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Ashton and Staff Very Focused - Ipswich Town News

CEO Mark Ashton says he and his staff are very focused as the club goes into a summer preparing for life in the Championship both from an on-field and off-field perspective.

"It’s 38 days until the players return for pre-season and 78 days before we start competitive league fixtures, so myself and the staff behind the scenes are very focused,” Ashton told Sky News (from 27 mins).

"There are a number of things to do. Player trading begins now as the transfer window starts to open and on top of that we have all the infrastructure projects, a major investment of £2.5 million into a new pitch and infrastructure projects in the stadium.

"And all the financial planning around the Financial Fair Play that comes with it, so a very busy time for us.”

Ashton has no concerns that manager Kieran McKenna, who is contracted to the Blues until the summer of 2025, will be anywhere other than Portman Road next season.

"I would think so, he seems very happy,” he said. "I think the stability that we have as a club, the stability that the ownership group brings here, we’re well-financed and we’ve moving forward in all directions.

"I think Kieran understands the journey he’s on in his career. I think we’re a perfect fit for each other. This is potentially a huge club with huge opportunity and to have him leading the team and taking us forward on the pitch is something we’ve very, very pleased with.”

Work on the pitch is already well under way, while the demolition of the old Staples and Better Gym building behind the Sir Alf Ramsey Stand is not far off completion.

Reflecting further on the financial aspects of the 2022/23 campaign, he added: "The whole club has moved forward. If you look at our retail, historically, even in the Premier League, this football club had only turned over £1 million-ish in retail. This year, we’ll break through £4 million in retail.

"We averagely sell around 12,000 shirts per season, last season we sold 50,000, so financially and off the pitch as well as on the pitch, the club is moving forward on a very steep upward trajectory.”

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