Town CEO Mark Ashton says improving the training ground and moving the club’s academy to category one will be funded by the new £105 million investment announced earlier this evening.

The Blues revealed that Bright Path Sports Partners, about whom you can read more here, had taken a stake of just over 40 per cent in the club in return for £105 million.

“The money comes in over a period of time to back a plan,” Ashton explained to TownTV. “Let’s manage expectations, it’s not all going on transfer fees and players.

“I think again, we will be competitive in that market, but we have to adhere to Financial Fair Play rules.

“It gives us the stability to take the plan forward. We’ve talked before to supporters about the importance of infrastructure and the first key infrastructure project will be the training ground.

“That will be a multi-million pound investment. We’ve already got the pitches in place, we have a fairly detailed design in place now, we’ll be entering the planning process very shortly and I’d like to be on site this year, putting that training ground plan into place and seeing the buildings coming to fruition.

“That allows us to put new facilities in for the first team, also put better facilities in for our women and ultimately, something that we’ve talked about time and time again is the importance of our academy.

“This new investment, we’ve discussed internally, and part of this investment will be used to take the academy from category two to category one.

“I know it’s something we’ve talked about and I’ve always said, if and when the time is right, we would do that. We’re now committing to that and we will put a timeline in place to move to category one academy status.”

Gamechanger 20 Ltd bought the club from Marcus Evans for £40 million in April 2021 and clearly its value has increased significantly if just over 40 per cent - with the existing owners retaining control - now costs £105 million.

“It’s a lot of money and I’m very pleased to say it’s a valuation that’s climbing,” chairman Mike O’Leary added.

“There are lots of things driving that. We’re selling out the stadium almost every week, whereas three years ago we weren’t. We’re selling replica shirts to large numbers of people. We’re doing very well commercially and our hospitality revenues are climbing too.

“All those things that revenue is going up. And when revenue goes up, the club is worth more than it was before.

“I won’t bore you with the detailed arithmetic of it, but suffice to say that’s really good news, not least the fact we’ve gone up a league and we are knocking on the door of going up another league. That also drives valuation to a higher level.

“And all of that is great news, it means our investors are happy that their investments are worth more than they were and we as a club are doing well. I think it’s all pretty good news.”

Ed Schwartz, the CEO of ORG, the US investment firm which manages funds on behalf of the Arizona Public Safety Personnel Retirement System (PSPRS), which still holds a greater than 50 per cent stake in Gamechanger 20 Ltd, says there will be no further investment for a significant period.

“At this point, we have no intent or need for any additional capital in the near term,” he said. “I would say that this should suffice for a good period of time.

“There are a lot of additional people that want to get involved, but we’re not going to continue to bring in any more capital at this point.”

Regarding the new people coming into the club, he said: “The investors that were introduced to the group and we vetted, including the management, vetted are people that understood our vision.

“What we didn’t want was people who would come in and say, ‘No, that’s not the way to do it, we do it this way in the US’.

“People that would get to know the management team and they would be supportive in helping us to do what we’ve been doing and, frankly, we’ve been quite successful so far. We’re very proud of that.

“We all think we have a lot of work to do to continue with our goals but we wanted to really provide more of the same, more stability, more oxygen, certainly more capital, but not in a way that would take us off course.”

Schwartz was at pains to point out that no money is being taken out of the club by PSPRS.

“One of the things I wanted to emphasis is that ORG on behalf of the pension fund is not taking any money out of this club,” he said. “We have rededicated ourselves to this investment.

“We will still maintain control at 50 per cent ownership. Bright Path and its investors will have 40 per cent and the remainder, which includes the Three Lions, will have 10 per cent of the club. That’s how the ownership now that this is all completed will look.”

Reflecting further on the investment, he added: “It really validates [PSPRS chief investment officer] Mark Steed’s investment thesis. I couldn’t be more proud to do this and do this for Mark Steed, who gave confidence in and my team to help put this together, and Mark [Ashton] and his management team to carry this forward.

“He [Steed] stays out of the way. Yes, he asks questions, yes, we all have to be accountable, but he gives us a support and the oxygen to be able to do what we need to do and have the success that we’ve been able to achieve.

“One of the key things in this whole effort was to make sure that while we’re bringing in this new capital and new investors, we didn’t what was working to change.

“And so it’s going to be more of the same. Mark [Ashton] and his team have rededicated themselves to the club, to the future and we couldn’t be more pleased and more proud at giving them the oxygen, giving them the capital to take this club even further than we’ve been.”

Photo: TownTV

IpswichT62OldBoy added 19:55 - Mar 22 I cannot stop squealing with pleasure at very announcement this Club is making at the moment
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Bert added 22:42 - Mar 22 I do wonder if the news of even more investment and interest in iITFC underlines to KMcK that this is the place to stay for at least another 12 months or more. Could it be that privately he has indicated such a desire which in turn has helped to deliver further investment ? I dearly hope so and wouldn’t that be the best news for everyone who loves what is happening.
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Ipswichbusiness added 23:05 - Mar 22 KMc will do what he thinks is right for his career and his family. If Brighton or West Ham come in with a big fat offer then I would expect him to go.
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shakytown added 02:58 - Mar 23 so good to see the club being run so well. longer term thinking like the academy and training ground will serve us well in the future.
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BurleysGloryDays added 08:14 - Mar 23 KMK is wonderfully self assured. I have faith that he’s here for a good while yet, even if fortunes shift with player trading etc. provided the fans love and understand and support and listen to him. Because he’s confident enough to walk into champions league management any day. And he’s so young. He has no reason to leave for anything other than a top 6 club. And those jobs come up quite often, let’s face it. He’s hardly missing out! I do think he’ll want to manage the best players just to see what he’s capable of. He’ll be on the radar of all champions league clubs imo. But he hopefully doesn’t feel in any rush. Terrific news about the investment and valuation!

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Bazza8564 added 10:35 - Mar 23 Why does every conversation here seem to feed a paranoid response about Kieran. He has a four year contract, he is only 37 years old and has just seen Rooney Lampard and Gerrard take big jobs too soon. He know, hes under contract here and this club is building a sustainable future for him without him having to take risks. AND, frankly I can't get my head around the fact that people don't seem to attribute as much value to Ashton, who is the driving force behind this club, and the fantastic investors that he is able to attract. Strength in a football club starts OFF the pitch not on it. Ashton is an absolute hero in my books as is Schwartz, O'leary and Gamechanger. Kieran will move on one day yes, but ten years from now at 47 he won't have reached his prime so why on earth are people linking him to a departure when he's not even mentioned in the article ??

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ArnieM added 17:01 - Mar 23 Unfortunately contracts aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. If the right club, right offer comes in, it’s going to be hard for Town board to stand in his way isn’t it. That’s the reality I think.
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Suffolkboy added 17:29 - Mar 23 Footy is footy ,and money seems to become the be all and end all : but in KMcK we’ve plainly got a man of principle,standards ,ethics and enthusiastic dedication all round . Hopefully he’s excited by all ITFC are achieving ,and no doubt the input he has at crucial points as improvements and developments take place ! The momentum and focus in our club is nearly unbelievable right now ; we are seeing the many visions of potential being realised and sensibly planned ,with investors keen to join the team! It seems certain KM is being amply rewarded and if he and the family are settled and happy let’s hope it’s going to be a long stay ( in the traditions from the past !).

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slade1 added 18:09 - Mar 23 Am I the only one here that is a little concerned regarding Bright Path coming in and owning 40% ? I know Gamechanger 20 owns 50% and has the overall majority but, could there be conflicts of interest? Could there be disagreements? etc etc. The phrase too many cooks comes to mind.
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