Blues MD Ian Milne says owner Marcus Evans will make cash available to manager Mick McCarthy to pay fees for new signings if required as the Town boss looks to strengthen his squad over the summer.

While most of the club’s close season additions are again likely to be Bosman free signings augmented with loanees - like most established Championship clubs - Milne says money for fees will be made available if McCarthy needs it.

“If there are some key players that are going to cost some money Marcus has said he’ll put his hand in his pocket and we’ll have to find money with which to do it.

“That would be forthcoming. We would have to do that if there aren’t the frees and the loanees out there.

“At the end of the day, it’s the footballer you’re after. There is a price tag somewhere, but they’ll be looking at footballers and whether they’re going to fit into that squad.”

He says the financial fruits of Town’s successful 2014/15 campaign have boosted the budget for the year ahead with season ticket sales up by around 1,000 on the same stage last year to more than 12,500, while overall attendances - not including the play-off first leg with Norwich - increased by 15 percent on the previous season, from an average of 17,100 to 19,600.

“The extra takings help that,” he added. “Hospitality went up 12 per cent, programmes up 23 per cent, retail sales went up 50 per cent because of Adidas. But the first team squad costs also went up by nine per cent.”

Milne says the Blues are determined to keep the current squad together as they look to build on this season’s progress: “Mick and Marcus have both come out and said ‘Hands off, this is the team we want to go with next season’, but clearly there are one or two key players that we need.

“But it’s that way around - we’ve got the team, it’s a few pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that we’re missing rather than a whole jigsaw puzzle.”

He added: “But you have to be realistic. As Mick says, if somebody makes a huge offer for somebody which you can’t stop them going for, it’s only reasonable they go for it, and then they will go.

“But at this moment in time we want to keep it together. We don’t want to go out and pick up more players than we have to because we’ve got a successful team.”

Milne says that up to now there has been no interest in anyone: “No offers for managers or players.

“I think, to be fair, it’s still quite early with the Premier League just having finished. I think people are going to go away, they’ll all be on holiday.

“I’m actually waiting for somebody to pinch our ticket office people because they did such a good job with the online ticketing. In fact they may be worth more than Tyrone Mings!

“The ticket office did so well with the online ticketing for the play-offs. They worked very hard for three or four days but it was done and dusted while some of the other clubs struggled. Our online system worked perfectly well.”

The Blues chief won’t be shocked if the Blues do receive interest in their players with a report yesterday claiming that Cardiff are targeting 27-goal Championship top scorer Daryl Murphy.

“They’ve all worked very hard and I won’t be surprised if offers like that are made. But I’m not aware of any offers," he added.

“And the same with the manager. With regards to Mick, I spoke to Marcus about this last week. He said ‘The only rumour I’ve heard is the one a few months ago where Fulham were interested. Since that time I’ve heard nothing’.

“I said that there have been other rumours going around about Mick, but it’s like when Marcus was changing a manager, he had a shortlist and I’d be very surprised if Mick wasn’t on a number of clubs’ shortlists.

“If a club has got a shortlist and word gets out about who is on that shortlist, it’s then the rumours start. But, to answer the question, nothing’s come in.”

McCarthy has said that there is a compensation clause in his contract which if met would allow other clubs to talk to him but Milne says that isn’t particularly significant.

“Quite a large payment would have to be paid,” he continued. “And whether it’s written there or not, you can always have that situation. If the price is high enough, you’re going to take it, if the person wants to leave, of course.”

As previously reported, Milne confirmed that there was a sell-on clause included in the deal which saw Aaron Cresswell join West Ham last summer with the left-back reported to be a summer target of Chelsea and Manchester City.

“We get a sell-on, which is worth a few bob, thank-you-very-much,” he said. “Tranmere get a little bit of that. It’s all good stuff and watch that space.

“Sunderland renewed Connor Wickham’s contract so there is some potential money out there, too.

“They’ve also got appearance clauses which have been paying out, so we get a little bit of help there that Mr Evans is very pleased about.”

Photo: Action Images

rambohambo added 14:01 - May 27 Interesting, very interesting, Now what ?
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BwoodBlue added 14:04 - May 27 I like it, I like it alot
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northernblues added 14:09 - May 27 I remember hearing funds were available after the money we received from the Cresswell sale?
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Lightningboy added 14:16 - May 27 Don't see that much needs changing re the first choice 11..we do need to bring in a decent winger or two though and we need to replace the Hunts,Ambrose,Chaplow,Varney and Anderson as far as squad numbers go. Still think we should've kept hold of Hewitt. Hopefully some of the kids can make an impact this season like Mings & Bishop did last year.
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Carberry added 14:17 - May 27 He means the 10K we paid for Mings up to the 100k for Sears. Nothing more.
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itfc1981 added 14:18 - May 27 He is doing a super job, no Clegg like interference. A very open interview, slightly unsettling so.
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bobble added 14:24 - May 27 yawn...
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Diamonddazzler91 added 14:32 - May 27 northernblues I suspect that the Cresswell money covered the 9% rise in playing staff costs plus clearing some of our huge debt. New deals for Mings, Bishop, Chambo, Berra (i think?) and Bru throughout the season too. The days of paying anything more than £100k is over for the majority of champ clubs, except those with parachute payments. Remember, when we did pay for players, we were bloody useless.

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itsonlyme added 14:43 - May 27 As I said before, we need to to bring in quite a few players as we have one of the thinnest squads in this division. Can't see it happening somehow but you never know!
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PYBlue added 15:08 - May 27 People moan when they don't say anything and when they do people still moan. At least this guy is coming out and giving the supporters some information on what is happening
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Michael11 added 15:12 - May 27 It's nice to know that we have money to spend if we need to, but we've been doing just fine with the way we've done business without it so I can't see us spending anything. I'd really like to see us sign two creative, pacey wingers on both sides who can run at teams. I'm sure there's players in League One and Two who'd be a bargain.
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dayvovo added 15:16 - May 27 A good signing will Magaye Gueye from Millwall..... he is free 5 goals 2 assist 9 start in a poor team this season http://www.footmercato.net/autre-championnat/info-fm-libre-comme-l-air-magaye-gu
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commuterblue added 15:31 - May 27 Will be fascinating to see how this summer pans out. With Stewart, Henshall and Connelly we have potential in the wings (sorry). But I expect at least one experienced player to be signed there.
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dayvovo added 15:43 - May 27 you're probably right but his experience of 4 years everton gives him the right not to be compared to a pans out... 9 goals in 27 games with the young french team
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trncbluearmy added 16:15 - May 27 Why are some people not able to understand that money has been made available in the past but spent on signing on fees and wages. It does not have to be spent on transfer fees, especially with bosmans around. What is significant this time is that transfer fees have been mentioned along with increased turnover. Expect Town to spend money and go for it. The Future is Bright The Future is Blue

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Surco72 added 16:26 - May 27 northernblues .... Milne said exactly the same in July last year during season ticket renewels , clever marketing . We need a class playmaker that was the only difference between us and promoted sides , we couldn't break down some sides and couldn't keep hold of the ball long enough when in front . Whether it is signing or a good loan that adds to the team over the whole season on a bigger wage ? Vydra , Bamford, Pritchard, Ibe, Ince, Boruc , Dorrans , Vossen all key loan players to sides around us this year compared to Sammon, Hunt , Varney and the injured Williams

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bohslegend added 16:54 - May 27 He's hardly going to tell other clubs we are flush with cash now is he?? If we need to haggle to get competitive market value, he's better off keeping things low key. The club is in very good hands IMO.
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MancBlue86 added 17:02 - May 27 If Mick Wanted £1M-£1.5M I think he would be given it
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Walk_the_Wark added 17:35 - May 27 Please pay the compensation for McCarthy. Then we can hire a modern manager and have money to spend! Win win.
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jas0999 added 18:00 - May 27 A interesting interview which makes me slightly more optimistic. I fully expect our club to be looking at frees and a couple of loans; but to push on and sign that player of real quality in midfield and/or the wing, I would expect it to cost money in terms of a free. Most concerning is there really isn't any ruling out of MM leaving. On the contrary I do wonder if something us going on, as Milne notes that there are several rumours. At no point does he completely rule out MM leaving. Stance on players like Mings, Bishop, Murphy etc is as expected and honest. We want to keep them, but if it's silly money and the players wants to go then they will sell. No surprise and reality for a Championship club. Overall encouraging, although like other posters I'm not sure the Cresswell money was spent. Yes, there were wages to pay for new signings, but people forget that players, like this season, also left. Freeing up wages.

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jas0999 added 18:03 - May 27 ** in terns of a fee** (not free)
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SouperJim added 18:07 - May 27 I'm impressed with Milne so far, he is far better at speaking to the press than Clegg was. A large chunk of our supporters won't be satisfied unless we go out and spend millions on fees for players. We're clearly not in a position to do that and there is little evidence that it is a recipe for success anyway, but it won't stop them whining all summer and all season long every time we lose a game.

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warktheline added 18:15 - May 27 So attendances are up! Does that suggest the brand of football offered up by McCarthy's tenure is, thus far, agreeable to more than some have previously suggested? Where's my stat-man?
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Guthrum added 19:13 - May 27 jas0999 - I don't think he can absolutely rule out the possibility of McCarthy leaving, if he's being honest. It's the same as the player situation, if someone comes in offering silly money, there's little the club can do. However, looking at Mick's previous record, he's hardly one for jumping ship at the drop of a hat (the only time he did do it was for the Ireland job). He still has unfinished business here and from what he's said in interviews, McCarthy likes the free rein he gets with Marcus Evans (and which is so notably lacking at many other clubs).

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Warkys_Tash added 19:37 - May 27 Let's go get Johny Williams if we are serious about the autos, Mr Milne. Yes we have had a good season but it was also our best chance in 10years to go up & the lack of quality brought in via the Jan Transfer activity cost us dear. 10points ahead of Watford & Norwich by the time we played Southampton at home in the cup & quite frankly we blew it. You could say expectations will be much higher!

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