Ipswich Town manager Paul Lambert has made a vague set of accusations about exiled senior players Jon Nolan and Kayden Jackson, claiming they have 'let the club down'.

Earlier this week, the EADT and Ipswich Star brought you exclusive news that midfielder Nolan and striker Jackson have been made to train with the Under-23s following disagreement behind the scenes.

Neither have featured in a first team squad since the 1-0 home defeat to Sunderland on January 26.

Nolan is understood to have voiced his displeasure at having been taken to Crewe only to be told he was out of the 18. Jackson is believed to be bemused at his punishment having publicly apologised for what Lambert labelled a 'horrendous' red card against the Black Cats.

Jackson took to Twitter on Wednesday to defend his position, saying his 'desire to win and perform for my club will never be questioned'.

Asked if the pair were training with the U23s, Lambert, speaking ahead of tomorrow's League One home clash with in in-form Oxford United, said: “Yeah, for reasons obviously that I think are right. I won’t have any player come to me and say to me that they’d rather be home with their wife and kids. If that’s your mentality you’re better doing it.

“I need players that are going to dig in. We’re in a real hard moment and you need players that are going to dig in. I’m not having it. I’ve never had any player do that.

“I’m not naming names or anything like that.

"But I’ve never had any player at any level – and I’ve played at the top level and managed at the top level – and I’ve never had anybody saying that to me.

“I think it’s disrespectful to your team mates."

He continued: “They’ve let the club down, they’ve let themselves down and they’ve let their team mates down.

“It’s immaterial to me.

“I managed at the top level, played at the top level, won the highest things in Europe and I’ve never ever had that.

“I need players at this football club that are going to die for it and that are going to run for it and that are going to work for it."

The EADT and Ipswich Star understands that several clubs came in for Nolan on deadline day, including Rotherham, Peterborough and Wigan, while Huddersfield made a bid for Jackson.

Asked if both players wanted to leave, Lambert said: "Nobody came in, that was the thing. So you can’t go anywhere if nobody comes in for you."

Can either player work their way back into his plans?

“I really don’t know," said the Blues boss. "But as I’ve said before, there’s no point. That’s my answer to it. The mentality. I’ve never heard that before. I need players that are going to die for here.

“Listen, it doesn’t matter (if they would be useful to the team). It’s the attitude to the whole thing. As I said before, I’m not having that. I'm not having them disrespect their team-mates. If that’s the attitude, that you want to stay with your wife and kids, then fine. That’s totally fine. But I need people who want to die and play for the club."

Having spoken to BBC Radio Suffolk, Lambert then reiterated his comments to ITV Anglia.

He said: "You don’t say that. The clubs that I played with. I played with the best of the best, I won the best, I know the highest level to be in Europe, I know what it’s like to play in European finals, World Cups, I've never, ever, ever heard that. Ever. That’s not a mentality I’m going for. If you want to stay with your wife and kids, no problem, stay with them.

“But at this football club we need people who want to fight and die for it.

“Maybe this is the first time supporters are hearing this. They might think ‘hang on a minute’.

“What do we do? Let people play when they want to play? You go back to your boss and tell then you don’t want to do your work and see what happens."

The EADT and Ipswich Star then asked Lambert which player he was talking about when suggesting one had said they'd rather be at home.

“Listen, you can take the stories from the other guys," he said. "I don’t need to go through it again. That’s it."

But we're talking about two players and one accusation...

"I've told you, take it off of that (previous interviews), you don’t need to go down that road. If you’re going to keep going down that road I’ll just walk off."