ALL THE OPTIONS ON THE TABLE – SKUSE
COLE Skuse admits that uncertainty over his longterm future at Ipswich is giving him the jitters.
The 31-year-old midfielder, who arrived at Portman Road on a free transfer from Bristol City in May 2013, has entered the final year of his contract, although the Tractor Boys do retain an option to extend his deal by a further 12 months at their discretion.
Skuse’s team-mates Bartosz Bialkowski, David McGoldrick and Jonas Knudsen are all in the same boat and last season Town waited until the end of the campaign to address Luke Chambers’ contract situation – he eventually signed a new two-year deal.
The Ipswich man is hoping that, unlike his colleague Chambers, he doesn’t have to play the waiting game to see if he remains in manager Mick McCarthy’s plans.
“The club have an option to keep me for next season. That’s their choice, but this is the final year of my permanent contract,” said Skuse.
“It’s out of my hands. They might not want to give me a contract. They might be waiting for it to wind down and then say, ‘look, your time’s up. Off you pop’ and I’ll be getting down the motorway to somewhere else.
“If they are looking to offer me a new deal, then I’d like to get it done sooner rather than later because you don’t want it dragging on.”
Skuse was best man at 31-year-old defender Chambers’ wedding and added: “I thought Chambo was a credit to himself with the way he handled things last season.
“Listen, the club are right to do what they need to do. Whatever will be, will be.”
Skuse notched only his second-ever goal in an Ipswich shirt when his deflected long-range strike found the net in the Tractor Boys’ 2-0 win over Bolton last month.