Owner Marcus Evans remains as committed to the Blues as ever, despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on Town and his other businesses, says general manager of football operations Lee O’Neill.
"Absolutely, he’s still as committed as ever,” O’Neill said. "I still speak to him a lot of the time, he’s still on the phone to [manager] Paul [Lambert].
"OK, he can’t be here as much because of the current situation but he’s still actively involved in everything that’s going on.”
O’Neill says that Evans’s other businesses have inevitably been affected by the situation over the last 11 months.
"I’m not going to go into details on it because it’s not my area of expertise, but it has affected his other businesses, like it has done with everybody and every business,” he said.
"It’s restricted a lot of the things he could do, especially the corporate hospitality business with not having events, that’s a major part of his business.”
However, he says Evans remains in a position to help the club through what is a tricky period for all football clubs.
"Absolutely, and people will have their opinion on the situation but Marcus has been absolutely brilliant in still continuing to fund and still continuing to strengthen the squad where we can,” he said.
Asked about Lambert’s increasingly frosty relationship with the local media having opted not to take part in a number of recent press conferences and limiting his post-match comments to the games and nothing more, O’Neill reiterated the support previously given to the manager.
"I think the club has made it very clear that we’re supporting Paul through that process,” he said. "We can’t stop people writing what people want to write and how they want to feel, and I get that people are frustrated, but I’m not going to go into that situation or the way the club is. The club has supported Paul and the management team, and we will continue to do so.”
Quizzed on when next year’s season tickets might go on sale and what the club’s thinking is regarding refunds on this campaign’s season tickets, O’Neill added: "That’s being dealt with directly with Marcus. Obviously with the current bail-outs and bits and bobs Marcus is going through all those areas.
"As you can imagine, the things I have to cover daily and are ranging right through from the U9s all the way through to the first team, so Marcus and the team are picking that aspect up and that’s something that will be reviewed over the next few months and when decisions are made they will be communicated by the club.”
Similarly the club accounts, a snapshot of which is usually released at the time of the PLC AGM which is normally held in November or December, are delayed.
"All on hold at the moment with the current situation,” O’Neill added. "Those financial matters are dealt with the FD [financial director Mark Andrews] and Marcus directly and there are things that he’s going over and looking at at the moment.”