MARCUS Evans has reaffirmed his backing of Blues boss Paul Jewell by bank-rolling the signing of Peterborough striker Paul Taylor for a fee close to �1.75million.

The Posh striker will today become Jewell’s most expensive signing – 24 hours after initially rejecting a move to Portman Road after failing to agree personal terms.

But it seems unlikely that the 24-year-old will be joined by team-mate George Boyd, who, like Taylor, passed a medical at Ipswich on Wednesday.

The midfielder, believed to be Posh’s biggest earner, also failed to agree terms – and last night hopes of Town making a joint signing looked remote.

With Daryl Murphy and Guirane N’Daw also signing on loan, Town’s worryingly thin squad is increasing.

This is despite Damien Delaney departing yesterday and Ryan Stevenson also set to leave.

Manager Paul Jewell admitted recently that “everything that could go wrong, has gone wrong” in the transfer market this summer, with more than 20 targets having slipped through the net.

And with owner Marcus Evans maintaining his preference for anonymity and public silence, confusion reigned as to exactly what the club’s official policy now is regarding investment and ambition.

In the past, all the talk from the top has been of targeting promotion to the top flight. However, with multi-millionaire Evans having been let down by both Jewell and previous boss Roy Keane when it comes to “performance per pound” from signings, the businessman has stuck to transfer fee and wage valuations this summer.

Now he has backed Jewell in the transfer market with the hope that more signings, probably on a loan basis, could follow Taylor today before tonight’s 11pm deadline.

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