Newby is as good as £1.75m Ormerod, insists Preece

Steve McMahon's side saw Newby as the perfect replacement for Brett Ormerod, the prolific forward who left the Seasiders to join Premier League Southampton in a £1.75m deal this week.

They offered £200,000 for Bury's star man. But the Shakers immediately gave Blackpool the brush off for one simple reason; they think Newby is just as good as Ormerod.

"I've worked with Brett and I've worked with Jon and judging them on their all round game Jon is just as good if not better than Ormerod," revealed Bury boss Andy Preece.

"Brett is three years older than Jon but the only thing he has in his favour is the number of goals he has scored.

"After receiving £1.75m for Brett they were trying to nick Jon off us for £200,000 and if they had been able to do that they would have been laughing.

"But the chairman isn't in the business of just giving our best players away and I was delighted that the bid was turned down.

"Jon Newby is a quality player and the longer he stays at the club the more money he will be worth."

Chairman Terry Robinson revealed he didn't even have to think twice before turning down the Seasiders bid. "They made a formal written offer but it would not have done us any financial good at all and I had no hesitation in saying no," he said.

"Bearing in mind the substantial sell on fee Liverpool have got on the player it was just not an acceptable bid. They haven't returned with a new offer."

For his part Blackpool boss Steve McMahon said yesterday: "We won't be forced to buy players at inflated prices", which suggests the Seasiders - who have just taken Burnley's Andy Payton on a month's loan - will not be back with an increased bid.

That is good news for Preece who is trying to build a squad to move towards mid-table safety, not battle against relegation.

Today Bury play Barnsley in a practice match, arranged because Preece's team have no fixture this weekend because of elimination from the FA Cup.