PAUL Jewell has been the driving force behind this summer’s early successes in the transfer market.

PAUL Jewell has been the driving force behind this summer’s early successes in the transfer market.

Chief Executive Simon Clegg has revealed that Jewell’s quick-off-the-mark approach, with regards supplying a list of names of his transfer targets, has enabled the club to land some key players.

Nathan Ellington, Michael Chopra and Ivar Ingimarsson were all identified early on by a focused Jewell, enabling Clegg to begin negotiations early.

And the “early bird catches the worm” has worked a treat!

Last summer Town, under previous boss Roy Keane, did not make any signings before the squad returned for pre-season training. In fact, there was no activity at all in the transfer market until the middle of July, with the arrival of little-known teenager Conor Hourihane from Sunderland.

Clegg did not make a direct comparison between Jewell’s hands-on approach, and Keane’s more low-key role in transfer dealings, but the contrast is glaring.

“It’s been a fairly busy last three or four weeks, and it is driven by the manager,” insisted Clegg.

“Where the manager sees the opportunities, obviously there are negotiations that then have to be had. But it has to be driven by the manager, and the philosophy of this club is to always back the manager.

“Paul gave us the names, and he has been intimately involved in the signing of the players, perhaps in a slightly different way than previous managers have been,” intimated Clegg.