Town boss Paul Lambert says he’s identified three potential permanent signings he wants to add to his squad but admits that movement on bringing players in “probably don’t go as quick” as he would like.

Lambert currently has two centre-halves on trial, former Lincoln man James Wilson and ex-Walsall defender Jon Guthrie, both of whom were involved in today’s training session on the Portman Road pitch.

“The two of them have done well, James has been here a bit longer,” Lambert said when asked about the duo.

“We need to sign a centre-half. Whether that’s one of the lads here or whatever, we need to look at that area. As I’ve said before, we still need a bit of strength in some areas.”

Reflecting further on how many players he needs to bring in, he added: “I would reckon about three at least to come in and we’ve identified lads, so it’s over to [owner] Marcus [Evans] and [general manager of football operations] Lee [O’Neill] to try and get them in.”

Might those additions be loans? “No, the three lads that I’ve identified wouldn’t be loans, it’s over to the club now.”

Having said he would like his signings made early in the summer, is he now becoming frustrated? “Things annoy me, yes, but that’s part and parcel of football.

"As I’ve said before, it’s a brilliant club with a terrific fanbase behind it. Things probably don’t go as quick as I want to them to.”

Asked whether that’s something he’s found at Town or at clubs in generally, Lambert paused before picking his words carefully.

“They don’t exactly move massively quick, you know? But as I said before it’s a brilliant club, great support behind it,” he continued.

“You’ve even seen today, the club is starting to get a generation of young fans into the club.

“The football club needs the town without a doubt and the town needs the club. I think the place on that side of it has gone really, really well, season tickets sales [approaching the 12,000 mark] have gone incredibly well.

“Everything structure-wise is starting to get a base. The Community Trust will start to get going. But ultimately the team is really, really important for everybody to bounce off each other. As I said, we’ve identified guys, whether they come I don’t know.”

Lambert says he’s hopeful of adding to his squad prior to the season opener at Burton a week on Saturday.

“I would hope so, but if it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen, but we need a wee bit of strength,” he added.

Earlier in the week the Blues were linked with a loan move for Birmingham right-back Josh Cogley, a report which we understand to be wide of the mark.

“We’ve had loads of people thrown at us, not just right-backs, there have been loads of guys thrown at us,” Lambert said when asked about the 23-year-old.

“You just see who you think is the best, but there’s loads of players, ones that I’ve identified that I think maybe could come in and help us.

“It’s over to Marcus and Lee to go and [get the deals sorted]. I’m involved a little bit obviously, who I think can come and help us. The rest of the stuff, it’s over to the owner.”

Lambert also confirmed that in addition to any signings he makes before the season starts Janoi Donacien could come into his thoughts for a centre-back role against Burton with skipper Luke Chambers suspended and Toto Nsiala injured.

“Yes, he was a centre-back at Villa for us, he’s done well at right-back,” he continued. “I’ll see between now and next Saturday what we’ll try and do.”

Photo: TWTD

smithy0981 added 18:02 - Jul 25 Because Evans is a useless idiot and it's always the same old story. Single handedly ruined this club
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MickMillsTash added 18:08 - Jul 25 For all Lamberts party line he knows the squad is not good enough - the youngsters may not be up to it and should Norwood get injured - who is going to score ? I hope he has been telling Evans that all summer and is now just upping the anti given we've got 2 injuries, losing Judge and the team is not looking like world beaters In defence of ME - Ipswich is a hard sell on a budget

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deano85 added 18:08 - Jul 25 This sounds like a turning point, PL basicly just wiped his hands of responsibility regarding transfers... Players identified. Its up to ME...
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BeattiesBackPocket added 18:14 - Jul 25 MickMillsTash you're right but who's made it a hard sell now? He has! Taking us from championship challengers under Magilton to league one team in ten years isn't excellent business and doesn't make us an attractive business. This is from an extremely successful businessman as well!
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horse added 18:21 - Jul 25 Reading between the lines I think Lambert is getting sick and tired, of Evans now and if the first few Results don't go Accordingly he Will be OFF That's down to Evans 🤔🤔🤔
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TimmyH added 18:33 - Jul 25 Whats new?...
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Dolphinblue added 19:23 - Jul 25 Think the Bart issue is key but yes, same old Evans whose spending ended years ago. Such a shame that the two managers given funds Keane and Hurst were least worthy of those funds
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Cakeman added 19:24 - Jul 25 Very worrying comments from PL. A familiar story. I really believe we have the ideal manager for us. However if he doesn't get the players in that he wants I fear he could leave. It's obvious to all that we need to add numbers given the amount of players we have unavailable through injury. Therefore our owner just needs to push the boat out more than five yards!
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RegencyBlue added 19:39 - Jul 25 Lamberts interview this morning was very revealing! He threw Evans right under the bus and wiped his hands of any responsibility if no more players come in. Doesn't tell us anything we didn't know about where our problems lie but good to see he isn't going to shield Evans as his predecessor did!
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KernewekBlue added 19:54 - Jul 25 Unfortunately, I believe PL is now really finding out what life is like as a manager of Ipswich Town Football Club under the ownership of Marcus Evans. We all knew there wasn't going to be a huge transfer budget just sitting there, waiting to be utilised on quality players to enable us to rise back to The Championship unchallenged. We will, once again, be left bemused and bewildered by the transfer dealings of our beloved club and will no doubt rue the frugality of our owner, unless he changes tack and puts his money where his mouth is. Unless he shows some ambition to repair the damage he's done since he took the helm, we'll continue to steam full-tilt towards the iceberg of lower league obscurity. I would hope some lessons have been learnt from the past mistakes Evans has made by underdoing the work needed to compete, survive and progress. If Evans trusts him as manager of this club, Lambert needs some financial backing to achieve the goal of promotion... Evans needs to stop prevaricating and get some deals done NOW! Give PL the tools to win, Marcus!

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BtreeBlueBlood added 19:56 - Jul 25 Same old same old situation! And then get to the bottom of the barrel.
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TonyMowbray added 20:06 - Jul 25 Get your F'ing finger out Evans......it's the least you can do.
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Cloddyseedbed added 21:07 - Jul 25 I am not surprised at all.
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ITFCsince73 added 21:34 - Jul 25 What he's trying to say is.....I've identified another 3 players, but we're getting out done again.
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Counago93 added 22:38 - Jul 25 Same old stuff from Evans. The guy just doesn't learn... I can see Lambert walking if things don't go well early in the season and he isn't given the backing by Evans.
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cranky_old_tractor added 23:19 - Jul 25 Same ole shat, different lower league. Evans support PL or sell up
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harlingblue added 02:31 - Jul 26 Two players that PL ignored last year, that should be in our starting line up, Donacien at RIGHT BACK and Rowe at RIGHT WING/WING BACK. Two up front a must, Norwood and Jackson could form a great partnership at this level? Attack is the best form of defence, that should be the ITFC clarion call.
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Barty added 08:15 - Jul 26 Our beloved club is in an unbelievably bad state and is only going to get worse with our tw*t of an owner but noboby wants to buy our club so we are stuck with a tight fisted owner that doesn't give a stuff about ITFC. I wish Evans had never got involved as all he has done is ruined us. God I hate ME.
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braveblue added 08:38 - Jul 26 Typical Evans and token mouthpiece performance. Same every year. We don't stand a chance with this incompetent fool in charge.
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herfie added 09:40 - Jul 26 With this implied criticism,together with recent comments regarding how this ‘great club' was allowed to lose it's connection with both supporters and the local community, can't help but wonder how long PL will soldier on. Detect deep feelings of disbelief and frustration, offset only by the supporters' fantastic loyalty and depth of love for the club. ‘They deserve much better....' Of course, ME will no doubt calculate that PL would never accept defeat, but feel honour bound to stay and try to turn things round. But of course that's loyalty going one way only: hey, that's business!

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Razor added 11:14 - Jul 26 Do we trust Evans and O"Neil to do the business------not me but would be happy to be proved wrong. Lamby is sounding a little peed off now----will he stay? All this uncertainty is not good with 10 days to kick off.
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