Blues CEO Mark Ashton says he and manager Kieran McKenna have been talking about their plans for the January transfer window for the last three or four months, while chairman Mike O’Leary was asked about the owners’ intentions should the club win promotion to the Premier League.

Town are currently second in the Championship, seven points ahead of Leeds United in third, a remarkable start to the campaign having put them firmly in the running for a return to the top flight after 22 years.

At last night’s PLC AGM in the Sir Bobby Robson Suite, Ashton and O’Leary were joined by chief financial officer Tom Ball to answer questions from shareholders.

The CEO was asked whether, if the Blues were still in a position similar to their current one whether the owners would provide McKenna with a transfer kitty to strengthen the squad during the upcoming transfer window.

“January’s just another month in the calendar,” Ashton responded. “In the summer we plan for January and we have to plan for January in the summer because we have this thing called Financial Fair Play, Profit and Sustainability rules.

“And this is why the revenue that we take in from supporters from ticketing, retail, hospitality, sponsorship is so, so important.

“The more we bring into the football club, the higher the ability for the owners to put money to spend on the pitch. That’s simply the way it works.

“We plan for January, so there are no shocks or surprises. Kieran and myself have been talking about January for the last three or four months.

“Ultimately, your plans can change. Why? Two players could get injured in the last week of December and you have to be ready for it, so we’ll work within the Financial Fair Play rules, you would expect us to do that and we’ll be steady, competitive and active in that window.”

A shareholder asked chairman O’Leary whether promotion to the Premier League would be the signal for the club’s owners to sell up.

Gamechanger 20 Ltd now holds a stake of more than 98 per cent of the club - the PLC’s share is down to less the two per cent following share issues over the last couple of years - with more than 90 per cent of Gamechanger owned by PSPRS, the pension fund for Arizona’s fire and police services.

“I think it’s fair to say that our owners have got foresight that very few others had,” O’Leary said. “They recognised the opportunity from British football and chose to invest in it and they were pretty much the first institutional investor in British football that we’ve seen.

“And that’s on the back of what they perceive to be a key opportunity thanks to the media revenues, [such as] the new [Sky Sports] media deal which has just been announced in the Premier League. And the valuation of the clubs that benefit from those media revenues are huge.

“Clearly our owners are very keen to take part in that and see the valuation of their investment climb, which they will do provided we continue to grow and build our club sustainably and we’re as successful as the team has managed to achieve so far.

“Of course there will come a time when they will want to take some return on it, but I’m not sure they’ll ever want to completely sell up.

“They may, but in so doing I think we’d be part of making sure we had something to follow on from that that would allow us to continue the journey.

“Equally, it’s possible that if we’ve increased the valuation of the club, they may choose to sell some shares to someone else but retain the majority and therefore take a chunk of their money out but stay with us.

“There are a lot of ifs, buts and maybes about how that might happen. But I certainly don’t see a short-term change any time soon, which would interrupt the plan that we’ve had in place with them all along.

“We put in place a five-to-10-year programme which is still enabling Mark to build a team and take the stadium forward and also take the facilities in general forward. And that’s before we do anything property-wise.

“There are lots of interesting opportunities available to us and I think our backers are both very pleased with what’s happened and they’re enjoying the ride as much as the rest of us.”

In the evening’s PLC business, Roger Finbow was re-elected as chair and Richard Moore as a director.

TWTD

BeattiesBackPocket added 12:33 - Dec 5 Some absolute drip already commented through Facebook called Daryn Woods moaning saying ‘you said that in the summer!!!’ We’re second in the table which clearly isn’t good enough for a few. If he knew anything about football he’d know most the targets we probably had wouldn’t come to us as they didn’t know where we’d possibly finish now were near the top the calibre of player we can get in now to then is massively different. Some people need to stick to playing fifa. I’m more than happy these guys know what they’re doing and brining in too many of the wrong attitude may completely derail our run in so let’s be patient with them McKenna knows what he needs the same as we do.

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pennblue added 13:40 - Dec 5 Very exciting and it would be lovely if the investors could take out a nice dividend each year and/or watch their investment grow and be in it for the long haul. Sometimes, a hand and a glove just fit nicely together.
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IpswichT62OldBoy added 13:53 - Dec 5 The Pension part of the ownership would be happy with a return of 5% one would Imagine, they are looking for steady income.
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Bazza8564 added 15:23 - Dec 5 Can't see the investors taking a dividend, this piece of their portfolio is at the highest end of their risk parameters, and taking working capital out of the business just doesn't fit the football model either. I can see them dumping 45% or so off if we get to the PL. If we assume they are in for around £75m presently and the club was valued around £300m on promotion to the PL, they could raise £135m or so selling a 45% or so stake, making a massive £60m profit AND retain control of the club. But we've got to get there first... It's a far cry from March 2021 isnt it, Lambert departing and the Cook months. OMG what a journey, and as the top comment above says, some people are STILL not happy.......... Thank you GameChanger, Mark and team, we have our club back in the best shape it's probably ever been, debt free and with ambition..

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mrshallisfit added 15:39 - Dec 5 O'Leary looks like an old great uncle who you have picked up from the care home and doesn't have a clue what's happening and who you are.
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tractorboybig added 15:42 - Dec 5 beattiesbackpocket.....these two are employed to say all things to all men.........
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Bazza8564 added 16:24 - Dec 5 Reading the comment about MO is sad, you've clearly not met him. Hes a very calm man, but if you think he doesnt know whats going on youre sadly wrong. He's a mentor to MA who runs pretty much everything through him. They've worked together at a number of clubs going back years and although I only met him once, I found his insight fascinating and his openness about their desire for delivery to be very impressive

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ArnieM added 17:00 - Dec 5 mrshallisfit: You’re thick as sh1t mate!
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PhuketPete added 17:02 - Dec 5 Mrshallisfit. I don’t know what your intention was but what you wrote was rude and pathetic. Shame on you
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johnwarksshorts added 17:15 - Dec 5 Mrshalisfit...Have a bit of respect fella.
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Kickingblock added 20:26 - Dec 5 In mitigation, the photo is dreadful.
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churchmans added 21:29 - Dec 5 I just want to add that the pension fund and the investment firm ORG that is running the show on there behalf! Have more investments than just town! They no doubt have investments in absolutely loads of projects,companies,trading etc they won't be in no rush to sell! The most likely scenario is like ipswich old boy said 5% dividends or anything up.to 50% If we are in the prem leauge then it is just money pouring like rain!! There running this club so well and efficiently and the millions they have spent off the field is absolutely fukall compared to the billions they have and make year on! I suspect we will be a very successful part of an already impressive portfolio! I fekin love this whole set up

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blues1 added 22:52 - Dec 5 Mrshallisfit. My god. Just proof of how crap some of our fans are. Why make such a comment when u clearly know nothing about the guy. Maybe if you realised it was him who actually did the majority of the qork and negotiations for gamechanger to purchase the club in the 1st place, u wouldn't make such a crass comment. Clearly knows more than you'll ever know
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IpswichT62OldBoy added 10:36 - Dec 6 Of note,“We put in place a five-to-10-year programme which is still enabling Mark to build a team and take the stadium forward". Remember when we had at best a 5 month plan.?
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BobbyBell added 16:34 - Dec 6 Mrshallisfit. Having a bad day? Or just desperate for some attention? I can't think of any other reason for such a comment.
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