General manager of football operations Lee O’Neill has revealed that the Blues turned down offers “into the millions” for players on deadline day. TWTD revealed last night that a Brighton and Hove Albion bid for Armando Dobra was rebuffed by Town.

In addition to Brighton’s move for Dobra - which we understand was an initial £350,000 - several of the Blues’ youngsters have attracted interest in recent months.

Flynn Downes is understood to be interesting Fulham and West Ham, while Sheffield United and QPR are among those who have been keeping tabs on Luke Woolfenden.

“We did receive offers from clubs for players,” O’Neill told iFollow Ipswich. “I’m not going to comment on individual players or the clubs involved other than to say there was Premier League interest.

“It would have been easy for Marcus to have sold some of our players but he is not going to be bullied into doing that by the big boys.

“There were offers, into the millions for some of our players but he turned them down because he felt they weren’t right for the club.

“The long term objective of the club and Marcus is to try and keep our best players, our best young players and continue to develop them.

“Some of the clubs at the top of our league have sold some of their best players and we have managed to hold on to ours.”

O’Neill also confirmed that Town have made moves to add to their squad: “We were at the table with some players. We wanted to bring in players that were fit and actively ready to go.

“They had to be at the level of what we have already or better. Some of the bigger clubs we were talking to want some guarantees before they let their players out or there are penalties put in place so there are a lot of factors.”

Photo: TWTD

TimmyH added 14:49 - Feb 1 Soon lets us know that...probably for Woolfie and Downes, lets hope this is Evans turning over a new leaf.
1

midastouch added 14:51 - Feb 1 Fair play for sending the scavengers packing. Hopefully they are learning from past mistakes. I'd rather we kept our young talent (as far as possible) rather than seeing them flourish elsewhere. Clearly if we don't go up this season the vultures will return ready to swoop down on Portman Road with much lower bids and offers than we might expect if were a Championship club. As such, there's a hell of a lot at stake between now and May.

4

Guthrum added 14:53 - Feb 1 That was always the other side of this transfer window, keeping hold of the decent players we have. Probably more valuable than new additions.
8

Dozzells_Bobblehat added 14:54 - Feb 1 Wait for it ...I'm sure someone will turn this into an anti Evans rant .
4

Zondervantheman added 14:57 - Feb 1 Well these superstars had better pull their finger out as those around us have made some significant signings. And show their intent to get out of this league...
3

JimInGreensboro added 15:07 - Feb 1 Fine. But, how many bids did we make?
3

ElephantintheRoom added 15:21 - Feb 1 Clearly it is better to rake in the cash in the next financial year. This year is done and dudted.
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Surco72 added 15:43 - Feb 1 Peterborough got Szmodics Inman window 3 goals in 4 games , they obviously have some ambition
2

surgery added 15:44 - Feb 1 So that will have been 1.9 million for Exskuse, who else I wonder?
0

Hegansheros added 15:52 - Feb 1 Need a couple in if we are going for it. Clearly we are not.
1

runningout added 15:58 - Feb 1 doesn't hide the room we have for improvement
0

Trequartista added 16:02 - Feb 1 What do you want a medal? You can spin it all you like but your boss is dragging our club down the divisions and destroying it, and taking the pi$$ by awarding an under-achieving manager a five year contract.
4

Suffolkboy added 16:09 - Feb 1 The finances in football come out of the ‘loony bin ‘ and ‘ bedlam ‘ prevails : we've a soundly based strategy ,a good management team with their heads firmly screwed on AND though sentiment sways our views , we ought to have always a great deal more trust in the outcomes of their deliberations . PL and O ‘N have been pretty honest and as open as can be ( there has to be some privileged action and info with- held ) and its clear many players ,who ought and need to be performing in competitive games are being restrained ,and retained by the more elite clubs . So please let us always try to balance our views with a reference to reality ,and realise it may take a little time and patience to rebuild both the squad and the Club ! I think we've made a great start towards that goal ! So COYB

0

Hegansheros added 16:18 - Feb 1 If we cannot afford to compete with rotherham, blackpool, and the like, ,even for loan players, how the hell are we going to rebuild. If Evans does not sell this club to somebody who cares, league 2 and administration beckons.
4

Zondervantheman added 16:40 - Feb 1 Not sure we are even in the top 3 clubs in east anglia. I have to say I would have to consider carefully if I was offered the current Colchester squad and manager over our squad that's allegedly worth millions!!!
1

Coco added 16:52 - Feb 1 Bullshjite you moron! Stop spinning us crap and get results on the field!
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jong75 added 17:03 - Feb 1 No good news about any new signings so the next best thing, make something up about about our wonderful owner rejecting millions for unnamed bids for unnamed players. What a croc of 5h1t.
2

DurhamTownFan added 17:06 - Feb 1 Well this is good, but it doesn't make evans a good owner all Of a sudden. A good owner would have rejected the bids ANd given the manager a little Something to spend at a crucial stage of a season that could now Peter our. How good an owner is he going to look if we get stuck in this division?
2

Doctor_Earman added 17:11 - Feb 1 “It would have been easy for Marcus to have sold some of our players but he is not going to be bullied into doing that by the big boys.'' Like when we sold our 3 time Player of the Year for 500k to Millwall you mean?
4

Vanisleblue2 added 17:35 - Feb 1 Shut up O'Neill...look at these players. We are in division 3 getting ripped apart at home by another team from East Anglia. Disgraceful...look at the real picture- we haven't been in this division since the 50's and cannot beat ANY team in the top 6. I would have Dembele, Toney and Szmodics ahead of anyone but Garbutt in our team
2

NBVJohn added 17:37 - Feb 1 The big boys....... Brighton, Fulham, QPR. Will the downward spiral ever end? It's good that we've hung onto our promising young players, but this sounds like the sort of hogwash that Milne used to try and have us believe about how Evans is some kind of saviour, and that everything is fine when it patently isn't. This is the biggest non news spin on nothing at all of the season so far. Presumably Evans dreamt up this PR car crash personally. If I were O'Neill I'd be embarrassed.

1

RegencyBlue added 18:03 - Feb 1 The reason Evans turned down bids now would only be because he thinks he can get more in the summer. If we don't get out of this League this season we are going to be in it for a very long time, or worse!
1

braveblue added 18:12 - Feb 1 Must be the easiest club in the world to own. A couple of words and everyone is happy. The fact that we are continuing to decline is no problem.
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eddiespearitt03 added 18:17 - Feb 1 Just a bit more propaganda to get supporters thinking Marcus Evans knows what is best for this club. This man is so incompetent that the only reason he did not sell was because it was a million short of what he would want and he is clueless who to replace them with. Lambert can keep on playing the McCarthy flops and we,ll be in League One next season.
0

MrTown added 18:24 - Feb 1 Do me a favour. Was probably a bid for Flynn Downes from West Ham of £12.00 up front and £4million if West Ham win the Champions League. Bet Evans was still scratching his head as to whether or not accept the bid. More PR crap to make out Evans has the interests of Ipswich at heart.
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