is still young, still has a point to prove and is hungry for success.

“He had a dream move to Ipswich, his boyhood club, for a sizeable undisclosed fee but it hasn’t quite worked out as he would have wished.

"We are delighted to sign Scott, like our other signings, he has a fantastic pedigree and he wants to help take this club and his career forward.

“I talked to him purely on football terms and the discussions were very straightforward. He wants to come in and grab the number one shirt and he is under no illusions to how tough that will be.

"Both our keepers will know that come August 9th I will pick the person that we genuinely believe deserves the shirt, there can be no other way.”

Meanwhile, former Yeovil central defender Byron Webster, who has been linked with the Blues amongst others this summer, is reported to be close to joining Millwall.

The Blues watched Webster and his former Glovers team-mate Luke Ayling in action last season with the latter understood to be of greater interest.

Right-back Ayling is, like Webster, out of contract but as he's only 22 Yeovil would be entitled to compensation, however, manager Gary Johnson says no club has so far been in contact to make an offer.

Photo: Action Images

bluejay added 18:25 - Jun 5 Where are the new signings...
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muccletonjoe added 18:36 - Jun 5 Sincerely wish you all the best scott
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Pip50 added 18:37 - Jun 5 Can we cancel MM's contract and pass him on? Should be a 40 something x Wolves keeper available. I know let's cancel all contracts to save money and re recruit in August to save a couple of months pay, when all clubs become desperate and the price goes up.
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NW10_Tractor added 18:40 - Jun 5 I guess that opens the door to tempt another true blue to Portman Road-- stand up Col U Keeper Sam Walker...
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blueboy1981 added 18:54 - Jun 5 ........ with the amount of players MM will have on the goal line next season who needs another keeper ? - only joking of course, well I hope I am, but not entirely convinced. If we do need one I'm sure there must be a 40 + year old out there somewhere, with a long standing hamstring injury looking for that last contract for peanuts. Makes much more sense than a promising 26 year old - who admittedly needed a bit of good Coaching !!

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yorksblue added 19:17 - Jun 5 The guy at Southend (Bentley) looks a decent prospect. I would take a punt with him, rather than the Col U bloke, who I've seen on a number of occasions, and for a big bloke, is pretty dodgy.
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yorksblue added 19:19 - Jun 5 However, I'd rather have a proper No 1, and Speroni/Westwood would do it for me. See Budgies finally found a striker today.
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Dozzells_Bobblehat added 19:33 - Jun 5 Blueboy - Loach isn't in the same league as Wickham or Rhodes and I think the majority of us thought they would make it so calm down. He. loves the club but do do you and I, does that mean we should get a game? Best of luck to him but he isn't good enough if we want to move forward.
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blueboy1981 added 19:45 - Jun 5 Bobblehat ......... not necessarily disagreeing with you - but you surely get the point I make. Youngsters are the 'life blood' of our Club for obvious reasons to us all - I personally can assess players well enough to know potential when I see it, and in cases such as this Loach, could, and should, have had better Coaching whilst here. Whether the reason is because MM didn't rate him / or even like him !! I do not know. I hate to see young players lost to us - and go on to ply their succesful trade elsewhere - unless we HAVE to sell. This, I am sure you will agree, is an area we fail in, and miss out on BIG TIME - and need to do better. Otherwise - we tread water - at best.

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Dozzells_Bobblehat added 19:46 - Jun 5 Westwood from Sunderland for me please
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brittaniaman added 19:48 - Jun 5 Mutual Consent does that mean that Marcus Evans has had to pay him off to leave ??? It is about time that we sold a player for a change, instead of keep paying them off ??? The Dark Lord and Jewellio should have paid Marcus Evans for the mistakes they made instead of him paying them off !!!!!!!!!!! No wonder he has had to tighten the purse strings since that duo left...

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LWNR2013 added 19:49 - Jun 5 Having watched all of both's home games, it is clear (to me at least) that Gerkin has justifiably been No.1. Yes, Gerk's has made mistakes (who hasn't?) but I don't get palpatism's every time there's a cross, either from open play or a corner. Loachy seems to be a nice bloke though!
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Dozzells_Bobblehat added 19:51 - Jun 5 Blueboy - agreed , if the youngster (Loach 26 ?) is good enough - he isnt ! I dont think he can be coached enough to become a top quality keeper as its his natural decision making that lets him down. Dont get me wrong DG isnt much better and i personally think its a key area we need to improve on, but i really cant see SL proving MM wrong and i think its the right decision.

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blueboy1981 added 19:52 - Jun 5 ..... also whatever league Rhodes / Wickham are in, compared to Loach - they were both HERE with enormous potential - and what happened ?? This is exactly what has to stop - for the Club we love - to move forward once again.
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blueboy1981 added 20:00 - Jun 5 .......... same old minus punchers only know one button - and of course one opinion as a consequence !! - nothing changes there then.
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blueboy1981 added 20:04 - Jun 5 ........ let's all buy the Pint, and the Pie, wear the Hat, keep turning up - and care not what. Some obviously do, and will forever do likewise - whatever. Debate is beyond such, I guess, for whatever reason.
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blueboy1981 added 20:06 - Jun 5 ........LWNR2013 ......... proven beyond doubt. I rest my case.
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62WasBest added 20:08 - Jun 5 runaround - Who says we paid him off? It says his contract was cancelled by mutual consent. I read that as he had chance to go, we wanted to get him off the financial books and it was agreed by both parties that he'd leave. He gains by having a new club and time to settle before next season in return for us not having to pay him.
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Jimmy86 added 20:20 - Jun 5 LWNR2013 you cant say that gerken was streets ahead of loach!!! There wasn't much in it all. Both good shot stoppers, which at this level they should be anyway. Loach's distribution was better than gerkens, who's jicking is suspect to say the least. Loach didnt command his area well enough, but then again gerken didnt either. Against watford away and wigan and bournemouth at home he conceded poor goals from well delievered set plays, because he was caught in no mans land. Gerken made more mistakes than loach did and costly ones at that

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jas0999 added 20:33 - Jun 5 I wish him well and hope he continues to be a supporter of ITFC. However, frankly this is a good move for all parties. Agree that Gerken isn't much better, but nonetheless he is marginally better of in my opinion two very average keepers. I hope we sign a new number one in the Summer as a Decent keeper can gain you a few extra points in a season, which could prove vital.

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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 20:47 - Jun 5 Good luck to Scott. He's bound to benefit from playing regularly as opposed to never knowing when he's going to be in the team or not. On another tack, Naarwich have signed Grabban: this is not the kind of news we want to hear, and I fear they'll be up there (probably above us) next season. I just hope we can give them a run for their money. COYB!
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TOWNNNNNN added 20:53 - Jun 5 When did he get called up for the England senior squad?? I did not realise he had! "He has just turned 26 so he is at a good age; he has previously been called up to the England senior squad and has been capped repeatedly at U21 level.
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Superblue95 added 21:02 - Jun 5 TOWNNNNN- I believe he got called up for a friendly or a qualifier after the last world cup when Green and James were banished to the history books, he never played tho obviously. Best of luck Loachy hope we sign Keiren Westwood, great keeper in my view
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alexsmith111 added 22:01 - Jun 5 Don't blame him for wanting more games, I almost would have had a bigger issue with him settling for number 2 instead if leaving. Slate MM, but he let the lad go and probabily cost us very little to close out contract. Once a blue always a blue but who likes being second best, and he was, unfortunately, second best
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alexsmith111 added 22:06 - Jun 5 Sorry also loving the optimism and upbeat messages on the board of fans of a team with the highest finish in 7 years with 50k spent on transfer fees last year. Jees we had one of the most optimistic season of the championship considering our debt and we still can't get behind MM and his team + the squad. Sorry but no team is perfect and MM has done an outstanding job. Anyone who disagrees become a villa fan and have round 2 of keane

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