Town boss Paul Cook was keeping his cards close to his chest regarding the Blues’ injury problems at this morning’s press conference ahead of tomorrow’s home game against Bristol Rovers and says the injury situation at the club hasn’t been great over a period of time and will be something which is looked at at the end of the season.

Kane Vincent-Young was subbed at half-time in last week’s 0-0 draw at Wigan, the right-back’s first competitive start in 17 months. Also missing last week were loanee Luke Matheson with a knock and James Wilson due to a knee problem.

Asked whether Vincent-Young stands a chance of being involved this weekend, Cook said: “It’s always going to be difficult, we’ve got a couple more injuries, if I’m being truthful. I don’t really want to debate each and every individual player, if that’s OK.

“I understand you guys have a job to do. If we were only speaking about one or two people, then I wouldn’t have a problem, but the reality is, the injury situation over a period of time at this club’s not been great, has it?

“We do seem to be adding to it at the minute and I’m not so sure whether that is the games, whether that is fatigue, but it’s something that we’ll seriously look at at the end of the season, that’s for sure.”

He added: “Like every manager, we want our best players on the pitch. A lot’s made of formations, tactics and all the above but there’s 11 v 11 on most pitches up and down the country each week and every manager craves to have his best 11 on the pitch.”

Cook says the injury situation, which goes back some seasons, is something he has identified as something which needs to change.

“One of the ways that I had criticised at Ipswich is that we’ve had too many injuries. I’m not saying players are not injured, I’m not saying that,” he said.

“But it becomes a nice place to be, a treatment room when things aren’t going so well. I prefer teams full of character and life and energy and the best place for those players is on the football pitch. Going forward, that’s the only way it will be at Ipswich Town, the only way.”

Asked about loanee winger Luke Thomas and midfielder Emyr Huws, neither of whom have appeared since he took charge, Cook said: “Again, I’m sure the club will probably making announcements on these guys, so I’ll leave that to the club, if that’s OK.

“Luke’s a different sort of situation, Luke’s had some personal issues that had to be dealt with away from football, so we certainly wish Luke well.

“And obviously Emyr’s is a different situation to Luke’s but I’ll let the club put something out on that, you’ve just caught me out a little bit on that one, sorry.”

Town have played down suggestions that Huws’s contract has been settled, however, it would be little surprise if an agreement of that type was come to with the Wales international out of contract at the end of the season and almost certain to leave.

Photo: Matchday Images

RobITFC added 10:24 - Apr 1 Goodbye Emyr Huws, shame you have not shown your potential here.
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buzbyblue added 10:32 - Apr 1 Deff sounds like Emyr is leaving, shame as he was such a bright spark when he first joined
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ArnieM added 10:37 - Apr 1 Oh Mr Cook, you are SO on the money . You see things for what they really are at this Club don't you ,sir. I am so looking forward to clearly this crap out and sorting out the crap that also exists behind the scenes at this Club. I think the consortium will be supporting you all the way . Evans will be gone soon. Thank god !
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BaddowBlue1 added 10:43 - Apr 1 Disappointed that Emyr hasnt turned out to be the player we though we were signing but I should imagine he is a big wage earner at the club so makes sense he moves on.
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Edmundo added 10:47 - Apr 1 Thank you Mr Cook for yet again saying it the way we all have seen it for years. Thank you, Emyr, that goal v Newcastle was the best my 9 year old has seen: and that was his first ever game.
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Suffolkboy added 11:33 - Apr 1 Straight to the point ,no shilly shallying, uncomplicated common sense from a standpoint we can all understand . Deserves our total support and every good wish in re- establishing the sort of Club and Team ethics the record over the years speaks to . COYB
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Radlett_blue added 12:20 - Apr 1 What would be the advantage of paying Huws off as his contract only has a couple of months to run?
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rfretwell added 18:21 - Apr 1 Such a shame re Emyr, at his best he was just the sort of big strong goal scoring midfielder we need to bolster this fragile team. He must be in a pretty dark place currently. If so hopefully he is getting professional help.
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dirtydingusmagee added 22:26 - Apr 1 if they were horses they would be put down .
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arc added 14:46 - Apr 2 That was the moment things took the turn towards the current dismal situation, that summer when MM tried to improve his options in central midfield by spending a lot of money to add Huws and Adeyemi, and both of them turned out to be crocks. If they had been as advertised and Teddy Bishop had stayed healthy, MM could have played a different way and things wouldn't have turned sour. Oh, well.

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