| Ashton interview on 09:50 - Nov 15 with 2165 views | Churchman |
This interview is well worth a listen. Yes, I know MA is a salesman in that he’s always going to express the positives (part of his job), but the underlying message here is that this club is going places, regardless of where we finish this year.
The approach comes across as very holistic. He talks in terms of ‘all areas of the football club’. There is no over focus on KM, just an entity, just a club which is growing in all aspects and moving forward.
Ashton’s comments on the football ground itself have been consistent, but never less than interesting. Thats the bit we physically see, so of course my ears prick up when this is talked about. I get the points people make about loss of revenue if a stand is built short term and the need not to replicate the mistakes of 1982 and 2000, but this seems different.
It sounds like they are looking at changes in harmony with what else is going on and off the pitch and in conjunction with what the town and Local Authority needs (obviously as they own the land on which the stadium sits).
I get the point that an increase in capacity of five thousand isn’t going to make much difference to revenue. It isn’t. However, when I look at the number of young people in the ground compared to five years ago and listen to Ashton talking about the community stuff still just getting going, we need the stadium enlarged to cater for the growth of the fan base, especially young people. They are the future of the club.
I know people don’t like this, but Ipswich Town feels like a programme of separate but interconnected projects running alongside each other. Regardless of where we finish, it’s very exciting and not something I thought I’d ever see. Who knows what the club will look like in five years time, but all things being equal it’s going to look different.
A trophy or two? Champions League football? Community facilities all over Norfolk? Ahhhh I can dream. |  | |  |
| Ashton interview on 09:50 - Nov 15 with 2156 views | brazil1982 |
| Ashton interview on 08:22 - Nov 15 by SitfcB |
Architects have been appointed for the ‘new Cobbold stand’ and the new training ground.
Talks on the new stand are progressing with key stakeholders and are advanced. |
I'd like to see the lettering at the top retained as it's been there for so long. I'm also not in favour of filling corners but I guess it creates capacity. |  | | |
| Ashton interview on 09:51 - Nov 15 with 2123 views | Kieran_Knows |
| Ashton interview on 09:50 - Nov 15 by brazil1982 |
I'd like to see the lettering at the top retained as it's been there for so long. I'm also not in favour of filling corners but I guess it creates capacity. |
We can't fill any of the corners in anyway, can we? New access in the corner of South/Cobbold. Tunnel in the corner of South and Britannia. Club shop in corner of North and Cobbold. |  |
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| Ashton interview on 09:58 - Nov 15 with 2061 views | Keno |
Has anyone shared that on the Bristol forum?
I think they would love it |  |
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| Ashton interview on 10:07 - Nov 15 with 2034 views | SitfcB |
| Ashton interview on 09:12 - Nov 15 by Powrigan |
And how much revenue in the short term would be lost whilst the stand is being built?
Seems a bit premature to me personally, but it is not my money I guess. [Post edited 15 Nov 2023 9:12]
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Don’t think there’s any good time to rebuild a stand, but there’s ways of keeping the current one open whilst the new on is built, needs to be done asap and think it’ll get done asap.
Ashton has spoken before about making the ground a venue, and being ‘open’ 365 days a year, this new stand would probably become the new main stand, loads of hospitality etc new dressing rooms and executive areas. |  |
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| Ashton interview on 10:15 - Nov 15 with 1992 views | C_HealyIsAPleasure |
| Ashton interview on 09:36 - Nov 15 by bluefunk |
It would be a lot more than £2m a year revenue. Adding 5k capacity, with the attendant reorganisation of the hospitality in that stand, would allow almost double that in potential gate receipts each year, plus the additional supporter spend on attending a game and it would also allow us to hold bigger summer events and generate additional event revenue.
While I agree it’s not a current priority let’s be prepared, especially as there’s a huge area behind that stand which is currently under development discussion. |
Those numbers, apart from the Summer events, assume we continue to fill the stand though. Which given we have now had about 9 months of consistently selling out, after a good 15+ years of not doing so, is hardly a certainty |  |
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| Ashton interview on 10:18 - Nov 15 with 1987 views | homer_123 |
| Ashton interview on 09:58 - Nov 15 by Keno |
Has anyone shared that on the Bristol forum?
I think they would love it |
Ashton interview by DanTheMan 15 Nov 2023 9:14Well I hope this is the right one...
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/2b/3a/c6/2b3ac67eecf395963937c3486fbc256f.gif
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| Ashton interview on 10:28 - Nov 15 with 1967 views | Churchman |
| Ashton interview on 09:51 - Nov 15 by Kieran_Knows |
We can't fill any of the corners in anyway, can we? New access in the corner of South/Cobbold. Tunnel in the corner of South and Britannia. Club shop in corner of North and Cobbold. |
Depends on whether there are supports there holding the North Stand up.
Get rid of the club shop. Plonk that on the land behind Churchmans and bung a few seats in that corner. The other corner? Don’t know. Hopefully the same. The embarrassing Wendy House can go and the dudes in there shoved somewhere else. That’s three corners definitely sorted.
My idea of suspending away fans from helium balloons above Churchmans would work. The view might be a tad distant but up there they’ll have other things to worry about. These ideas would allow about 4000 ITFC fans in and would help.
A permanent facility on the old training pitch instead of the mouldering tent would be nice. Maybe an in house brewery in the corner!
I haven’t had a call from Ashton yet to help with design. No idea why. My fees are very reasonable….
Edit: before anyone asks how the players would get on the pitch the answer is simple. By lift next to the pitch - a bit like how the romans got the lions into the Colosseum. [Post edited 15 Nov 2023 10:32]
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| Ashton interview on 10:28 - Nov 15 with 1956 views | Herbivore |
| Ashton interview on 09:36 - Nov 15 by bluefunk |
It would be a lot more than £2m a year revenue. Adding 5k capacity, with the attendant reorganisation of the hospitality in that stand, would allow almost double that in potential gate receipts each year, plus the additional supporter spend on attending a game and it would also allow us to hold bigger summer events and generate additional event revenue.
While I agree it’s not a current priority let’s be prepared, especially as there’s a huge area behind that stand which is currently under development discussion. |
Double that in gate receipts? Only if we're charging £800 for a season ticket in that stand, which seems unlikely. Agree the total revenue might well be more than a coipel of million but we're talking small potatoes compared to PL television revenue, parachute payments, and player trading as ways to significantly grow our revenue. |  |
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| "Community facilities all over Norfolk" on 10:29 - Nov 15 with 1956 views | Dyland |
| Ashton interview on 09:50 - Nov 15 by Churchman |
This interview is well worth a listen. Yes, I know MA is a salesman in that he’s always going to express the positives (part of his job), but the underlying message here is that this club is going places, regardless of where we finish this year.
The approach comes across as very holistic. He talks in terms of ‘all areas of the football club’. There is no over focus on KM, just an entity, just a club which is growing in all aspects and moving forward.
Ashton’s comments on the football ground itself have been consistent, but never less than interesting. Thats the bit we physically see, so of course my ears prick up when this is talked about. I get the points people make about loss of revenue if a stand is built short term and the need not to replicate the mistakes of 1982 and 2000, but this seems different.
It sounds like they are looking at changes in harmony with what else is going on and off the pitch and in conjunction with what the town and Local Authority needs (obviously as they own the land on which the stadium sits).
I get the point that an increase in capacity of five thousand isn’t going to make much difference to revenue. It isn’t. However, when I look at the number of young people in the ground compared to five years ago and listen to Ashton talking about the community stuff still just getting going, we need the stadium enlarged to cater for the growth of the fan base, especially young people. They are the future of the club.
I know people don’t like this, but Ipswich Town feels like a programme of separate but interconnected projects running alongside each other. Regardless of where we finish, it’s very exciting and not something I thought I’d ever see. Who knows what the club will look like in five years time, but all things being equal it’s going to look different.
A trophy or two? Champions League football? Community facilities all over Norfolk? Ahhhh I can dream. |
Heh, yes.
Still boils my piss and the one thing I was genuinely down about thinking about the previous ownership. |  |
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| "Community facilities all over Norfolk" on 10:36 - Nov 15 with 1941 views | Churchman |
| "Community facilities all over Norfolk" on 10:29 - Nov 15 by Dyland |
Heh, yes.
Still boils my piss and the one thing I was genuinely down about thinking about the previous ownership. |
Agreed. I had no idea what our potential might be, but it was obviously greater than letting the club rot away in every regard which is precisely what that stain Evans did. | | | |
| Ashton interview on 10:38 - Nov 15 with 1921 views | SitfcB |
| Ashton interview on 10:28 - Nov 15 by Churchman |
Depends on whether there are supports there holding the North Stand up.
Get rid of the club shop. Plonk that on the land behind Churchmans and bung a few seats in that corner. The other corner? Don’t know. Hopefully the same. The embarrassing Wendy House can go and the dudes in there shoved somewhere else. That’s three corners definitely sorted.
My idea of suspending away fans from helium balloons above Churchmans would work. The view might be a tad distant but up there they’ll have other things to worry about. These ideas would allow about 4000 ITFC fans in and would help.
A permanent facility on the old training pitch instead of the mouldering tent would be nice. Maybe an in house brewery in the corner!
I haven’t had a call from Ashton yet to help with design. No idea why. My fees are very reasonable….
Edit: before anyone asks how the players would get on the pitch the answer is simple. By lift next to the pitch - a bit like how the romans got the lions into the Colosseum. [Post edited 15 Nov 2023 10:32]
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Downvoted for the use of embarrassing Wendy house. | |
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| "Community facilities all over Norfolk" on 10:45 - Nov 15 with 1891 views | Dyland |
| "Community facilities all over Norfolk" on 10:36 - Nov 15 by Churchman |
Agreed. I had no idea what our potential might be, but it was obviously greater than letting the club rot away in every regard which is precisely what that stain Evans did. |
It was a much bigger deal to me than plummeting down the pyramid, though of course the two are symbiotic. But what happens on the pitch, good, bad, woeful and worse, is just football. I feel no entitlement at all, historically and into last twenty years and now currently. Yeh it's been frustrating and ridiculous and sometimes we question why we still bother. But match day and everything about supporting your local club is far more than the couple of hours game time innit Churchers. Norwich City having junior club sessions not only in Suffolk but in Ipswich ffs, was totally discombobulating to me. | |
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| Training and all that, aye on 11:19 - Nov 15 with 1819 views | Dyland |
| Ashton interview on 09:17 - Nov 15 by Powrigan |
Exactly why we should focus the spending on training facilities and the squad, not a stand  |
But as has been pointed out, spending on the squad is limited by FFP and building or not building capacity doesn't have any immediate impact on this.
I'd say the net positive plan (and there are negative projections and possibilities to all plans with regard increasing capacity) is to develop the ground and capacity asap. | |
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| Ashton interview on 11:27 - Nov 15 with 1785 views | Exiled2Surrey |
| Ashton interview on 10:28 - Nov 15 by Herbivore |
Double that in gate receipts? Only if we're charging £800 for a season ticket in that stand, which seems unlikely. Agree the total revenue might well be more than a coipel of million but we're talking small potatoes compared to PL television revenue, parachute payments, and player trading as ways to significantly grow our revenue. |
Indeed - was waiting for someone to mention ticket prices - two levers for increasing revenue on game day (outside of the ancillary stuff) - number of tickets and ticket prices. Am sure they have their elasticity of demand models running... |  | | |
| Ashton interview on 11:39 - Nov 15 with 1741 views | NthQldITFC |
| Ashton interview on 09:12 - Nov 15 by Powrigan |
And how much revenue in the short term would be lost whilst the stand is being built?
Seems a bit premature to me personally, but it is not my money I guess. [Post edited 15 Nov 2023 9:12]
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But if it's a multifunctional stand/facility then I guess they could pre-sell some of the space in there and plough that into the revenue to keep the FFP limits up? Dunno, finance not my strong point!
More important would be the loss of capacity/atmosphere while the stand is being built, and where to put away fans, but then it has been suggested that a lot of the work could be done before closing the existing Cobbold Stand?
I say go for it, the financial situation isn't remotely like the Pioneer Stand so any fears on that basis are irrational. |  |
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| Ashton interview on 11:55 - Nov 15 with 1686 views | cbower |
| Ashton interview on 09:11 - Nov 15 by Lion |
But if we have more people who want to come to games than can actually fit in, than we are missing out on revenue that could be going to the club to help us get to that stable base. Also, gamechanger have far more money than they are able to spend on the squad due to FFP rules. More people in the ground means that they can spend more on the squad. And since building a new stand doesn't break the FFP rules, it is a win win situation. When we developed the north and churchman's stand, it was all out of one club pot so did effect us. When we built the Pioneer stand and then Bobby left for England, again it was out of one club pot so in both situations meant that we couldn't spend money on the squad. This time, gamechanger have one pot that they can spend on the squad, restricted by FFP and one pot they can spend on the club as a whole. The squad pot will only increase if we can get more revenue into the club by adding 5-10000 fans, see? |
That all sounds very logical. However, what I doubt is that there are another 5-10 k fans out there. The ground is packed now due to the success of the last 18 months. Before that, for at least 10 years, anything over 22k was considered a bumper crowd. Even at the height of the Robson era, despite the ground holding 35+k ( with a record of 38,010) we never reached average seasonal attendances in excess of 30,000. I sincerely hope we grasp this chance of promotion but I am wary of how many of the additional 7-8 k supporters we have got recently would still be there if we were no longer flying at the top of the league, or even if we went up and found the going tough a la Burnley. Prefer full stadium with current capacity rather than a 1/3 empty 35k white elephant. Or maybe I'm too pessimistic. |  |
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| Ashton interview on 12:05 - Nov 15 with 1664 views | portmanroadblue |
I think Gamechanger are running the football club as a proper business, something I dont believe happened when we built the new stands. They are speculating to accumulate. If we do get promoted, financial benefits are massive and Gamechanger are preparing for it. |  | | |
| Ashton interview on 12:15 - Nov 15 with 1640 views | trncbluearmy |
Bit of a no brainer this.
If gamechanger want to expand the whole area around FPR including stands, pay for it with no debt incurred by the football club, then why not?
The rate of growth in attendances is a direct result of the football on the pitch,the work of the Foundation and population increase,
ITFC are only starting to tap the potential,
there are parts of Suffolk adjacent to naaarfolk to win back and loads of potential in Essex
The journey has only just begun |  | | |
| Ashton interview on 12:27 - Nov 15 with 1595 views | Deano69 |
| Ashton interview on 09:06 - Nov 15 by Herbivore |
Does it? An extra 5k, which would be a hell of a lot, would generate a couple of million a year in revenue. That's not going to make a huge difference to our transfer budget. Eventually the Cobbold will need to be replaced and it makes sense to make it bigger but it's current size is not holding us back financially. |
I think any redevelopment would included other facilities including much improvement corporate hospitality and revenue for non- match day activities which would bring further additional income and club benefits.
The biggest issue is the time required to make the changes as they are committed to more season ticket holders than can be temporarily moved while under construction. |  |
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| Ashton interview on 12:33 - Nov 15 with 1572 views | Herbivore |
| Ashton interview on 12:27 - Nov 15 by Deano69 |
I think any redevelopment would included other facilities including much improvement corporate hospitality and revenue for non- match day activities which would bring further additional income and club benefits.
The biggest issue is the time required to make the changes as they are committed to more season ticket holders than can be temporarily moved while under construction. |
I thought they'd capped it at 21k this year because that's the number they can accommodate if they shut the Cobbold for redevelopment? | |
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| Ashton interview on 12:45 - Nov 15 with 1541 views | glasso |
| Ashton interview on 11:55 - Nov 15 by cbower |
That all sounds very logical. However, what I doubt is that there are another 5-10 k fans out there. The ground is packed now due to the success of the last 18 months. Before that, for at least 10 years, anything over 22k was considered a bumper crowd. Even at the height of the Robson era, despite the ground holding 35+k ( with a record of 38,010) we never reached average seasonal attendances in excess of 30,000. I sincerely hope we grasp this chance of promotion but I am wary of how many of the additional 7-8 k supporters we have got recently would still be there if we were no longer flying at the top of the league, or even if we went up and found the going tough a la Burnley. Prefer full stadium with current capacity rather than a 1/3 empty 35k white elephant. Or maybe I'm too pessimistic. |
Surely the local population (both in Ipswich and nearby) has increased greatly since the Robson days, so that's not really relevant.
And I dunno where you're got the idea that there aren't another 5-10k extra fans out there? People on this forum can't get tickets for games, let alone those casual people who fancy popping along every now and again for a game. I don't think you realise how much it puts people off going to games when they know there's very little chance of getting tickets. I'm lucky in that I have a contact who can get hospitality when I want to go to PR, but given I don't have any points or anything, I just don't even bother looking at away games nowadays. I know that's not for PR, but that becomes habit - if people never say 'fancy going to the game this weekend?', it just doesn't become a part of their lives. I don't ever bother looking at away games because I know I won't get them. How many people are like that with Portman Road nowadays?
If they know they can more than likely get a ticket, they might pop along every now and again, then it becomes habit and before you know it, they're lining up for a season ticket. | | | |
| Ashton interview on 12:51 - Nov 15 with 1518 views | bluestandard |
| Ashton interview on 09:28 - Nov 15 by ElderGrizzly |
As above, the best way to increase revenue is to get £100m+ a season from the PL rather than £6m or so from the Championship.
Spending £35m+ on a new stand to get an increase in revenue of £3m a season isn't a bad rate of return but isn't going to help the overall aims.
Plus they have to show a return on their investment for their pension funds/shareholders. The way they do that is get us promoted, stay there and then sell us for a huge profit. |
The actual position will be more complex than any of us can know or imagine as the pension fund behind us will have so many other ventures ongoing where they will look to offset. The difference between capital spending and regular expenditure seems to be largely ignored in the thread so far. They are entirely different, and as I understand, true capital expenditure is disregarded (or discounted?) when it comes to FFP. Capital allowances, complex balance sheets etc will mean that these decisions are being made with a much wider frame of reference than just ITFC.
The main point which I think is mentioned above is that spending on a new stand should be from a 'different pot' to the pot available for player signings etc. Bringing forward stadium redevelopment will simply be a judgement call for the financial team behind gamechanger/pension fund. I suspect that with the momentum behind the club, everything will be brought forward. Exciting times! | | | |
| Ashton interview on 12:51 - Nov 15 with 1518 views | LA_Tractor_Boy |
| Ashton interview on 11:55 - Nov 15 by cbower |
That all sounds very logical. However, what I doubt is that there are another 5-10 k fans out there. The ground is packed now due to the success of the last 18 months. Before that, for at least 10 years, anything over 22k was considered a bumper crowd. Even at the height of the Robson era, despite the ground holding 35+k ( with a record of 38,010) we never reached average seasonal attendances in excess of 30,000. I sincerely hope we grasp this chance of promotion but I am wary of how many of the additional 7-8 k supporters we have got recently would still be there if we were no longer flying at the top of the league, or even if we went up and found the going tough a la Burnley. Prefer full stadium with current capacity rather than a 1/3 empty 35k white elephant. Or maybe I'm too pessimistic. |
In terms of capacity, I think 30k is perfect for us. Millwall and Coventry tickets are currently on general sale and both matches have availability. We could probably sell 50k tickets for one-off matches, but I wouldn't want to see 20k empty seats most weeks.
The bigger issue is the lack of corporate facilities, so the question is how many regular seats do we include in the new Cobbold Stand? Palace's new main stand will hold 13,500, so if we built something similar our capacity would rise to about 36k which is plenty IMO. | | | |
| Ashton interview on 13:22 - Nov 15 with 1399 views | longtimefan |
| Ashton interview on 12:51 - Nov 15 by bluestandard |
The actual position will be more complex than any of us can know or imagine as the pension fund behind us will have so many other ventures ongoing where they will look to offset. The difference between capital spending and regular expenditure seems to be largely ignored in the thread so far. They are entirely different, and as I understand, true capital expenditure is disregarded (or discounted?) when it comes to FFP. Capital allowances, complex balance sheets etc will mean that these decisions are being made with a much wider frame of reference than just ITFC.
The main point which I think is mentioned above is that spending on a new stand should be from a 'different pot' to the pot available for player signings etc. Bringing forward stadium redevelopment will simply be a judgement call for the financial team behind gamechanger/pension fund. I suspect that with the momentum behind the club, everything will be brought forward. Exciting times! |
The point of the spending on players and stands being different is valid. The problem I see though is that if development can't happen with the current stand in place then you're talking about a season of lost income of ~7K attendees. The development might not come from the player's budget pot but the loss of gate income will affect that budget as we will be earning less from a FFP point of view. You also have a season where you've got ~7K disgruntled supporters who can no longer attend! | | | |
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