Town’s next set of annual accounts will show a loss lower than the £15.96 million figure which was revealed last week as the Blues adjust to the new Financial Fair Play rules (FFP).

Finance director Mark Andrews, who was recently appointed to the board after eight years working at the club, explained the reasons for the losses during the year to June 2012: “We brought in some experienced players in the 2011/12 season, Paul Jewell’s first full season in charge, which kept the playing squad costs high, but unfortunately did not have the desired effect of the promotion push we hoped for.”

Town’s wage bill during that campaign was £15.96 million, 106% of turnover, with the FFP rules meaning that Championship clubs will only be able to spend what they generate themselves in the future, although with “acceptable deviations” as the system is introduced and with certain areas of spending, such as the academy, excluded.

Last year’s losses took Town’s overall debt to £79.62 million but Andrews says the Blues’ situation isn’t quite the same as many other sides: “Most Championship clubs are carrying debt but the majority of debt carried at Ipswich Town is not external, it is owed to the Marcus Evans Group. Nothing has changed in that respect.”

He says that while annual losses will be lower, owner Evans will continue to back Mick McCarthy, as he has other bosses: “Marcus Evans has invested heavily in the playing squad with all the managers he has worked with and will continue to do so.

"But with Financial Fair Play regulations officially coming into force next season, 2013/14, we are readying the club's finances to fall in line and are making progress in achieving this aim and reducing losses accordingly.”

Photo: Action Images

cooper4england added 00:20 - Apr 9 Nothing to worry about then!
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wkj added 00:25 - Apr 9 I think Mick will buy smarter than RK and PJ however I have a really gut wrenching feeling we may see some activity around Tommy Smith and Cresswell this summer; don't want to lose either but having not sold a player since Wickham I can see the pressure will be on Mick is offers come in for anyone this summer. If I was playing Football Manager I would take control of Man City and purchase Martin, Chopra and Drury for £40m each; maybe Richard Wright can put in a word to Mancinni

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Michael11 added 00:27 - Apr 9 £16m on wages on that very poor team last year makes me feel sick! As much as Paul Jewell was a nice guy, he was an absolutely awful manager. Just thinking how things would be if Mick McCarthy was Evans' first appointment instead of Roy Keane and where we'd be now. Hopefully next year will finally be the big break in the Evans era!
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wkj added 00:33 - Apr 9 @Michael11 - I fully agree with you there; this is the first time in 4 years I actually feel we have a team that has some gel about it; a few gaps and question marks here an there but not a hodge podge of players without that tram feeling and crossed fingers. Mick's done amazing with the club from the word go and has spent very little. With some inspired signings (Max Clayton, Luke Murphy and Ajay Leicht-Smith top my wish list) and the Excotong young lad Marriot; were could have a belter next year.

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brendanh added 00:38 - Apr 9 Dear ITFC, To reduce the deficit, please bring an end to Evans' wholesale-change summers. All we need this summer is to give permanent deals to the better loanees. Assuming Wordsworth and Taylor are fit by next season, they'll provide the attacking midfield impetus which is the only area we've been lacking the past few months. Please do not spunk revenue on 10 new players, who'll fail to settle, following which we'll be forced to spend big next Jan to avoid relegation. Effectively what I'm saying is, don't do what you've done every summer for the past six years, please learn from your repeated mistakes.

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MVBlue added 00:42 - Apr 9 Has our wage bill ever been higher than £15.96 million? Is isn't that the highest ever? We don't need the majority of these high wage players.
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Blaine96 added 02:23 - Apr 9 I think that Paul Jewell is the one that is to fully blame for this. as Michael 11 said Paul was a nice guy but he broke the bank by spending to much on Wages for players that didnt turn out to be any good use tbh. hopefully next season Mick will get everything sorted the way it should be. Mainly with the FFP coming into force. But i do see teams sniffing around smith and Cressy. hopefully we can keep them but with out financial position i wouldn't be suprised if we have in to a few million pound for them.

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bluefeast added 04:11 - Apr 9 For absolute fact Fulham scouts have been at the majority of our last 8 games. If you look at the stand out players over that period then you would say Smith ,Cresswell , the lad on loan from Wolves at right back and Henderson when he was here. Smith is looking like a class act for the future and has improved his game no end under MM. If we have to sell we have to sell. Personally I expect the likes of Chopra to be moved on even if its for no fee , even a season long lone to cover the last 12 months of his contract. That will get rid of 15k per week if we believe that's what he is on.

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floridaboy added 06:48 - Apr 9 Need to get the squad sorted out and get rid of the high earners who are not wanted ie Martin, Chopra to name two. Not sure why people keep going on about Smith and Cresswell as possible targets. Smith has had a good season but not a premier player and neither is Cresswell. Inconsistent springs to mind with him. At the moment we are carrying no one who would add anything to a premiership team!

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Karlosfandangal added 08:02 - Apr 9 We were all pleased when Chopra and Jet and Bowyer and Bullards were signed. The manager get the blame for the clubs failure fair enough comes with the job but 16 million in wages really is not right for the seasons performance over the last year. Wonder what the wage bill would have been if Mr Clegg had singed some of the ones that got away
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Mark added 08:06 - Apr 9 I believe we got the wage bill down to £5M at one point under Royle/Magilton, didn't we? It goes to show the waste of money on wages as well as transfer fees since those days of no progress! At least we may be getting somewhere under McCarthy thank goodness.
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Surco72 added 08:34 - Apr 9 The loss is upto June 2012 i agree with Paul Jewell in hindsight wasting money on Bowyer, bullard wages but do not agree that Chopra was a waste ,he finished our top scorer for over 8 seasons ? Money spent on Cresswell,Chambers,Taylor i believe will make a profit . And just because Jewell was in charge it didnt stop the club paying out for Leadbitter,Edwards,Scotland Martin ,Priskin high wages and having to pay Priskin , Healey off from Keanes spending .That is where the big downfall comes from none of Keanes signing will make any money back for Town . I believe Evans has finally found the right man to manage Ipswich and congratulate him on making those big changes until it was right

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Stato added 09:06 - Apr 9 Sorry Surco but we only signed Chopra in June 2011 so how has he been "our top scorer for over 8 seasons" ? On top of his wages didn't we also spend rather a lot of money sending out to rehab ? and didn't we also lend him a fair sum of money to pay off some of his debts ? I think on any level you want to measure it Chopra has been a waste of money.
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Jeff_winger added 10:10 - Apr 9 @bossman i was confused by the 8 yr thing as well but I think what surco means is chopra got the highest total for last 8 yrs although im not sure thats correct either as i think alan lee beat it 5 yrs ago
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Surco72 added 10:37 - Apr 9 I did mean that he was our highest scorer in one season over the last 8 seasons . I think you will find that Lee also scored 14 and you have to go back to Kuqi to beat Chopras return .(Even if Wiki states Lee scored 17!!) And as you say we lent him money to pay off his debts which is being paid back from his wages ,no money lost ? Any striker that comes to a club and is better than what we had before cannot be a waste of money surely ? How much the price of his goals for us not to be relegated last season ? 2 match winners this season giving us 6 points . If you are looking for strikers as a complete waste of money over this period- Priskin £2million outlay,very few goals and had to pay him off ? Obviously if we had kept Rhodes we wouldnt even need this discussion !!

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Stato added 10:44 - Apr 9 Fair enough Surco. For the little that it's worth I was really chuffed when we brought Chopra in but the fact is he has been a real disappointment for me (and many others). In part I blame Jewell for playing him up front on his own but when DJ turned up it showed what we had been missing out in not have a top striker leading the line. Chops has his challenges but personally I hope he is fighting his demons at another club next season.

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BigHibbs added 11:22 - Apr 9 Wages purely wasted by players that spent long periods on the bench in the Paul jewell and Roy keane days have left ipswich in big trouble, I often ask myself where would ipswich be without mr Evans .... Chopra , bowyer , Bullard , leadbitter , sonko , ivar Ing , Kennedy (on a 3 year deal) , fulop , priskin , stern John , Tyrone Barnett just to mention a few loan/permenantly signings that have cost the club fees and what not , and have very little if any return on te field , someone mentioned the small fees payed under Magilton and royle, this was able to happen because a lot of the players were signed for minescule fees or free transfers or were simple products from the teams academy. However I thank keane for the signing of Carlos Edwards who has been me consistent for 3 years now. Also I think jewell done well with the signings of cresswell and chambers as well as the loan signing of Campbell , but players done come cheap these days, I'm hoping Wordsworth and Taylor can be like new signings next year (as the fees are already paid) Things look slightly more bright under mock McCarthy COYB

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wkj added 11:23 - Apr 9 I thought Chopra was a good signing too; I think his off the field twitter silliness and complacency has contributed mostly to the majority of fans on his back. This season his few goals came at vital times and I would love to love him; but I just think the bigger picture should not feature him. This being said our lack of goals has not come from bad strikers as much as sloppy link up play from mostly Drury and Martin- if Martin could cross and Drury could pass consistently I think our goal tally would be much healthier and who knows: maybe Chopra would be a hero

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Dog added 12:31 - Apr 9 There will be wholesale changes again this summer as it is evident that Mick will bring in his own players. I do trust Mick to sign better value players than the previous two incumbnents. Players out in my opinion will be Drury, Martin, Chopra, one of the keepers plus all the loan signings including Murphy (however much he wants to play for us). JET may get another season but it wouldn't surprise me if he went to the likes of Forest or Reading. Mick will sign at least 7 players with a couple of loanees at the end of August (ish). What we need to do is to get off to a good start, so lets make this signings early.

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NITFC added 13:21 - Apr 9 Just think how many players we DIDN'T sign because of their excessive wage demands!!!!
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Keaneish added 13:55 - Apr 9 Its great that we're heading into the close season with only a few outstanding contract re-newals to be tied up. All the kids have been told whether or not they will be take on or not and we have loans due to sign so its definitely all looking positive. The wage bill is a massive concern. I assume Lee martin is on big cash so that may be the more protracted contract conversation this summer but with the exception of chops and Edwards, who else are the big earners there? 6 players in for me this summer and i doubt any will leave. McGoldrick in, Stearman may prove too expensive but would love to see him here and the others will be down to wage demands. No doubt Murphy will be taking a big reduction to stay. Can't wait for next season!! 3 players i want to see in are: GK - Westwood, LM - Ritchie and CM Forshaw...oh, and Jordan Rhodes!!

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theobald1985 added 15:59 - Apr 9 floridaboy agree that cresswell would not add much to current prem sides but do think he could be compentant at that level. as for smith i thin he could play in the PL. gareth mcauley plays in a decent prem side so why cant smith who i think is a better CB. cant agree with dog either on his whole theory that the squad needs a massive overhall with loads of changes. this rarely works. we have a decent group who have done well under mick and i would be happy to sign all the loanees and nobody else. the squad will get better together in time and we would have Mcgoldrick chops murphy nouble jet as well as taylor coming back and wordsworth.we would have martin n'daw edwards hyam tabb drury and still have are solid defence and really kick on. I hope this is possible but am concerned re evans and in paticular his purchase of the traning ground and offer of season tickets for a few years being sold now. Didant sheepshanks start doing that before we went into administration last time. What could he want the training ground for if not to sell it? If somebody has an explanation please tell me as im a very worried fan at the mo

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commuterblue added 08:28 - Apr 10 On the finances, The only reason we will sell is if someone is willing to pay significantly over market value (eg Connor Wickham). So I'm not too worried. If someone wants to pay over £2m for Smith, or over £4m for Cresswell, fine. We can easily replace them for that. On the training ground, the rent seems very cheap relative to the price we received. I can't see him selling it in the next 5 years - it is too important for the academy plans. I suspect it's just a bit of tax planning. Of course, it will be something for due dillegnece if he ever sells the club (the buyer would eiteher need to purchase the training ground or get a long term contract - and avoid the Coventry debacle). But to be honest with the debt to MEG there will be bigger negotiations... On the season tickets - previous deals were because we were in trouble and needed cash up front. I think now, again, they're hoping to bring some revenue forward but this time it's to help with fair play compliance in 2013/14, to enable Mick a slightly bigger budget this summer. A 3 year ticket could prove very valuable if we got promoted... Not least as I expect a small rise in next years season ticket price between 5 and 10% - assuming we finish in the top half.

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