| Much as I Hate to Admit it.... 20:40 - Aug 27 with 4995 views | Alexwaddell |
In light of the current Bury and Bolton debacle, I have got to admire the approach of Marcus Evans in the financial dealings with ITFC....there but for the grace of God it could have been us.
But SKY, parachute payments etc creates such an unlevel playing field that football outside the Premiership is not an even playing field and should be addressed before we end up with a 2 tier system with the teams relegated having assured promotion guaranteed next season.
My all time favourite game was v Bolton, 2nd play off leg with Magiltons hattrick, so really sorry to see such a club as Bolton in these dire straits |  |
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| Much as I Hate to Admit it.... on 09:18 - Aug 28 with 616 views | Radlett_blue |
| Much as I Hate to Admit it.... on 08:05 - Aug 28 by Churchman |
Hubris and incompetence just about covers it. He was fast to blame the collapse of ITV Digital, but I think that was shifting the blame. He was Chairman and accountable. The ground needed investing in, but not to the extent of gambling the future of the club. The team needed strengthening, but not to the extent of splurging money on the likes of Sereni and that old pensioner Finidi George. Issuing unsustainable contracts to players in the event of relegation was also mad, but I accept everyone did it at the time to try and keep their best players.
Sheepshanks cared about the club, of course, but the reality is that he and his Board ruined it and then sold it to Evans. The rest is history. |
Town's wage bill at the time of relegation from the Premier League was about 17th in the league. We were hardly overspending in relative terms. We had finished 6th in the league & if Sheepy hadn't backed his manager to try to improve the squad, he would have been pilloried. It was GB who lost the plot, spending money & making the team far worse.
The one thing Sheepy got wrong was redeveloping both ends of the ground. The new North Stand has always been pretty much a disaster. |  |
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| Much as I Hate to Admit it.... on 09:23 - Aug 28 with 610 views | ElephantintheRoom |
| Much as I Hate to Admit it.... on 09:07 - Aug 28 by Guthrum |
That's the way buying debt works. It's sold at a discount because the original creditor thinks they're unlikely to ever get it all back, but that doesn't mean it disappears or its face value is reduced. Can you imagine a debt recovery business buying someone's unpaid credit card bill, then just writing most of it off with no attempt to collect?
It's been stated on here enough times (including by Phil) that Evans no longer charges any interest upon the debt. There's no point as it would just be adding to the losses he'd have to cover.
Apart from the sale of part of the Playford Road site (which brought funds into the club), what assets have flowed out of ITFC? If you mean transfer fees, the overall net figure is a pretty staggering loss. |
There is more to running a football club than apportioning non existent debt and walking away whilst hoping to use it to make a killing on the London Olympics. The sheer cluelessness of Evans and Clegg was there to all too see from day one - as well as the Olympic intent which eventually netted Guam. You cannot escape the reality that Town have been slipping backwards whilst living beyond their means whilst having no structure in place to even run a football club. The shambles at Portman Road over the last decade may even make Blackpool look soundly run. Most clubs in the league are living for today well beyond their means in a footballing world that is changing. Given the harsh realities about to hit the country (again self -imposed) Town fans have nothing to crow about - and financially and geographically are worse off than most. Sorry but get your head out of the sand - its a fact. | |
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| Much as I Hate to Admit it.... on 09:31 - Aug 28 with 594 views | Swansea_Blue |
| Much as I Hate to Admit it.... on 09:23 - Aug 28 by ElephantintheRoom |
There is more to running a football club than apportioning non existent debt and walking away whilst hoping to use it to make a killing on the London Olympics. The sheer cluelessness of Evans and Clegg was there to all too see from day one - as well as the Olympic intent which eventually netted Guam. You cannot escape the reality that Town have been slipping backwards whilst living beyond their means whilst having no structure in place to even run a football club. The shambles at Portman Road over the last decade may even make Blackpool look soundly run. Most clubs in the league are living for today well beyond their means in a footballing world that is changing. Given the harsh realities about to hit the country (again self -imposed) Town fans have nothing to crow about - and financially and geographically are worse off than most. Sorry but get your head out of the sand - its a fact. |
I think that's closer to my view, although the big distinction between ME and some of these charlatans is (seemingly) a higher level of honesty here and, critically, ME actually has the funds to cover the losses. All of these who are failing simply don't have the cash and are trying to survive by robbing Peter to pay Paul, whilst often taking out nice payments for themselves or family. At least we don't have that. |  |
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| Much as I Hate to Admit it.... on 09:44 - Aug 28 with 582 views | Guthrum |
| Much as I Hate to Admit it.... on 09:23 - Aug 28 by ElephantintheRoom |
There is more to running a football club than apportioning non existent debt and walking away whilst hoping to use it to make a killing on the London Olympics. The sheer cluelessness of Evans and Clegg was there to all too see from day one - as well as the Olympic intent which eventually netted Guam. You cannot escape the reality that Town have been slipping backwards whilst living beyond their means whilst having no structure in place to even run a football club. The shambles at Portman Road over the last decade may even make Blackpool look soundly run. Most clubs in the league are living for today well beyond their means in a footballing world that is changing. Given the harsh realities about to hit the country (again self -imposed) Town fans have nothing to crow about - and financially and geographically are worse off than most. Sorry but get your head out of the sand - its a fact. |
That's a different set of issues. While I wouldn't agree with your hyperbole about Blackpool, there have certainly been a whole raft of problems surrounding management of the club (including poor appointments). Not disputing that.
However, as you point out, it's not just us who are living beyond our means and slipping backwards, virtually the whole of English football is going the same way. A vast, but unevenly distributed, flow of money into the game has led to massive inflation as clubs struggle to survive and reach the perceived financial safety of the Prem. That is as much to blame for the decline of Ipswich Town as the mistakes of Evans. |  |
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| Much as I Hate to Admit it.... on 09:56 - Aug 28 with 559 views | Swansea_Blue |
| Much as I Hate to Admit it.... on 09:13 - Aug 28 by Mullet |
This simply doesn't add up to me. He has shown himself to consistently misread the club and the footballing world around him, he has made several mistakes and seemingly learnt very little from them, very slowly.
He abdicates a lot of power to his managers and administrators and then fails to act quickly enough, or be involved enough to check on them. His successes here have been largely down to Mick McCarthy and in the context of repairing the Hurst era, Paul Lambert. That's after over a decade of running a club and only recently avoiding the old boys club at the golf course for their advice.
I had a lot of support for Evans when he came in, he undoubtedly saved us, but to what end? He gambled and gambled badly to go up and make a fortune, now we're stuck with each other it seems. I don't hate him or think he's inherently evil but if the bar is the political equivalent of not being a failed third world junta or banana republic then forgive me, I just don't buy it.
He put us in this league, he has left the ground and the community projects go and even wanted the academy over until someone finally got him to listen. That is not great vision or leadership for me. He seems to consistently be slow to act and uncertain of his own ideals and actions. That has seen us overtaken several times over since he's been here and we are unlikely to recover.
Just because we haven't gone bust like Bury doesn't mean we haven't made a long walk backwards since he arrived. A lot of people will suggest if we win this league it'll be a success, but we will go up and be begging for scraps at the table of a division we used to be a staple of, during a bad season. That isn't good enough. |
Yep. ME isn't a wrong un (depending on your view on the use of tax havens to avoid liabilities!) , but the end result is still decline.
(I wouldn't say Lambert was a success - he spectacularly failed last season achieving little or no better results than Hurst. But that's just splitting hairs and things may have gone too far for him to stop the slide anyway). But overall yes, all of this^ . It's impossible to frame ME as a successful or competent owner, sadly. | |
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