By Aston
November 15 2004

Former Ipswich Town midfielder Jermaine Wright has revealed it was not money that made him move away from Portman Road.

Jamma: It Wasn’t Money

Former Ipswich Town midfielder Jermaine Wright has revealed it was not money that made him move away from Portman Road.

The 29 year old midfielder returned to Portman Road for the first time on Saturday and was met by a mixed reaction from Town fans, parts of the crowd clapped while others booed.

Wright: “I'm not going to lie and say money doesn't come into it but that was not the reason I left.

“It would have been nice to have an opportunity to talk to the club, but I was told there is your offer and that is it. Respond in 30 days.

“After being here five years and being a good servant to the club I feel it could have been handled better.

“The bottom line was there were no negotiations and I felt I deserved better than that so that was it.

“I have not said anything up until now, but I was upset by what was said.”

Town manager Joe Royle hinted that he believed Jermaine had moved for the reported £12,000 a week salary, something that Jermaine is disappointed with, adding: “I was a bit disappointed with what Joe Royle said in the press. I don't want to get into a slanging match but he has made out that I left on a money only basis and that was not the case.

“He chose his moment to say it and I'm a bit disappointed with him for doing that. I know he is clever at that but he knows different and I know different about what happened.

“I was out with Johnny Mac recently and he told me Joe had said the same thing about him and it wasn't true.

“If it was just down to money we would have tried to negotiate but it wasn't.

“We were offered contracts and that was that. We were made offers after the play-off game with West Ham at the end of the season.

“Before that there was a lot of uncertainty. We heard in the press that we were going to be offered contracts but we didn't know the terms or anything.

“I have a family and we didn't know if we were going to be moving or what was happening.

“There was a little bit of interest from the Premiership, not as much as publicised, and then Leeds came in. As soon as I heard Leeds wanted me, I wanted to go there.”

Source: EADT

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