Town owner Marcus Evans has given his first ever on-camera interview to iFollow Ipswich, watch it here on TWTD.
Among many topics covered in the near-half-hour interview, Evans talks about the appointment of the new manager - "It’s a big challenge and it’s a big issue for me, to find the right person” - and says he has an open mind regarding the new boss’s profile.
"I’m going to look for a manager who ticks [various] boxes and through a process of interviewing and speaking with those that know and have worked with the applicants I can get down to my final options,” he said.
"I’m not going to prejudge a manager, they could be young, they could be older, they could be experienced at winning promotion to the Premier League or not, but overall I want to find someone that buys into the club’s plans.
"To be clear on that, that’s based on the Five-Point Plan which I announced a while ago and that I feel brings Ipswich the best opportunity for promotion.
"it includes bringing players through from the academy, developing a team to play attractive and exciting football and achieving this within a competitive wage budget which is going to be below many of the parachute clubs in our division.
"It’s going to take some time and I expect to make an appointment towards the end of May or early in June, I would have thought, something like that.”
He added: "There are a lot of names in there and it’s a lot to go through. I think another couple of important factors in the appointment not being rushed are that a lot’s going to happen at the end of the season and management changes anyway are going to take place at the end of the season and we want to see what those changes are because there may be others that come on the list that aren’t currently on the list.”
Regarding out of contract players such as Luke Hyam and Teddy Bishop, who we understand is already in talks regarding a new deal, Evans said: "There are a few players, not that many, that we need to make imminent decisions on and the senior football staff will make the decisions on that.
"They will let me know what they think and then if it’s appropriate for negotiations to take place to renew contacts or do whatever we need to do, they will take place. They don’t need to wait for the new manager to be in place.”
Evans makes reference to the Five-Point Plan outlined in December 2016 on several occasions and says that remains the thinking with the new manager having to work within the same financial constraints as previous boss Mick McCarthy.
"I’m going to give the same answer to the new manager as I have to all the other managers in terms of being up front and honest about the budgets that are available and the way that we’re going to go forwards,” the owner said.
"I will continue to give the manager all the support I can within the sort of budgets that I’ve made available over the last few years.
"But let’s look at the squad we’ve got, it is competitive, it’s a great mix of youth and experience, we’ve got good cover across all positions.
"We’ve got players to come back from injury, Emyr’s going to come back, Adeyemi, Dozzell, and even the players who have been round this season, we’ve had so many who have had stop-start seasons.
"So once we get everyone fit, make a few select additions, I think we can be in the mix next year.
"And it is worth noting, despite what anybody thinks, our spend on the squad in terms of transfer fees and wages has been increasing each year.”
Evans admits he got it wrong when he increased season ticket prices last summer: "When I raised the season ticket prices last year that we clearly a mistake, I shouldn’t have done that.
"The reason behind it was that we needed more revenue to compete, we still need more revenue to compete, but that clearly wasn’t the way to do it and that’s why I’ve dropped the season ticket price this year by 10 per cent.”
The Blues owner has no immediate plans to sell the club but says he would be willing to listen to offers if someone was in a better position to fund a promotion push.
"If I didn’t feel we had a chance [of winning promotion], then, yes, it would be time for me to move on,” he admitted.
"But I’ve got no desire to sell, I think the plan that I’ve got in place has a chance of success and I want to be here to carry out that plan.
"But money is always going to make a difference and more money in this league would give us a better chance, particularly if it’s spent wisely and particularly if someone came along who could do a better job, had the personal and financial credentials to do a better job, I’d always do what’s right for the club.
"I suppose I’m in the fortunate personal position where I don’t have to recoup the investment I’ve made in the club.
"So, I suppose, yes, if the right person came along, offered the right prospect for the club, it would be wrong for me to stand in their way and I’d have to look at that very seriously.
"But I have to be honest with you, I’m not too sure why, but I haven’t seen too many Chinese or Russian oligarchs racing up the A12 in the last few years.”
On why he has chosen now to speak publicly on camera for the first time, he said: "I always thought it was really important that my being involved was certainly not about me in any way, it’s about the football side of the club and I’ve always tried to leave it like that, that the managers do the talking.
"But over this season, I think the circumstances have become different and it’s become clear to me that the fans really want to know where their club was going and I just felt the time was right now for me to have this interview.”