Town boss Kieran McKenna says departed midfielder Jon Nolan wanted to get going and start his career again after an injury-hit last year at Portman Road.

The 29-year-old left Town on Monday after his contract was terminated by mutual consent and the following day signed a deal with League Two Bristol Rovers until the end of the season.

Nolan had joined the Blues along with team-mate Toto Nsiala from Shrewsbury in the summer of 2018, following their former Shrews manager Paul Hurst to Portman Road.

In total, he made 59 starts and 11 sub appearances for the Blues, scoring 10 goals, most recently featuring in the 1-0 home defeat by Sunderland in January last year. Soon afterwards, he was relegated to training with the U23s by then-manager Paul Lambert.

The Liverpudlian picked up a knee injury in training on his successor Paul Cook’s first day at the club and suffered a calf problem in pre-season, and then a further setback in the autumn.

“That was a conversation mostly between between Jon and the club and Jon’s representation,” McKenna said. “I think in the end all parties were happy with it.

“Obviously, Jon’s not been able to get a run of fitness here in games, but also getting his fitness up to train consecutively over a long period to give himself that chance.

“He’s obviously really keen to get going and get his career going again, and the club wanted to support him with that.

“Obviously, if he stays here until the end of the season, it’s less likely he’s going to get some minutes, so I think the solution everyone was happy with in the end is that he would be free from his contract.

“And everyone is pleased to see that he has secured a contract elsewhere until the end of the season and hopefully now he can get a good run of fitness and get some minutes and show everyone what a good player he is.”

Photo: Pagepix

Bazza8564 added 16:47 - Feb 3 Makes perfect sense to me, with Simpson coming back i'm really surprised KJ didnt go the same way to be honest
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muhrensleftfoot added 19:30 - Feb 3 The fact that some think he was a good for us,just shows how far we have fallen. He always seemed lightweight, and never imposed himself or changed a game. Totally under whelmed by his entire career at ITFC. A bang average Division 3 player at best. I really hope we can do better than the likes of Jon Nolan in the coming seasons. I
3

KiwiTractor added 19:32 - Feb 3 Obviously obvious
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ArnieM added 22:19 - Feb 3 Clearly didn't feel he could make an impact in this squad then. A reflection on how much the squad has improved perhaps ?
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