A perpetual habit of Ipswich Town's always seems to be letting a good or promising player go each summer for relative peanuts. In recent seasons, especially, it appears to have become a worrying trend at Portman Road.
There are endless players that you could easily go into detail about, but the latest one to keep an eye on is Jason Scotland. Admittedly, the former Wigan striker did not exactly set the world alight in his first season with the club, but then again, nor did former manager, Roy Keane – he still got another half a season.
Reports this week suggest that the Blues and Swansea City have already begun negotiations which would pave the way for the Trinidadian to return to Wales, and indeed, Premier League football.
Now usually that would spark a certain degree of interest from the selling club with the potential for a big amount of money coming their way. Last season when Jon Walters went to Stoke, it seemed a mutually agreeable deal – Town picked up in excess of £3m for the player, and the Potters got their man.
This summer, in fact, Connor Wickham smashed all records with his £8.1m move to Sunderland. Sure, it was sad to see him go, but at least there was a tasty incentive for Ipswich Town fans at the end of the day.
With Scotland, however, all looks to be very different. He looks set to join a group of players such as Alan Lee, Jon Stead, and Jordan Rhodes, who despite doing what appeared to be a decent job, were unmercifully pushed out of the door.
Like those players, Jason Scotland is not a bad player – he has proven many times before that at Championship level he can score goals. Actually, a lot of goals.
When such a situation occurs, it looks a pretty safe bet that there is not going to be a lot of money involved. If Town even recoup what they paid for him it would be remarkable.
Of course, a lot of fans will argue that with the arrivals of Michael Chopra and Nathan Ellington, as well as Priskin offering an alternative option, Scotland will not exactly be the first choice at the club. Maybe too, there could soon be another arrival in the striking department with reports earlier in the week that bids had been placed for two unknown players.
The fact is, though, Scotland has been at the club for a season now. In that season, he did manage to notch 10 goals – more than any of the other strikers at the club, and only bettered by the now departed David Norris, a midfielder.
Supposing Michael Chopra was to bag 20 goals this season, Ellington a further 10 – wouldn't 10 more from Scotland be a welcome contribution?
It is also worth considering that he played much of last season as a lone striker. Early indications from this pre-season are that Paul Jewell is looking to play two up front, meaning that if Scotland were to play, there would be someone to share the work load with.
Furthermore, Jewell himself is even said to be happy with how the bulky forward is performing in pre-season so far.
It really does beg the question: how the hell could he ever be allowed to just slip out the back door?
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