Town keeper Will Norris says he has no plans to leave the Blues to return to his parent club Wolves in January, despite manager Paul Lambert having admitted worries that the Premier League side might exercise a recall clause when the transfer window opens.

Norris says a return to Molineux isn’t in his thoughts and says his parent club are happy with how things are going for him at Portman Road.

“No, I’m here to play as far as I know until I’m told otherwise,” he said after yesterday's 1-0 loss at Portsmouth. “I’m here to do the job for Ipswich Town Football Club throughout the whole year. Nothing’s changed my end.

“I speak to the director of football [at Wolves, Kevin Thelwell] quite regularly, I’m here to stay and I’m here to play.”

Asked about Lambert’s rotation policy which has seen Norris and fellow keeper Tomas Holy regularly swapped in and out of the team so far this season, he said he backs the approach.

“Yes, it’s the manager’s policy, he picks the team on the day that can win the team,” he added.

“The boys are behind him and we agree with it and I think that any team that he picks on a day can pick the opposition.

"We haven’t got the rub of the green today and we’ve come out on the wrong side of it.”

However, he admits it’s not easy being in and out of the team: “It’s always tricky but we’re professionals, we’ve got to go out and do the job.

“You have to take these things on the chin. No one’s playing for themselves, it’s a group effort, the club goes up, one or two people don’t just get promoted, it’s the whole football club gets promoted.

"That’s the way I see it, you play for the badge, don’t play for the name on the back.”

After the disappointment of Saturday’s defeat at Fratton Park, Norris is pleased that the Blues have a chance to get back to winning ways - they're now without a league win in five and haven't won a game over 90 minutes in eight in all competitions - quickly when Gillingham visit Portman Road on Boxing Day.

“It’s a good time to be a footballer, they roll around quickly and we’re all pointing in the same direction and [on Sunday] we’ll start working towards putting it right, and we go again,” he added.

Does he feel there is additional pressure on the Gills game because of the recent disappointing run? “We expect to win every game that we’re playing in this year. It’s a good home game and a good opportunity to have some real positivity around the football club and [for the fans to] back the boys 100 per cent.”

Town will be without skipper Luke Chambers against the Gills following his red card at Pompey, which Norris says will be a blow, however, the benefit of that much-discussed rotation policy is players being up to speed and ready to come into the team.

“Yes [Chambers’s absence is a blow], but you’ve got Willo [James Wilson], who can slot straight in. There’s strength in depth in this squad, there’s bundles of talent. Look at the players we’ve got out.

“There are players itching to get back already and when one person gets taken out, there’s another person who can step up and perform just as well.

“That’s the beauty of the rotation policy, everyone’s ready to go and give their all for the badge.”

Photo: TWTD

PositivelyPortman added 17:20 - Dec 22 He sounds desperate.
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Westy added 18:29 - Dec 22 It really does sound as if Lambert is under a bit of pressure from Wolves to give Norris some first team games.
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Len_Brennan added 19:32 - Dec 22 I don't see the beauty in the rotation system. The everyone is ready to go argument can be countered by the desire of the one getting in to make such an impression that thry hold their hold their place & become impossible to drop. Additionally, you could argue that nobody can ever be 100% on form in a stop-start system of team picking, while the team as a whole can never achieve maximum cohesion or efficiency in such a set up. And that's just with the rotation of players; throw in the never knowing what system is going to be employed at the start of a game, or coming out for the second half, really puts the cat among the pigeons. Norris is a good keeper, I like him & woukd be happy if he signed permanently. Holy is also a good keeper, certainly by Division 1 standards, and he has signed permanently; that's why I'd play him in preference. I tend to agree with @Westy, as to pressure coming from Wolves re: game time.

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ArnieM added 08:10 - Dec 23 All of these issues / problems are within Lamberts grasp to stop. The question is, will he ?
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Karlosfandangal added 09:09 - Dec 23 Town's UEFA winning team I think 2 players played 66 games that season and most played at least 40. Sir Bobby only changed players if injured etc, would Town had won more trophies if he had rotated the team more. He did say on the 1981 video that the semi final against Man City came too quick because of 5he amount of games and the players being tired and ran out of steam. But that's a team playing top level football and towards the end of the season not league 1 If you watch Butcher in the interview after his goal against Cologne he is drinking a pint and smoking a fag, yet today we have dieticians who model the food to each player and gives them slow energy release food before the game. Think PL is trying to make a simple game to complicated, it's not a CM game rest a player and they are on top form again, pick a settled side and played the best team and stick with a formation replace banned and injured players and let teams worry about Ipswich. Teams come here with their formation and we change are to suit them, let them change their formation. We will win against Gillingham but it's the Lincoln and Wycombe game I can see us slipping up because they are must win games now.

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SamWhiteUK added 09:27 - Dec 23 Holy should be playing, full stop. He's ours, for a start, and we shouldn't be chopping and changing the keeper so often (or the rest of the line-up, but that's another thing)
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Dissboyitfc added 11:15 - Dec 23 Bit of a contradiction, one minute all the lads believe in it, then minute it's difficult being in and out of the team! It should be the player who is the team holds onto that position until there is a reason to change it.
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DurhamTownFan added 19:08 - Dec 23 I know he isn't perfect, but Holy for me should play the majority of games because he's ours and we signed him first and he played the whole pre season. Reminds me a bit of when we signed Andy Marshall and then Sereni late in the summer and it upset the balance. Also, he seems like a very popular guy, and so the players would be happier. Nothing against Norris as a player or a guy, but I thought we needed back up when we signed him and that's how I'd use him. If wolves want him back then let them.

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