Is It A Case Of Deja Vu At Ipswich Town?

Has owner Marcus Evans not learned the lesson of the Daryl Murphy departure? Is this a case of deja vu at Ipswich Town? Well, it would seem so because if we can believe all we hear, then Evans has told Hurst he must sell Waghorn first and then buy later.

Now you don’t have to be especially good at mathematics to see how things develop from here on in. Already Accrington Stanley have said they won’t budge on their two and a half million pounds evaluation of striker Kayden Jackson, and this for a player who has never played above the fourth tier of English football until Saturday afternoon when he was in the team that lost to 0-2 at home to Gillingham!

The Blues have increased their offer to around £1.75m for the 24-year-old apparently but still, the Accrington chairman is adamant that anything less than their current asking price will not do and manager John Coleman reiterated this today.

It seems crazy money for someone who has not played in the Championship and has only had one good season when he scored 16 goals in Division Two. Town are being held to ransom again it seems, and yet it looks like Evans has caved in with regard to the price on Waghorn’s head which makes matters even worse!

I do not blame Paul Hurst for this but I wonder if Mick McCarthy had still been in charge, whether Evans might have been so unyielding? We know that Town are a selling club these days but it is the way we are doing it that alarms me. Will the untried Jackson be worth the dosh? At this rate, he will have a hefty price tag on his head before a ball is kicked, and can we seriously expect him to replicate what Martyn Waghorn achieved last season, with sixteen goal and eleven assists?

I feel sorry for our manager. He patience is being tested because of the intransigence of our owner, who seems still to believe we can reach the Premier League on the cheap. It could be done this way as Huddersfield have proved recently but only if we have a board who are wised up to the ways of football.

On a brighter note, it looks as if we should have two more players through the door later today, as Shrewsbury pair Jon Nolan and defender Aristote Nsiala were said to be at Portman Road this morning having medical examinations. That said, if this indeed was the case, then I am surprised it is taking so long this evening to get any official word about the two of them signing for the Blues?

In fact, rumours are circling in Suffolk tonight that a rival Championship club has come in with a ‘last minute’ improved offer and the pair have asked for a cooling-off period, as they begin to mull over the details of this new deal.  Let us hope that this is pure speculation and nothing more because this would be a devastating blow to all concerned, with such a short time-frame before the transfer window closes this Thursday.

And in a further development, a number of independent sources are suggesting that Martyn Waghorn will sign for Derby County tomorrow. He will be paraded before the Derby media at around midday, once he has passed his medical, and he is expected to sign a four year deal with the club.

F.W. – Editor of Vital Ipswich