Paul Jewell

Paul Jewell distances himself from fresh bid for Pompey players

By Dave Gooderham Thursday, February 2, 2012
7:34 PM

PAUL Jewell has ruled out re-entering negotiations with Portsmouth over Jason Pearce, Joel Ward and Stephen Henderson – unless the players’ demands change.

The transfer window saga between the two divisional rivals ended unsuccessfully for Ipswich who had a bid for Pearce rejected while they were unable to clinch deadline day moves for Ward and Henderson after failing to agree personal terms.

Jewell yesterday revealed some of the intricacies of dealing with the cash-strapped club while refuting strongly any suggestion that he didn’t have a Plan B when it came to bringing in a new defender.

And he said: “We were led to believe that a deal could be done. But we can’t do a deal with the players until you agree a fee. We felt the players’ terms, the agent’s demands, were excessive so I said no. We won’t look at it unless the demands change.”

Jewell described dealing with the various people currently involved in Portsmouth as a “complete nightmare” as he looked to secure the ambitious triple bid.

He said: “We were a bit against the clock and it turned into a saga. It was a nightmare – were we speaking to the right people, was it the administrator or the chief executive? It was difficult.

“It was a bit of a unique circumstance. It went on for a few weeks and we had different phone calls saying you are not allowed to speak to the chief executive, you have to speak the administrator. Then the administrator would come on and say you have to speak to him and then an agent would come on and say I am brokering the deal.

“It was really messy. I knew by 4pm on deadline day it wasn’t going to happen as I hadn’t even met or spoken to the players. It was a complete nightmare.”

Jewell’s comments seem to rule out trying to get any of the trio on loan in the weeks to come with a view to a permanent deal in the summer.

But the Ipswich manager did admit that he is looking at dipping into the temporary market – but refused to comment on whether he would bring in an experienced player or a youngster from the Premier League fringes.

After having a bid for Danny Higginbottom turned down on Monday – the Stoke City defender joining Nottingham Forest instead – Jewell added: “I don’t blame them but Premier League managers try and sell their players rather than loan them. When the window closes, they become available for loan.”

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14 comments

bluebob, many ITFC supporters suffer similarly at the hands of EADT Site moderators. I have asked previously when posts critical of our "three wise monkeys" have been rejected, whether Evans has some 'hold' over our local press.

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Brian Betts

Monday, February 6, 2012
bluebob - the clubs agreed a fee for all 3 players and it was less than your estimate for just one of them i assume these lads believe that another foreign godmother will arrive to pay their wages, but at some stage football - not just pompey, a club i have a soft spot for due because of the navy - must wake up to the real world i was not at all surprised that we could not meet their personal terms, as we were outbid in the summer for Norris, but as they say "who laughs last laughs longest", and that money from mr evans may well have stopped you having 10pts deducted in the near future and sadly being 2 divisions apart from S'hampton next season

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martyn elmy

Sunday, February 5, 2012
To Ipswich Star, I must say I am disappointed in your reluctance to publish my post of 3rd FEB, in answer to your article on Paul Jewell's comments about my club, it wasn't offensive in any way, just a comment on his reluctance to understand that our players deliberately asked for too much because they are not interested in moving full stop, let alone to play under a less than competent manager. Your refusal to post my comments, show a marked lack of democracy on your part.

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bluebob

Saturday, February 4, 2012
Why persist in printing nonsensical club PR which has gone beyond comedy and farce and is now rather stomach turning? Is it not your journalistic duty to ask questions and perhaps have some regard for the true picture at Portman Road?

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Rob Steroo

Saturday, February 4, 2012
I would encourage all interested Ipswich supporters to log onto www.portsmouthnews.co.uk, you will find a fairly accurate picture of the opinions of both the players & supporters about the likelyhood, or rather the unlikelyhood of players moving to your club. I'm afraid PJ islike any poor workman, blames both his tools & anybody or anything for his own shortcomings. Not sure wether this will be posted on here as my previous post wasn't.

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bluebob

Friday, February 3, 2012
Jewell just admit that those 3 players just dont want to play for your no-hope team.

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ged scott

Friday, February 3, 2012
A DEAL CANT BE DONE IF THEY DONT WANT TO PLAY HERE END OF GET OVER ITJUST GO PLEASE

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gutted

Friday, February 3, 2012
When will Paul Jewell get the message, apart from the fact that he tried to sign 3 of our best players for silly money, (they are worth at least 2 mill each) and that would be a generous estimate, it is obvious that he was trying to kick a club when it is down & rob us blind. In my previous post on this forum, I did not attempt to denigrate Ipswich Town in any way, they are a good club & had one of our best all time players who happens to be an aquaintance of mine plying his trade as a centre forward in their successfull team years ago, namely Ray Crawford, but I'm afraid to say that your current manager is held in very low esteem by our supporters & players. Let's face it, he hasn't had the most successful of careers has he? & I would lay money that his time with your club will not be long & memorable.

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bluebob

Friday, February 3, 2012
Seems as if many supporters fell for the reports of attempts to sign players in the last transfer window. Sussex Tractor Boy has hit the nail on the head in stating Balance Sheet and Loan Interest being the only agenda those unfortunately running our football club are interested in. When the Season Ticket renewal invitations arrive soon, just think back to those answers Evans gave in response to EADT questions and remember the false promises of fresh signings this week and the 1.5 matches of quality thenask yourselves " do I really wish to be associated with these sort of people"

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Brian Betts

Friday, February 3, 2012
Why go through the charade of trying to kid supporters that there is an intention to buy players when it is plainly obvious the "Balance Sheet" and "Loan Interest" requires that if there are to be any players it will be on loan. I wager that all sane supporters and those with any business knowledge would have placed money on Clegg and Jewells smokescreen and dubious negotiating tactics resulting in nil signings. Not only is it an insult to supporters it smacks of lack of class and poor practice - all unfortunately becoming synonymous with the name of ITFC.

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SussexTractorBoy

Friday, February 3, 2012
Lets be honest we cannot afford them and never were going to sign them , just smoke and mirrors to keep the fans happy.

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LizzSnot

Friday, February 3, 2012
Well, if Jewell had a Plan B for bringing in a new defender, it isn't very apparent to supporters and a 'wrong' result at Coventry tomorrow will make this situation even more critical. It doesn't take a genius to work out that if he failed to bring in a fresh defender permanently, a loaned defender was an alternative, albeit something he declared earlier that he wasn't going to do. This man is so unbelievably contradictory that it is difficult to take anything he says seriously. His position here was saved, despite what Evans says, by the Barnsley result and he has bought himself a little more time by the West Ham result but in his 12 months here can even the most ardent supporter see any logical progress in our club ? Meanwhile, Plan B still awaits activation which will become critical should Sonko, Smith or Delaney pick up injuries. Should that happen, I suppose he could again repeat his Edwards experiment and convert Peters into a CB or perhaps that it is why he brought non striker Ellington to PR !!!!!

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Brian Betts

Friday, February 3, 2012
It seem's to be and proberly to most Town fans that the so called Saga between the Portmouth players.comeing to Ipswich Was entirely down to Clegg trying to a good centre back for peanuts. Same old story i am sure a sightly higher offer would have worked. And to say that we had a plan B.was out and out JOKE. Don't have any Faith in Clegg-less or Jewell sorry to say . Both of them were let of the hook with tue's night win lets see what the next 2 or 3 games will bring.....

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david bradley

Friday, February 3, 2012
Surely a dignified silence would be better than opening up this can of worms. We altered our bid for one payer after having our offer accepted, and describe dealngn with Portsmouth as a nightmare. No wonder we can't sign anyone. Dreadful. Just keep quiet Jewell, and keep telling Marcus Evans what he wants to hear to keep your job. After the win against West Ham, the last thing you needed was to provoke supporters and open up our concerns about the inability of Clegg to sign anyone, despite working 459378 hours a day, and all through the night. Well, all I can say is he doesn't actually achieve much, does he?

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Kevin Bailey

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Paul Jewell distances himself from fresh bid for Pompey players

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