Chief executive Simon Clegg says Town plan to offer midfielder Lee Martin a new contract this summer. The 25-year-old, who has said he’s keen to stay with Town and wants his future sorted sooner rather than later, has a year remaining on his current deal.

Clegg says he intends to approach the former Manchester United man with new terms, probably a three-year deal, during the close season: “Certainly, that’s the plan.”

Asked whether Andy Drury or any of the other players whose contracts are up in the summer of 2013 will also be offered new deals, the Town chief says these things are taken care of as a matter of course: “People out there think that suddenly we get to the end of the season and say ‘crikey, look who’s out of contract’.

“We are constantly on top of these things. The fans might not see that we are because quite frankly I don’t want to put it into the public domain who we’re speaking to and when.”

Along with Martin and Drury, Jimmy Bullard, Damien Delaney, Nathan Ellington, Arran Lee-Barrett, Jaime Peters, Ryan Stevenson, Joe Whight and Cormac Burke all have contracts which are up at the end of June 2013, while skipper Carlos Edwards and Luke Hyam recently signed new one-year contracts.

Over the last couple of years the Blues have lost big money signings David Norris (£2 million), Gareth McAuley (£1.1 million) and now Grant Leadbitter (£2.65 million) on Bosman free transfers after they turned down new contracts, a situation manager Paul Jewell says he doesn’t want replicated next summer and will look to sell players who are unwilling to commit to new terms. Norris joined Portsmouth, McAuley West Brom, while Leadbitter is believed to be on his way to Middlesbrough.

Clegg says that the other side of the coin is the significant cost of keeping those players, particularly with the Financial Fair Play rules coming in next season: “You also have to consider the implications of keeping some of those players on in terms of wages.

“There is a significant change to the wage structure and David Norris probably wishes he was still at Ipswich and had accepted the two-year offer he was made, but he was desperate for a three-year offer. Who’s lost out now?”

As for Leadbitter, who revealed his intention to leave the Blues at the end of his contract a week ago, Clegg says there were tentative talks about a new deal last summer: “We had some discussions but the bottom line is that he’s moved on. I’m grateful for the contribution that he’s made to the club.

“As Paul said, he’s a great pro and I’m sure that he will find a contract elsewhere. I’m sure that he has something lined up.”

Clegg points out that the Blues are far from the only Championship club to have seen players leave for free at the end of the contracts in the last couple of seasons: “Whilst people were giving us a hard time about Chuck and Gareth, I think people were quite surprised to see how many players were out of contract and were let out of contract by their clubs last summer. This is becoming much more the norm these days.

“Clubs aren’t committing to the longer term deals they were a few years ago because if it doesn’t work out, you’ve got to pay them off and it costs you a lot of money.”

Photo: Action Images

Drew added 12:20 - May 4 Good, since his "telling off" after the Posh game, Lee has been one of our best players this season. Long may that continue next season.
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LFCITFC added 12:25 - May 4 Need to keep Martin, as drew said, after the posh game he was our most dangerous player.
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buryblue77 added 12:30 - May 4 Don't plan, do it! Surely we know how much can be paid, make the offer. If he doesn't sign then he has to be sold, as vital as he is to our success, we can't have anymore repeat performances of the Leadbitter/Norris/McAuley situation.
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Maverick_Mitch added 12:35 - May 4 He has matured over the season and we need him if we are to be serious contenders next year. When he's on the ball somethings always likely to happen - prefer to see him in more central roll.
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Ipswich24 added 12:35 - May 4 Good What would people think of this as our team next season? Kushack Ward St Ledger Smith Cresswell Edwards Hyam Drury JET Martin Wickham Subs Lee Barrett Chopra Scotland Carson Delaney
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Surco72 added 12:40 - May 4 Key player if he can add more goals to his game he will become vital ,build the team around him for next few years
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itfcsmithlarr added 12:41 - May 4 Nice stab at Norris.
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geography26 added 12:42 - May 4 In other news Jason Pearce has signed for Leeds for £500,000! Absolutely ridiculous we couldn't match or beat that offer!
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geography26 added 12:43 - May 4 In other news Jason Pearce has signed for Leeds for £500,000! Absolutely ridiculous we couldn't match or beat that offer!
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Coastalblue added 12:50 - May 4 Pearce looked woeful at the backend of the season from what I saw, would have hated to have splurged half a million quid of any kitty on him.
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walberswick added 12:53 - May 4 pearce ward coppinger henderson we talk the talk but we can't walk...
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Len_Brennan added 12:57 - May 4 @geography26: It would be helpful if you gave us a breakdown of the wages & bonus structure that Leeds agreed with Pearce's agent. Also if you could outline if there were any other relevant issues like family, or ... geography, that may have been considerations, it would assist in determining if indeed it was ridiculous that we didn't sign him.
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WeirdFishes added 12:58 - May 4 IPSWICH ARE BETTER THAN EVERYBODY
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Guthrum added 12:59 - May 4 Sign him up! re: Ward - 1) Did we want him any more; 2) What were his wage demands.
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buryblue77 added 13:00 - May 4 So Pearce our one time target has gone to Leeds, yet we still haven't signed Ward who we're supposedly still after. Why do transfers now promise so much but deliver so little?
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Mark added 13:01 - May 4 Lee Martin's passion, desire and workrate for Ipswich have been first class this season, so I think he would sign a new 3-year deal if a reasonable offer was made. We have to back it up with something though, so if he doesn't sign then he is transfer listed to avoid another Leadbitter situation. With Grant we went go all season talking about it, saying how "comfortable" everyone is, how much he wants to stay at Ipswich, then when it comes to the crunch he walks away.

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JewellintheTown added 13:04 - May 4 Cleggs dig at Norris has been the most entertaining thing he's done all season. Seems like PJ's sense of humour has rubbed off on him. "Who's lost out now ... ?". Classic.
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lucytown added 13:10 - May 4 We need to be sorting out Drury, Hyam etc as well.
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MrCool added 13:34 - May 4 Martin is definately one of the players who could make us contenders, rather than mid-table, also-rans (again)...
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hairbear added 13:37 - May 4 martin will reject the pathetic extension offered, meaning we will have to sell and have another player to replace. Pearce Didn't want to come to town and play for a manager who hasn't got a clue about coaching defenders!
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arc added 13:40 - May 4 Are we actually prepared to force Martin out of the door if he won't sign? I doubt it.
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walberswick added 13:40 - May 4 Martin is the new Bullard. Sign him up, he turns to sh*t.
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pitseablue added 13:42 - May 4 Always impressed with the inside knowledge that many seem to have on here !!!!!
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saffronblue added 13:49 - May 4 Wish they would spend more time actually doing this stuff and telling us afterwards. Why wait until the summer, if he wants to stay and we want to keep him doing the deal now and stop just talking about it.
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Keaneish added 13:50 - May 4 LenBrennan - from my understanding, Pearce wanted to stay in the south having spent all his life at Bournemouth and Pompey. We were led to believe this was the case anyway! I can't imagine Leeds are paying top dollar either seeing as Bates was making Grayson sell of decent assets and they've put 6 players up for grabs with no takers at present! I have to agree that 500k for Pearce is an absolute snip! I'd like a statement to let us know what happened here seeing as we publicly invested so much time in it in January! Luke Chambers it is then PJ/Clegg! No other Championship central defenders available on the cheap of their calibre other than those two!! Surco - i'd rather this: Lewis/Westwood Ward Chambers Smith Cresswell Edwards Clingan Drury JET Martin Chopra Subs Lee Barrett Wickham Scotland Bullard Delaney

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