‘Intelligent’ Evans won’t need examples of Championship spending success put in front of him, says McCarthy

The players’ wage bill may have risen by 25% in the last two years, but McCarthy has been restricted to spending around £500k on transfer fees during his three-and-a-half seasons in charge at Portman Road.

And while he has been limited almost exclusively to free agents, Bosmans and loans, Town’s Championship promotion rivals have splashed the cash in pushing for the Premier League.

Speaking ahead of this afternoon’s do-or-die match at sixth-placed Sheffield Wednesday, a club who strengthened significantly in January, McCarthy said: “We’re not doing it (spending on transfer fees), so there’s no real point going on about it because you just end up bitter and twisted.

“If I have a role to do at a club within certain parameters then I go and do it. I do my job to the best of my ability. I’ve generally done that particularly well, it’s just we’re having a tough time recently and so certain things get thrown into the mix.

“We can’t do anything about transfers now, so there’s no need for that discussion (with Evans) yet.”

Asked if, when he did speak to Evans about finances, he would highlight how the likes of Middlesbrough, Burnley, Brighton, Hull, Derby and Sheffield Wednesday have all paid out on transfer fees, McCarthy said: “Marcus is a very intelligent, bright man. I don’t need to be putting anybody up as an example to him.

“Next season, if we’re going to be in this league, we’re going to have Newcastle, Aston Villa, Sunderland or maybe Norwich. It’s going to get harder rather than easier.”

The Blues boss added: “People sometimes wonder about the investment regarding players coming in, but Marcus has always made sure we keep our best players.

“Leicester were all over David McGolkdrick and last summer there were teams all over Murph (Daryl Murphy) bidding five, six, seven million quid.”

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