Our verdict on Ipswich Town's 2025/26 retained list

0:07Ross Halls:Hello everybody, it's me Roscoe and welcome to another Kings of Anglia video podcast. Stuart Watson joins me as the retain list has finally been announced. I think we sort of guessed what was going to be part of the retain list Stu, but it's finally here. The season was done over a month ago. We've had a lot of drama since then. Of course, the big one, Kieran McKenna, shock departure. But the retained list is finally out. But how are you, first of all? I'm very well, thank you, Ross. Yeah, Ipswich were the last championship club to release their retained list. I think the deadline to submit it to the AFL is three Saturdays after the season ends.

0:48The two clubs that reached the or involved in the playoff, certainly the playoff final, get a little bit of an extension on that. But Southampton and Hull back in the last week put theirs out. We were still waiting on Ipswich. which I would imagine everything that's been going on around the manager situation has maybe led them to delay on that, but they can delay no longer. The retain list is out. No huge great surprises in there, but some things to discuss nonetheless.

1:13Ross Halls:Definitely, my friend, because this is when you know you can sort of, the season's done. I know the season has been done for over a month, but that's when you know the final sort of, you know, knots or whatever you want to call it for that season's done. Of course, town back in the Premier League, back in the promised lands. And yeah, the first main talking point is talking about players who are currently in talks of new deals. So we'll talk about the release players very shortly. But let's start off with the big talking points, Stu, in Wes Burns. He and David Button, which we'll get on to shortly as well, the third choice goalkeeper.

1:46Ross Halls:But Wes Burns, Stu, you know, a legend, a cult hero at the club. Will he extend for a sixth season at Portman Road, we shall see, but he's currently in Torps. What's your gut feeling on Wes, my friend? He's obviously returned from his ACL injury, probably played more and made an impact more than we actually thought when he suffered that injury and then he came back at the end of December and scored some goals and was really part of the team that got back to the Premier League. Yeah, this was the kind of the big question mark going into retain list, I think, the first name everyone was going to look out for was Wes Burns.

2:24As you say, he's been such a huge integral part of this period in Ipswich Town's rebirth over the last five years or so. The only man that started both Kieran McKenna's first and last games in charge of Ipswich, which still sounds a strange thing to say out loud, to be honest. And, you know, a lot of love for Wes Burns, rightly so. and I spoke to him after the promotion parade on the bank holiday Monday, asking him about his future. And he said, I'd love to stay. A big thing is he wants to tick off his Premier League goal score. He scored at League Two, League One, championship level. He didn't manage to do it in the Premier League.

3:09Suffered that cruel ACL injury at Anfield. I think it was in late January, wasn't it? Which robbed him of the chance to go and play at places like Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge. so maybe he feels he's got a bit of unfinished business with Ipswich Town and the Premier League you asked me what my what my gut says what my tummy says he himself admits this is a head and heart decision heart says he loves Ipswich Town and he feels the love of the supporters and he's got that unfinished business head I think might say to him he'd probably get a longer contract somewhere else and he has to think about it's a short career he's got to think about himself his family um and ipswich i don't know what they'll offer him in terms of length for contract it might be a one-year deal they might stretch to a two-year deal um but i would imagine other clubs might be able to offer longer this is a cameron burgess situation like last summer if you remember cameron burgess ipswich wanted to keep him but other swansea offered him a longer contract a three-year deal and ultimately decided to go there and ended up playing every minute of every game.

4:18It's not just the length of contract, it's game time as well. Another club can say, look, we see you as a starter every week at Ipswich. I don't think there can be a guarantee of that. So there's going to be a lot to weigh up for Wes Burns. There will be other options on the table as well as Ipswich. Will his boyhood club Cardiff come back in for him, just promoted back to the Championship? Might there be options from abroad, something like America, something like that, that may be appealing to him and his family? We'll have to see. If you really pushed me, I think we might be seeing, much like Conor Chaplin, the end of an era.

4:51We're getting a few of those at the moment, aren't we?

4:54Ross Halls:We are indeed. And I think a lot changes now with Kieran McKenna going. I think if Kieran, we were all thinking he was going to be in charge, going back to the Premier League. But Wes would have gone, all right. One more season with a gaffer. But now with him gone and a new manager comes in, I don't know if that will change things, too. So, you know, a new manager come in and go, OK, we're potentially offering new contracts to Wes Burns. He's been here five years, you know. The new manager can look at it one or two ways, can't he? You can kind of think, I want to come in and put my own stamp on it straight away.

5:25And I don't want to have too much of the recent past hanging over me. And they'll want to kind of create their own moments and become their own man early on. and so there's an argument that you want to move on from players that are intrinsically linked to Kieran McKenna or they could look at it as I need the help I can get to have sort of players that fans have got a connection to and that can help me understand the culture of this club and help with some continuity. So, you know, yeah, it's going to be interesting to see what the new manager does, how hard they push to keep Wes Burns or not.

6:03Ross Halls:I don't think, I think Wes is gone. I think he's going to go, unfortunately. That's my gut feeling. You know what? I wouldn't blame him either because, you know, I think for him, he wants to probably look, as you mentioned earlier, long-term in the game. You know, he's going to be 32 in November and he probably wants to see, you know, long-term. He probably wants to settle somewhere now because, yeah, it signs a one-year deal with us. You know, hopefully we try to stay up with the new manager. But if we don't, we go back down. Although, he could be like, OK, he's a championship player. Let's give him another contract after that.

6:33Ross Halls:But for me, thinking of him as a person, I think he'll want to push to, you know, secure a longer term deal. But as you say, he wants to sort of, you know, tick that career, you know, what he's done, you know, so far, scoring at all levels. And hopefully he can join the players like, you know, Connor Chaplin, Sam Morseys, Jack Taylor did it as well and stuff like that. So we shall see, Stu. But it's going to be very emotional anyway when we find out if he gets a new deal or if he does leave the club. Quickly mentioned David Button. Been third choice this year. Yeah, he's been offered a new deal.

7:12Ross Halls:Once again, could that change with a new manager coming in? Obviously, that's a role that a lot of clubs do these days, especially Town, that third choice keeper. Could he stick around just as that extra experience head? Yeah, I think the question here is if David Button does sign his new contract, whether he is third or fourth slash training goalkeeper, that is what it boils down to. A bit of uncertainty around whether Ipswich will sign a new number one to compete with or go ahead of Christian Walton, where that will leave Alex Palmer, whether he might then seek an exit. what happens with Slicker and Henry Gray who've both been out on League Two loans whether one of those feels that the third choice goalkeeper slot but what is clear is that David Button veteran goalkeeper who's got lots of experience throughout the game has had a really positive impact behind the scenes he's taking on a sort of coaching slash mentor role with younger goalkeepers so yeah Kieran McKenna and others spoke of him highly and clearly they want to keep him at the club in some capacity.

8:19Ross Halls:Definitely, yeah. He's 37, David Button, so I'm sure he's now looking... Yeah, I'm pretty much done in my career, but yeah, we'll be interested to see what happens with him. Let's talk about release players then, Stu. Connor Chaplin, of course, is the big sort of name that we already knew about. You, of course, spoke to him with a very good exclusive chat, so check that out if you haven't already. We've done a lot of stuff about him. So sorry, Connor, we're not going to chat more about you because we've done that already, but I'm going to be very intrigued to see where he ends up, Stu. I think he'll probably, he should be able to find a championship club, but maybe sign for a League One ambitious club.

8:55Ross Halls:You know, I think, you know, five years ago, we were signing players like Connor Chaplin, Wes Burns. You know, it's like the anniversary this summer, five-year anniversary of them signing. But he has departed, of course, Connor Chaplin after five seasons. But the one name that we were sort of waiting on was Connor Townsend, Stu. He will be departing after two years. Unfortunately, he'll be out all this season as Town 1 promotion back to the Premier League because of an ACL injury. Yeah, this wasn't a surprise, but yeah, it's been a bit sad for him in terms of that injury. Yeah, real shame for Conor Townsend, one of the many former West Brom defenders that came to Ipswich under Kieran McKenna.

9:35And he looked at half a million pounds like a really solid, smart backup option to leave Davis, didn't he? Didn't get loads of game time in the Premier League. started three games just looking back on it the home game against Villa which was a draw he started the away win at Bournemouth and the defeat at Wolves as well he just looked ready when called upon reliable when called upon had a few cup games as well um by all accounts a you know a bit of a solid guy behind the scenes as well in terms of leadership and personality and then you were out there in France last summer right on the eve of the season out in Auxerre suffered that ACL injury and that was him done for the season.

10:17They couldn't give him a slot in the 25-man squad. I think he's been back sort of in the latter stages of rehab from March onwards. So he's hopefully in a good sort of place physically to go and get himself a new club and get his career back on track. So, yeah, shame the way it worked out for Connor Townsend. But what is clear is Ipswich need to go and get themselves a proper backup left back to Leif Davis or someone to really compete and keep Leif Davis on, you know, properly on his toes going into this Premier League season. They had to kind of fudge it at times last year, didn't they, with Ben Johnson playing at left back at times when Leif was out.

10:58So, yeah, Townsend out, left back required.

11:01Ross Halls:Indeed. And we're going to talk quickly now about Asher Young, Stu. He's obviously retired, announced his retirement after his incredible career. Probably didn't really work out as a whole when he came here, but it sounds like he did have a lot of input behind the scenes. And that's a role I think Town will need to strengthen in, in terms of bringing experienced players in. You know, cool head, you know, Kieran McKenna did that, didn't he, throughout his tenure at the club. You know, Richard Keogh in League One. Championship, who would be that player? Who was an example for that? Do we have one in that championship?

11:35Seania Luco, was he still registered as a player then? I'm trying to work out the timeline.

11:40Ross Halls:I think. Yeah, so they've gone down that route of always having an experienced veteran, bigger name player in the squad to help off the pitch as much as on it. There's no getting away from the fact that on the pitch, Ashley Young was a disappointment in terms of what he was able to provide. that he came in to start games of football and to be a key member in that team to try and make that right back slot his own he'd started 25 odd games for Everton in the Premier League the previous season he leaves Upswich having started three league games a hip injury played its part in that in the back end of the season of course Darnell Furlong doing so well and making that spot his own also played its part.

12:30So I'm sure he did have a big role off the pitch in driving the standards in training and being able to pass on some of his incredible knowledge and experience at Manchester United, Inter Milan, England, etc. But pound for pound in terms of wages paid probably didn't get back what they wanted on Ashley Young. But yeah, he's retired. He's got no sort of interest in moving into the coaching side of things. He says that's not him. I think we're going to be seeing him on our TV screens quite a lot. He's been sort of transitioning into punditry for a little while, hasn't he?

13:06Ross Halls:Yes, yeah. We saw him a lot actually doing the Sunday games after Town, you know, won or lost or draw, you know, sort of saw him. I know they got a little bit of flack from Town fans going, oh, you should be, you know, should be doing that when, you know, you're just seeing your team lose or whatever. But, yeah, I think you'll have a good sort of career in media, actually. He's a good talker and, yeah, I wish him all the best. Stu, let's talk about players that have been given new options or contract exercised on their options and that is Harry Clark and Cameron Humphreys both of course been out on loan in the second half of last season Harry Clark for Cholton, Cameron Humphreys at Huddersfield Town sounded like Harry Clark had a good spell in South London with Cholton Cameron Humphreys I think mixed bag at Huddersfield I think they obviously were sort of struggling with the situation with Liam Manning unfortunately I think it was Lee Grant who signed Cameron Humphrey's Huddersfield and of course he got sacked I think very shortly after and Liam Manning came in and of course he's had off-field problems and stuff like that unfortunately but yeah, Harry Clarke, Stu, starting off with he's an interesting one I think once again you're just making sure take the option because it's there but what does the future hold for him?

14:16Well I think in both cases here don't read too much into the fact that contracts have been given in terms of suddenly being back in the first team fold. I think this is purely a case of Ipswich kind of protecting themselves financially with both these players. A little bit different with Conor Chaplin. There was the option to take there. That was just a goodwill gesture. You owe us nothing, Conor Chaplin. You've put yourself into modern folklore. We're not going to kind of stand in your way to haggle over a few quid. Let's give you your options that you deserve elsewhere. A bit different with Harry Clarke and Humphreys.

14:50both homegrown players, certainly in Cameron Humphreys, both Ipswich boys. Humphreys has come all the way through from the academy. Clark started, obviously went away to Arsenal and came back again. But both players at Ipswich have put a lot of time into developing and we'll look to get a little bit of money back on them. I think both futures are looking elsewhere at the moment. Start with Harry Clark. He's not been a regular in this Ipswich Town team for two and a half years now. He lost his place to Axel Twenzebi in the second half of the previous championship promotion. He had a handful of chances in the Premier League.

15:30The one that will stick in people's mind is the red card and the young goal at Brentford. His Premier League debut. His Premier League debut, yeah. And then, yeah, he's had a couple of loan spells now. Sheffield United at the back end of that Prem season, foot injury, disrupted that. And then, as you mentioned, Charlton, which sounds like it was a lot more of a positive loan spell. Might Ipswich get a transfer fee from Charlton and he goes back there every chance. A million and a half pounds. He cost Ipswich from Arsenal halfway through that League One season, one of the four signings in January that really supercharged that League One promotion push.

16:11So if Harry Clarke leaves, he will leave with fond memories. I think the enduring image will be him on the top of that open top bus parade after promotion to the Premier League in his vest and his hat. So they'll miss him as a character behind the scenes in terms of being sort of a bubbly character, Harry Clarke. But it looks like his time is coming towards its end, I would say. Cameron Humphreys, he's 22 now. He'll be 23 in October. and I'm guilty sometimes of kind of always thinking of him still being 18 in my head because he's been around for so long at Ipswich and he's been talked up as this kind of older than his years mature character and he's been a leader and at times maybe that's held him back because I think Kieran McKenna has wanted to keep him about sort of on the periphery because of what he brings to training and what he brings in terms of his calmness.

17:10brilliant loan spell at Wickham in League One as you say a bit more of a mixed bag at Huddersfield back in League One last year when we were wondering whether he might go to the championship yeah he's not a kid anymore and he needs to be playing regular football whether it's one more loan spell and Ipswich can see if he can have a better one this year and then assess it come January or next summer and see if you know what can happen but it's that that I I thought he had a big future at Ipswich Town but that's looking more unlikely as time goes by isn't it I think Ross yeah I think so I think for him just

17:51Ross Halls:for his career and I can imagine that those talks are probably happening right now where you know has he got a chance to break into the team again unfortunately not I think maybe yeah getting loaned out or if we can get a fee from a club if there's an interested party in League one or even the championship, then take it. But Cameron Humphries has been around since our League one days. That's when he sort of broke into the team, didn't he? I think that was in that sort of like random season where we signed at 19, a demolition summer when he sort of broke through that sort of season and stuff like that.

18:26Ross Halls:Of course, he's got a relationship with Kieran Dyer, Stu, but it wouldn't drop down to the National League. That would have been interesting if Kieran Dyer went a bit higher up the pyramid. But yeah, it's going to be very interesting to see where Cameron Humphreys goes and Harry Clark. If Charlton are interested to sign him permanently, then go for it because it sounds like they're a really good time at the Valley. So yeah, watch our space on those two players. Will we get a fee for them or will they just go out on loan and then next summer we'll just be released? One thing I'm actually looking at, Stu, which is really interesting, I hope I got my facts right.

18:59Ross Halls:next summer there's only going to be Humphreys Harry Clarke and George Hurst who's got a contract until 2027 that is it it sounds like the club have really done well in terms of making sure they've sort of secured every player with contracts hopefully that's right is that correct? I'd have to go away and check but that sounds about right yeah I think a lot of the contracts that have been handed out to signings in recent years have been three, four years in some places haven't they so So, yeah, going back to Harry and Cameron, you know, both Ipswich boys. And, you know, that is always special when it's one of your own hometown boys that have lived the dream of playing for their club.

19:40So there will be, you know, certainly a tinge of sadness with those two, albeit not quite on the levels of Connor Chaplin and Wes Burns. It would be a shame to see two local lads leave if that is to be the case.

19:53Ross Halls:Yeah, definitely. I think Cameron's still got a big chance to be a good footballer and have a really good career. I think he just now needs to kick on. I think that sometimes some players, they hit that part of their careers, don't they, where they're like, oh, I couldn't get over that hurdle. They move on to a different club and have a really good career. So hopefully Cameron Humphries will do that. And Harry Clarke's still young as well. I think we think Harry Clarke's older than he is, but he's not. I think he's been around for so long. As you said with Cameron Humphries, they're still at a very good age in their career.

20:23Ross Halls:So I wish I'd see what the future holds for them this summer. Stu, we've of course found out, and we sort of knew this anyway, Ivan Azon, Jens Kustay and Dan Neal return to their parent clubs. So of course, Dan Neal is going to be a free agent this summer. He's been linked with different clubs this season already. Jens Kustay, the deadline for him to sign permanently for town is now done. So it doesn't sound like as it stands, he'll be returning. And Ivan Azon, of course, on loan from Como, who are now at Champions League club. But Ivan Izan, the Champions League striker, Stu, and he's contracted there until 2029, so he's there for a while.

20:57Ross Halls:But yeah, unlikely that all three of those will return. I think so, yeah. We know, obviously, Cedric Kipre and Tuba Akpom to become permanent signings because of clauses in their contracts have been triggered via promotion. Kipre, we're all very pleased with at the price. Akpom, not so much. I don't think Ipswich would have chosen to sign him for£7 million given his limited minutes. So whether Tuba stays or whether he's immediately loaned out, we'll have to see. In terms of the three that go back to their parents' club, Dan Neal becomes a free agent. Ipswich and he decided to make that a loan both to keep their options open really, to see how it goes.

21:42I think he played his part in the promotion, but Jack Taylor in general sort of stayed in ahead of him. I think he will certainly look to go elsewhere. Rangers have been linked. I think, is it Valencia in Spain got linked? Wolves was a club that I was hearing quite strongly, but a managerial change there might change things. So he's someone that wants to play. And the reason he left Sunderland, his boyhood club, and that was a really difficult decision for him to leave them, is because he just wanted to play football and he missed it, not playing for Sunderland in the first half of last season.

22:19and Ipswich can't guarantee minutes in the Premier League. So he'll be going elsewhere as a free agent. Even Azon, we loved his personality. We loved his beaming smile. We loved his work ethic and work rate on the pitch. Wasn't prolific enough, was he, in the championship? And I think that will mean Ipswich will look for other options up front. certainly a new manager will want to find their own striker slash strikers plural I think is going to probably be at least well two required I think to compete with George Hurst can't see even Azon being one of those and then Jenski used a lot of talk about whether it's which would I think there was more of an option to to buy Fabrizio Romano had tweeted that the deadline I think was June the 10th as to whether Ipswich took up an option to buy him for seven and a half million euros which is about six and a half million quid which on the face of it looks like a decent fee for a player when he's been on it looks a very very classy footballer and was one of it which is better performers in the Premier League for whatever reason didn't didn't go the same way in the championship last year did it i don't know if it's the the number of games the physicality of the league the relentlessness of it we know that there's a knee injury that's being managed as well quietly in the background um yeah after two loan spells at ipswich i think he will be looking for for a fresh challenge as will ipswich

23:57Ross Halls:yes indeed so um so there we go then stew retained this done dusted of course there's a lot of academy many players have signed new contracts. Some of that have been released. Unfortunately, their journey at the club ends and hopefully they can all find a new club and kickstart their careers again because that must be a horrible sort of conversation to have, I'm sure, for the coaches in general, but also the players sort of knowing you're going to get released and you just don't know if that's your career done. But their full list of the retained list is on our website, so go and check that out.

24:27Ross Halls:We're going to do, of course, regular pieces on different things. but yes do any other business now it's sort of now that's sort of done and dusted now we can sort of turn the page looking ahead to the premier league um course we're not expecting we're gonna have to look ahead to find the new manager that is still very much getting sorted uh mark ashton of course has been speaking to the certain outlets and um they're going to do their business um how quickly do you reckon that will get done well mark ashton used the word imminent uh on talk sport on Friday when he spoke to his good pal Simon Jordan.

25:04I think that might be overplaying it. He talks about wanting to work swiftly and get a new manager in place because the transfer window is open as of today and there is work to do to get Ipswich Town ready for the Premier League. We feel like the squad maybe doesn't have the chemistry of the previous promoted team but maybe has more quality and more more of the sort of physical attributes required for the prem but no doubt about it there is a lot of work to do what was it 12 signings summer signings in preparation for the prem last time 100 million pound plus i think we'll be in similar sort of ballparks um i've got a piece going online tomorrow which is a bit of a squad audit now that the retain list is out is working out exactly who is left in the squad who else could go on top how many spaces that leaves to fill and what Ipswich will try and do so have a little look online at that tomorrow morning in terms of the manager search my ear is to the ground lots of phone calls lots of texts going out we will try and bring you as much news on it as we can over the next few days will it be this week will it bleed into next week we'll have to see It will all depend on whether Ipswich try and get someone out of a job.