Town boss Paul Lambert expressed his frustrations with the incoming transfer situation at his first press conference of the new season this morning, citing “the way the club’s run” for the lack of new signings.

Having said he hoped to make three permanent additions last week, Town have added keeper Will Norris on loan to replace Bartosz Bialkowski, who has joined Millwall on a similar basis, while another loan deal, the signing of Lions striker Tom Elliott, broke down due to concerns regarding his hamstring injury.

While trialist central defender James Wilson is set to sign a short-term deal until January today, Lambert says nothing else is currently in the pipeline.

“No, there's no one coming in which is frustrating,” he said. “But that's football here, and as I said before, we identified guys and it's not materialised, so that's where we are.”

Is that going to change over the course of the next few weeks? "I really don't know."

What's the issue been? Players asking for too much money, clubs asking for too much money? “Work it out yourself, you work it out yourself.”

A lack of budget here? A lack of investment? “You work it yourself; they're not coming and that's the way it is. We have to go with what we've got, the lads will give us everything, they're really young, but they're ready for the game.”

Is he surprised that it has been difficult to bring players in? “It's the way the club's run, it's the way it is.”

After admitting that the squad needs a bit of help - “Of course we do” - Lambert was asked whether he needs more funds from the owner.

“We've brought in two free transfers and one loan and maybe one short-term, you don't need to be Einstein to see what it is,” he responded.

Asked whether that is enough to get out of League One, Lambert gave a perhaps sobering assessment: “No it's not, absolutely not.”

He added: “I'm not happy with the situation and the way things are. I've said before that the club is a brilliant club and it's got a brilliant fanbase behind it with lads that need a bit of help. We can't sit here and say it's right what's happening.”

Does Lambert believe that the slowness in getting deals done is down to the structure of the club with owner Marcus Evans in charge of transfer negotiations rather than a sporting director/director of football or a chief executive?

“I don’t know because I’ve not been here too long, you’ll know better than I do, I don’t know how it kind of works,” he said. “But I’ve been at a lot of clubs and played at a lot of clubs so, maybe it is the way here.”

Does the owner being involved in his other businesses a factor in deals not getting done as quickly as he would like? “I don’t know, I really don’t. I don’t know. All I’m interested in is the football club, all I’m interested in is the club - the club, the team, the support.

“That’s everything, no outside influence on anything else or anything else on the outside, it’s the football club that’s the most important.”

He says Evans is aware of his frustrations - “Yes” - and asked whether he is willing to do something about it said: “I don't know. I need to ask him that as well.”

Regarding his relationship with the Blues’ owner, he continued: “It's good. He says his bit and I say my bit, and somewhere along the line we try and meet in the middle.”

Asked if the pair are currently on a different page with the regard to the transfer situation, he said: “No, you're saying that, you can't allege that, we're not on a different page, the two of us know exactly how it is, but it's not my money.”

Given the lack of available funds, might he have to sell in order to buy? “There could be a bit of that, but we have to wait and see.”

But he says the players he has, he wants to keep: “Yeah, that's exactly it. But that's the challenge of management at times, I don't mind that and that can happen, it's the size of the club and expectancy level is really big.

“The history and what happened in the past attached to it with a great team and lads that have been promoted here and the great UEFA Cup team.

“The history of the club is huge, and quite rightly it should have that feeling about it, but if you have to sell to bring people in then, I'm pretty sure that's going to be a factor.”

But he says there’s been little interest in his players this summer in any case: “Apart from Judgey, I've not heard too much.”

Lambert says he still wants to bring in those three players with Town having until September 2nd to add to the squad: “Yes, but they're not going to come in before tomorrow, that's for sure.

"Then hopefully [Jon] Nolan and [Gwion] Edwards start to come back, and then Toto [Nsiala]. Luke [Chambers] will be back, so hopefully, we'll get one or two back and become stronger.”

Lambert played down the chances of former loanee Will Keane coming into his thoughts: “Will did really well and got a really bad injury with his hamstring.

“I don't know what he's been doing training-wise, or if he's been training with a team or individually, you can't compare training individually to a team, it's impossible because you'll never get the fitness back.

“So, even if we were to sign Will Keane the number of weeks it would take him to get up to speed could easily be into September, eight or nine games. So the likelihood would be no.”

He dismissed the suggestion that he might not have sold Ellis Harrison if he’d known there would be a struggle to bring in additions.

“Ellis had to go, that was important for Ellis, and I don't want to keep someone here that wants to go or finds themselves down the pecking order, whatever it is you don't want that to happen,” he said.

“[James] Norwood’s come in and been unbelievable for us, [Kayden] Jackson’s playing well, Idris [El Mizouni] is stepping up to the plate, so there are options, but we still need a little bit of help there.”

Would Harrison have been the third choice striker if he’d remained at the club? “No, because everybody starts on a clean slate at the start of the season.

“It’s who performs in the pre-season games and you think, 'He's playing well, we can go with him,' so everybody would have been an equal.”

He says he’s not seen anything of the £450,000 from Harrison’s sale to Portsmouth with much of it having gone to his former club Bristol Rovers.

“Ellis Harrison money went back to Bristol Rovers,” he said. “How much of it? All of it. So there’s no money that’s come in.”

Asked how that worked, he added: “The sell-on thing or whatever it is, it goes back, it doesn't come in here. If he came in here then I’m pretty sure I’d have spent it. Have you seen me buy anybody?”

The Blues have also received significant sell-ons from Matt Clarke’s switch from Portsmouth to Brighton and Tyrone Mings’s move from AFC Bournemouth to Aston Villa, while they could land another windfall of around £1 million with Adam Webster expected to join the Seagulls from Bristol City for a fee in excess of £20 million and another £325,000 with Kieffer Moore expected to join Wigan from Barnsley for £4 million.

“Mings, Clarke, maybe Webster, we haven’t bought one player,” the Blues boss continued. “I don’t know if the money has come in, nobody has told me it has come in. I don’t know.”

He added: “Whatever way those deals were structured before I came in, whenever the money comes in, it could be three years’ time down the line, four years down the line, it could be now, I don’t know.

"But you haven’t seen one player I’ve bought, I’ve not bought a player.”

However, having said in the past that he was initially reticent about taking the job due to his previous Norwich City connections, he says he has no regrets.

“No, I wouldn’t have changed for the world to be in front of the support," he added.

"The support’s been brilliant. The feeling towards us as staff since we came in, I think it's been unrivalled, I think that’s been apparent.

“I would never change the support for all the money in the world because they’ve been brilliant with me.

“Frustration at the way that things probably don’t get done as quick as the way [I would like], but that’s football. But it’s certainly a little bit different but the support I wouldn’t change.”

Meanwhile, we understand claims in the Turkish media claiming Trabzonspor are trying to sign Blues keeper Bartosz Bialkowski on a permanent basis despite his loan move to Millwall having been completed earlier in the week are wide of the mark.

Photo: TWTD

suffolkpunchdrunk added 13:09 - Aug 2 Disappointed with PL. Frustrated and angry he may be but when he also claims to not know so much about things behind the scenes at the club then he should have made it his job to find out. He should be having these discussions and airing these frustrations with ME behind closed doors and not in front of the media the day before a new season. Smacks of unproffesionalism and petulance. Do your job with what you have or walk away if you are that unhappy.

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lightingblue added 13:12 - Aug 2 I can see him going. Just a matter of when.
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Len_Brennan added 13:15 - Aug 2 The early signing of Norwood had me feeling confident - the right type of player, a goal scorer who was on the radar of a number of clubs - it really seemed like we had gotten it together so we would be squad ready to launch into a league challenge from day 1. But then, reality struck again. In many ways this was as depressing a press conference as those at the end of Hurst's reign, uncertainty, unstated recrimination & a snese of depaiir. In circumstances where no money at all had come into the club I could understand & live it a policy of no fees being paid for getting players in; but the Mings, Clarke & very likely Webster money is not unsubstantial. Not getting a centre half in for the start of last season was absolutely critical in our poor start and the general feeling of malaise around the place; it was an error and our penny pinching cost us dear. To be in the same position again this year is criminal - not meaning any disrespect to Wilson, who Lambert clearly doesn't fancy beyond emergency cover. The Ellis Harrison/Bristol Rovers bit makes no sense though. Sell on clauses are always (well 99.9% if not always) based on the profit made between the 2 sales, but in his case we bought him for £300k more than we sold him for, so there can't be any sell on percentage due. If Lambert has been told than he can't have any money from the transfer because it all had to go to Bristol Rovers, it can only mean that we didn't pay them the £750k up front last year, at best. At worst, Lambert has been spun a load of rubbish in order to justify not giving him anything for a fee required transfer target.

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Gilesy added 13:24 - Aug 2 Surely today wasn't the day to have a big public sulk...fully justified, but what is he going to gain by being so downbeat one day before the season begins?
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nathitfc89 added 13:25 - Aug 2 who can blame PL for feeling that way and saying what he thinks. a few home truths might give ME a kick up the arse, maybe ME is expecting to walk this league with little investment, how wrong he will be.
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ITFCsince73 added 13:26 - Aug 2 Suffolkpunch. Sounds to me PL is sick and tired of telling the powers that be what's required. And knowing the clubs ownership, he's sick and tired to be told each time. Like it or lump it. Same sought of attitude given to the clubs customers for so long. Apart from of course when they want their customers onside, or trying to sell season tickets.
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JaySwitch added 13:34 - Aug 2 I like him even more for saying how it is!
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pazzy added 13:34 - Aug 2 lambert has got everybody onside and that prat evans is undoing it all
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ITFCsince73 added 13:40 - Aug 2 To keep the most loyal customer on board the offer of a one off pre match dinner. It really is no surprise how he made his millions.... He certainly has an art in anything gullible. The spin to come from our club over these past years has been something else. And by and large has kept people on board. And before anyone takes offence, I've followed the club for 40 plus years, so that shows how gullible i am.

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OldClactonBlue added 13:40 - Aug 2 suffolkpunchdrunk. Walk away, really, what planet are you on. He is the reason that many of us have bought Season Tickets. Evans needs to get behind him big time.
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terryf added 13:42 - Aug 2 I've said this all along, Evans came up short in The Championship and will do the same in League One. Sorry but it's a recipe for disaster. If you want to improve you've got to invest in quality players year on year. You don't need to spend a fortune but you have to show intent. If we don't we will be languishing in League One for quite a few seasons with little or no prospects and you can bank on Evans cashing in on his saleable assets. The centre half issue should have been sorted out weeks instead of messing around in the bargain basement!

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DoseOfReality added 13:50 - Aug 2 Oh dear .. We are in more trouble than we realize... I wonder what ME will have to say about this .. probably just keep his head down and let it blow over. Lambert walks we will be looking at many seasons in L1, another endless spiral of decline until the inevitable drop to L2. ME hang your head in shame you are a disgrace of an owner. Put up or get out.
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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 13:52 - Aug 2 Perhaps the fans should sing "Paul Lambert, we want you to stay" tomorrow! Hope there is a good turnout, and a win (or even a draw) would probably lift the spirits after a depressing start to the day today.
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Brazils_Hair added 13:53 - Aug 2 I am sick of it. Sick of Evans. If it does go really wrong this season then we need to do what we did in the John Duncan days and invade the pitch and tell the people in the posh seats what we really think. Bunch of flipping wonkers.
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LondonTractor91 added 14:03 - Aug 2 This smacks of sour grapes from PL for me. I understand his frustration, and the way Evans has run this club at times has been a disgrace. But on the eve of our first game of a really important campaign to air dirty laundry like this is not on. If this team is as young and fragile as he keeps saying then is this the right approach to motivate them into a big game? I've been a big fan of PL since the start and i can only hope this is a tactic to take pressure off them. But pick your times, and for me this isn't it. Once again we go into a campaign negatively and not focussing on the challenge right in front of us

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roystevensonsrocket added 14:03 - Aug 2 If you think this is a turbulent time may I suggest this is actually the lull before the storm . We will get 1 point out of 9 in the first three matches . It will be too late then to improve the team . PL will become more direct in his criticism of MM. He will stick around obviously until sacked in late October with us below halfway in the league, thus getting a payoff. Then there will be total civil(supporters) uprising and then GOD KNOWS WHAT but it will mean us being in div 1 or 2 for a long time

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boltzak added 14:04 - Aug 2 Me thinks PL is getting fed up. Another good manager bites the dust.
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ITFCsince73 added 14:06 - Aug 2 The reality of the situation now is defeat tomorrow and go 2 down at home in the next game. That's the point when demos will start. And ME only has himself to blame. He can only let issues blow over for so long, and run out of places to hide. That's how far the club is, potentially 100 or so mins from protest. The club needs to understand the customer has been brought up in this world to adore anything ITFC. And to some the club means everything.

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micky_1560 added 14:09 - Aug 2 Everyone was asked to get behind the club to create a positive backing for the club in what was always going to be a difficult season. Supporters dug deep into their pockets very early to show their backing, now it materializes the owner hasn't backed the manager! PL has done an amazing PR job, brought the team and fans back together, but we still don't know if he can deliver the results. This was to be the next phase of rebuilding our once great club, but now, we may never know because PL hasn't got the team he wants! How can you judge the manager if he isn't given the tools he is asking for. It's a good job we are already 12 points ahead of Bolton and Bury, but there are still 2 more relegation places! When we signed Norwood, I like others, thought what intent. Now on the eve of our most crucial season for many a year, we now realize just how difficult it will be!

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norfolkbluey added 14:19 - Aug 2 Terribly depressing. I think PL needs a counsellor from what I saw this morning. I think we all do! Living in Norfolk I have an ear to what goes on beyond Suffolk. Recently Wes Hoolahan told a close friend that he couldn't believe how our club has dropped in quality. We could have had him years ago had we stonked up the money. He really liked our club. He made this comment after playing for Cambridge against us. He thought it sad! ME has to get out of football ownership asap. He just hasn't the stomach for it. All we have seen under his ownership is a steady decline in the quality of football. Yes he has lost money but that is inevitable in the short come. He just isn't willing to jump in fully and also get some quality management who know the game well enough to not make mistakes as he has done. Our neighbours have managed it so why can't we? We are leaking our talented players and not replacing them! I feel so sorry for PL. He's only been with us for such a short time and already he looks ready to leave. But can you blame him, with an owner like ME. He saved us once so what's stopping him now? Perhaps it is........ TIME TO GO AND PLEASE FIND US A NEW OWNER QUICKLY MARCUS BEFORE WE SLIP DOWN FURTHER ! Thank you Paul for hanging on. The fans love you.

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Steve_D added 14:20 - Aug 2 And still the happy clappy lot don't see it , as I have said , closer to non league than premiership football
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BurleysGloryDays added 14:22 - Aug 2 Yeah really disappointing Presser, the club's finances are what they are and I maintain, we need to be filling the stadium before we can shout at the owner - who puts a lot of cash in. All the times Evans has gambled on the club, it hasn't worked. He's had fingers burned. And financial fair play is a reality too. Mick always accepted the state of play, but it seems Lambo, even if he's accepting it, is keen for us fans to understand it's not him, the blame goes elsewhere. I think Lambo clearly is deeply feeling the pressure. And that's not a bad thing, hopefully he can motivate the team and make them feel like underdogs, so they perform. Results on the field are one of the only ways out of this. And, perhaps, Evans giving his man a little more backing. Provided it's legal within FFP

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BurleysGloryDays added 14:25 - Aug 2 Let's all try to be reasonable. Talk of demonstrations and protests, are precisely the opposite of what we need right now. We know the problems, but we MUST G A L V A N I S E. COME ON YOU BLUES!
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dirtydingusmagee added 14:25 - Aug 2 Well anyone [and there were many] who couldnt see the writing on the wall, must see it now. PL has put it there in BIGGER letters. He is swimming against the tide and losing ,Evans will sit on a rock filing his nails and watch him drown. Paul Lambert WONT stay and the club WILL sink further . Ive said it before and i feel even more convinced now. SAD, BAD, DAYS ,AND IT WILL GET WORSE.

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Brockleyblue added 14:26 - Aug 2 I would be very surprised if PL is still with us by the second week of September. This is clearly an open letter to Evans to ask him in no uncertain terms to put his hand in his wallet before the end of the transfer window. If he doesn't PL will almost certainly be on his way, either by resigning or saying enough anti-Evans stuff that he will be fired. Completely sympathize with PL, I would't stick around much longer if I were him, the state we are in is going to harm his managerial CV, so much better for him to leave very soon before the whole situation gets a whole lot worse. What a grim state of affairs.

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