Lambert: There Was No Respect for the Place - Ipswich Town News
Blues boss Paul Lambert says the appearance of the stadium and training ground are vital, hence the redecoration and cleaning which has been ongoing over the summer at his instigation.
Playford Road has seen a lick of fresh blue paint in recent weeks, while work at Portman Road will follow, including a clean of the roof of the Sir Bobby Robson Stand, the state of which has come in for criticism from fans for the last couple of seasons.
Lambert confirmed that the work was at his behest: "Yes, there was nothing here, there was nothing here, there was no infrastructure here.
"In my opinion there was no respect for the place, there was no colour, there was no blue, you couldn’t see any blue, where I was I couldn’t see any badges, it was all wrong.
"And there was an acceptance of that. I thought this is wrong, what’s happening here, so I had a chat with Marcus and said, ‘Listen, you have to grab the club’ and, to be fair, little bits are getting done and things are happening around the club now which should have been done long before I was here.
"I thought the standard was no good, the standard was poor and now it starts to get better. There’s a long, long road to recovery, but this is a start and the standard and acceptance was way, way off the mark, it should never have happened.
"Because of the standard I’m used to, this was unacceptable for me, so that’s why we said we have to do something, change something.”
He stressed the importance of the appearance of the stadium and training ground: "They’re vital because the fans have to come and sit in a stadium. Their experience of a game has to be, not turning up to a place that’s not great or a training ground that’s not great.
"The respect level, it wasn’t there. And that’s why I think it was all wrong, it needed to be laid out - this is not right what’s happened to this club because it’s too big a club. And now it is getting better, slowly.”
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