He has endeared himself to supporters, paid for a ceiling broken by a fan celebrating one of his goal and scored against Norwich in a play-off semi-final – but yesterday news broke that Ipswich Town winger Paul Anderson was not going to be offered a new contract at the club.

And while manager Mick McCarthy has not ruled out a change of heart it looks like the 26-year-old midfielder may have played his last game for the Blues.

But it does not look like Town fans are going to take no for an answer.

Such is the popularity of Anderson, a former Liverpool trainee who signed for Ipswich in 2013, a petition has been set up online to try and get the club to retain his services.

It went live on the ipetitions.com website yesterday with a target of 1,000 signatures – and has already attracted 600 names.

The petition, addressed to McCarthy and Blues owner Marcus Evans, said the club “must do everything it can to retain” Anderson and listed six reasons why his contract should be renewed.

They included his relationship with the fans, his seven assists this season (more than any other Town player) and his versatility.

On learning he was not going to be offered a new contract Anderson tweeted to 9,650 followers thanking fans and the club for the support he had received over the last two seasons as well as the messages he had received after the announcement was made.

A number of supporters expressed a mixture of confusion and disappointment at the news with many saying they hoped to still see the number 11 in a Town shirt next season.

During his time at Ipswich Anderson, who has also played for Swansea, Nottingham Forest and Bristol City, made 71 appearances and scored seven goals.