Boss Paul Jewell says the Blues will look at the possibility of signing loan midfielder Jimmy Bullard on a permanent basis nearer to the summer. The 32-year-old, with Town from Hull City for the rest of the season, says he’s keen on staying, if the clubs can do a deal.

Jewell said: “It’s something that we will speak about and look at nearer the date. For the time being he’s just on loan but you never, ever know what happens in this game.”

The Blues boss was delighted with the way his former Wigan player took control of the second half of Saturday’s 2-0 win at Cardiff: “He’s that type of player. He follows the ball, he loves the ball, Jimmy.

"Since he’s been here he’s been infectious, a bit like a bad virus really! He’s a really good character around the place, he loves his football, the lads love him, he loves it here, he’s having a great time and you can see that in the way he plays.”

Bullard himself seems to love life at Portman Road and seems keen for the two clubs to get on with getting a deal done so he can stay in Suffolk: “I’ve scored a couple of goals and I’m really enjoying my football, being at a club that really wants me, which Ipswich has shown. So why not?

“Hopefully the clubs can get going, but there’s a long way to go for me. There’s still 12 games to go. As soon as I walked in, I knew that this was a fantastic club.”

The one-time England call-up’s much publicised £45,000-a-week salary, 21% of Hull’s wage bill, part of a contract which has another two years to run is the major stumbling block in any deal, but the player says money is by no means the be-all and end-all for him: “Finance is not the only thing with me.

“I’m enjoying my time here, but at the same time I am in quite a difficult position because I’ve still got two years on my contract at Hull City, and I’ve got some good mates up there.

“I want to be playing, though, so it’s difficult for me. The closer I get towards the end of the season, the more I’m going to know hopefully.”

The midfielder’s two goals saw Town to Saturday’s victory and Jewell says another one of his former players, Derby keeper Stephen Bywater, who is on loan at Cardiff, will be fed of up seeing Bullard this season: “The first one was an outstanding strike. That’s three goals he’s got against Bywater this year and Stephen will probably be sick of the sight of Jimmy. The first one was a great strike and the second one just killed the game off.

“I thought we broke quite well in the second half. We defended really well, the goalie made some important saves and we had to get blocks in.

“In the second half I thought we looked as if we believed we would score whereas in the first half we didn’t seem to believe it.”

Jewell gave his side a tongue-lashing at half-time after a poor first 45 minutes, but Bullard wasn’t prepared to go into too much detail: “I can’t tell you what the manager said to us at half-time — I can’t go swearing! But there were a lot of Fs! And it was deserved. We understand what he wants and we want it as well.

“We were not at it in the first half, but we showed a lot more grit and a lot more determination in the second half."

Photo: Action Images

blueblood66 added 09:12 - Mar 7 great news, I hope we can sort an arrangement out to keep him, class player.
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TractorMan added 09:12 - Mar 7 A complicated deal so it will probably take 3 months to sort out! The easy bit is Hull want him off their wage bill. The slightly harder bit is how they pay off a % of Jimmy's contract. Something like 1.5 million fee paid by us, which would go towards paying him off and then we pay £15-17k a week as Jimmy has already stated he wants to stay and money isn't the be all and end all for him. Hope we can sort it, but I fear it will either be we can't meet his demands or a newly promoted premier league team (QPR?) come in for him. The reason he left Wigan was to go back to London, so while close for us clubs like QPR pay higher wages and premier league football

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bedsitfc added 09:14 - Mar 7 We want him to stay but he really must accept he will have to take a hefty wage cut ( and it seems like he understands that).
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Jnr1988 added 09:16 - Mar 7 I hope a deal can be done....if not im sure Jewell has his eye on other players.
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Smithy added 09:17 - Mar 7 TractorMan stop being so defeatest!! The biggest pull we have is Paul Jewell and if you listen to his interviews its clear to see he loves playing for him and has a massive amount of respect for him, so hopefully that will be the major factor in him staying. Stay positive old boy!
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itfc1981 added 09:18 - Mar 7 Excellet!
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chrice added 09:21 - Mar 7 Would love it if this went through. Think he could have the same kind of impact for us in this league that Taarabt has had for QPR this season. BUT I can see many lower Premier League teams looking at him and being able to offer him bigger wages and Hull a bigger fee. I think Hull would take a deal from us to get him off their books but they are going to accept any transfer bid they get for him so we might be a way down the list.

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itfc1981 added 09:21 - Mar 7 oh, I forgot about Clegg.
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ClassyIpswichLass added 09:23 - Mar 7 Doh! Why did he have to say that? Cue more Clegg bashing.
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TractorMan added 09:25 - Mar 7 Smithy - i'm not being defeatist just trying to show what a realistic deal would look like! I believe he will sign because of Jewell!
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uppersirbob added 09:26 - Mar 7 Runs the show on his day and he has had plenty of them Sign him up please and norris delaney macauley to !
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bluelady added 09:28 - Mar 7 Well classylady seems as both Scotland and fullop did ok at weekend someone has to take some abuse this sunny Monday!!!! BTW bullard I love ya cheeky chappi!!!!!!
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peterleeblue added 09:40 - Mar 7 I am sure a deal based on chunky payment if he helps get us up might swing it for him. Could end up becoming a bit of an ITFC legend !!! Lets hope so. His first goal Saturday was utter class.
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Garv added 09:46 - Mar 7 I'm sure he will take a pay cut, but by half? Don't think so. Obviously we'd all love it if he came, I reckon we would have to offload a bit to free up funding. Leadbitter would be an ideal player to sell for me.
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Lightningboy added 09:52 - Mar 7 Ok,the wages may be a slight problem but if we can get him on a free then surely something can be sorted out..the guy (if fit) will be a key player over the coming season's..the creative midfielder we've missed since Magilton was in his prime.
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meekreech added 10:08 - Mar 7 As Hull cannot afford his wages ( 21% of their wage bill ) and he could sit for the rest of his contract ( 45k x 130 = 5.85 million ) maybe they could offer him a 1 - 2 million pay-off , we could then get him on a free transfer ( at 15-16k ) . That helps with cutting their wage bill and we get a player who likes to play football and likes being at PR ! I would even be tempted to offer Hull 150 - 250 k as a transfer fee !

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1RWR added 10:10 - Mar 7 Just baffles me why he can't get into Hull's side when he's such a classy player. If you believe what he says about loving playing down here + the 'Jewell' factor, then perhaps money may take second place..............have me doubts, but you never know! Let's just savour the moments of Saturday a little longer!!!!!!
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Geo_ITFC added 10:21 - Mar 7 he is a player we have always needed. the class he brings to town is amazing and even if we arent playing well we can always rely on Jimmy Bullard. i think we have to start talking to him about a permanent deal. but will evans be prepared to pay for a player like jimmy bullard?
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KenDubZ added 10:26 - Mar 7 Deffoo gotta be done and yeah im waiting for the complaints but I hate to say it but I think we should try for Robert earnsure he would get us goals FACT
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bluepeter added 10:27 - Mar 7 Austin out for season with shoulder injury.
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bluetoba added 10:27 - Mar 7 "Infectious, like a bad virus". Lets all sign up for the Bullard HIV. Has anyone else Googled 'Angus Young'?
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TimmyH added 10:33 - Mar 7 To me he plays the old Jim Magilton roll, he sits in that pocket and sprays the passes about but unlike magilton he can run with the ball and has great technique as you can see by his shooting on Saturday. If we do sign him up let's hope we don't get unlucky and he has a recurrence of his knee problems!
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SouperJim added 10:36 - Mar 7 Mixed feelings about Jimmy, he's excellent on the ball, good for helping us to play passing attacking football again and clearly good for the dressing room... however, he doesn't tackle and doesn't work anywhere near enough when we don't have the ball. At the moment Leadbitter and (to a lesser extent) Norris largely just look to defend, leaving it to Jimmy to make us play, which makes us a bit one dimensional going forward... it's okay with 3 central midfield players, but we could easily get found out when we switch to 4-4-2. At the moment if you stop Bullard pulling the strings then we're pretty much just left with the long balls pumped forward by the back four.

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StowTractorBoy added 10:42 - Mar 7 Am I right in thinking there is some kind of trigger clause if Bullard plays another game for Hull. I thought this was the reason they will not play him. Would love to have him here but the one thing that concerns me is one hard tackle and he could be out for months or forever. Hull must surely know that so cannot be too greedy over a fee.
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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 10:54 - Mar 7 Don't get me wrong. I would be overjoyed it we could sign him up for next year. But there's a risk in relying too much on the Bullard factor. If things don't work out, we need some midfield creativity from somewhere else. Still, in PJ I trust. I just hope people are not too disappointed when Jimmy goes to newly promoted QPR or wherever. I'll still thank him for gettíng us out of a hole this season. Anything more from him will be a bonus.

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