The transfer window closes on Friday but, even once it’s shut, free agents can still sign for club. Andy Warren looks at the former Town players still looking for new teams.
Danny Rowe
The left winger was one of three players released by the Blues at the end of last season but, while Will Keane (Wigan) and Jordan Roberts (Hearts) have now got themselves fixed up, Rowe remains unsigned.
He certainly had his moments during his time in Blue, playing a big part in Town’s fast start to the 2019/20 season, but saw his time at Portman Road come to an end because of a knee injury which ended his season at the start of December.
Rowe, 28, is said to have attracted interest from Colchester earlier in the transfer window but, as yet, has not been picked up.
Jordan Spence
The right-back’s Ipswich career effectively ended in January 2019, on the day manager Paul Lambert declared his side’s FA Cup loss at Accrington was ‘an absolute disgrace’ and that ‘without doubt some players will go’.
As it turned out, he was talking about Spence, who was released the following summer and remained unsigned during the first half of last season as he toured the world alongside actress wife Naomi Scott as she promoted her leading role in the Aladdin remake.
He eventually signed for Alan Pardew’s ADO Den Haag side in January and played four times for the Dutch club before being released in the summer once Pardew moved on. He’s now looking for a new club.
Collin Quaner
The big German striker came on strong during the latter weeks of his loan in 2018/19, ultimately scoring his four Town goals in his final seven games for the club as the Blues were relegated.
He returned to Huddersfield and looked set to play a role as Danny Cowley looked to lead the Terriers back to the Premier League at the first time of asking but, just a couple of games in, suffered a hip injury which required surgery and kept him out until the Championship restart in July.
He was a big earner, though, and was released at the end of his contract as the club cut costs. He’s a free agent, with a return to Germany likely.
Simon Dawkins
Like Spence and Quaner, American forward Dawkins’ Ipswich career came to an end following relegation. He played just 34 minutes for Town in six months with the club.
He sat out the entirety of last season but was still pushing for a return to the game, training alone in a park in north London in readiness for his next opportunity.
Dawkins trained with Burton and played in a pre-season friendly under former Deby team-mate Jake Buxton earlier this summer, but no deal came of it. He’s said he still believes he has plenty of years left in the tank.
Luke Hyam
Former Ipswich academy product Hyam is looking for a new club after leaving Southend United at the end of last season.
Roots Hall was his destination after being released by the Blues in 2018, with injury playing a big part in restricting him to just 27 appearances over two years.
It remains to be seen where Hyam, who still lives in Ipswich, emerges next.
Paul Anderson
Last season ended on a high for the former Town winger, as he helped Northampton Town win promotion to League One at an empty Wembley Stadium.
But that also proved to be the end of his road at Sixfields as he, along with plenty of others, departed as the Northamptonshire side looked to rebuild and cut costs due to the coronavirus crisis.
The man best remembered for his play-off goal against Norwich has had to be patient to wait for clubs before during his career and he will surely be back in the game soon enough.
Anthony Wordsworth
It’s now been five years since Wordsworth left Portman Road, with the midfielder spending the first three of those with Southend before playing for AFC Wimbledon during the last two campaigns.
But his time with the Dons ended at the end of last season, during which he only played 10 games, and he’s now looking for a new club.
Wordsworth, 31, is said to be a target of Colchester United, from where Town signed him for £100,000 in 2013.
Danny Simpson
Simpson’s time with Ipswich was brief – just eight games under Jim Magilton during a loan from Manchester United in 2008 – but it helped set him on the way to a Premier League title with Leicester in 2017.
He spent last season with Huddersfield but has been a free agent for three months now and has been training with Leicester, with Stoke City said to be interested.
“I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t frustrating,” he said recently. “I’m at home watching the games like everyone else, you just want to get into a team and get playing on a Saturday as quick as you can.”
Paul Taylor
Ah, Paul Taylor. The attacking player cost Ipswich the best part of £100,000 per league game played following his £1.5m move to Portman Road in 2012. Issues off the pitch and poor performance on it meant it was nothing short of a disaster.
His career has never really got back on track, with a return to Peterborough and time at Bradford and Doncaster never sparking things back into life.
He finished bottom of the EFL with Stevenage last season, before the club avoided relegation due to Macclesfield’s points deduction, where he played just 12 games and was released at the end of his deal.
A few more
Former Town midfielder Paul Green is a free agent following his departure from Crewe this summer, while there are plenty of other ex-Ipswich players without clubs.
There’s Cameron Stewart, who, at 29, hasn’t been with a club since leaving Lincoln in 2018, while Tom Adeyemi is understood to have quietly retired since his injury-ravaged spell with Town ended in the summer of 2019.
James Collins, who played briefly but excellently as Town were relegated from the Championship, has never played for another club despite hoping to prolong his career since departing Suffolk, with a spell training with Newport not resulting in a deal.
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