| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger 06:42 - Feb 26 with 383 views | LA_Tractor_Boy |
As we approach the 5 year anniversary of Gamechanger, I've been thinking about how lucky we are that they chose Ipswich.
Putting the back-to-back promotions to one side, our situation under ME was similar to Sheffield Wednesday, who's buyers have just pulled out because they can't justify the investment needed to refurbish Hillsborough and their training ground.
In terms of infrastructure, Gamechanger have now funded in (sort of) date order :
new dugouts
big screen
digital advertising boards
new and refurbished hospitality areas
new pitch & undersoil heating
TownTV
new website, app & resale platform
memorial garden
away end improvements
modern TV studio, TV gantry, press box, media areas & press conference room
modern changing rooms, players lounge and tunnel area
new floodlights & SAR illumination
new offices & reception
new outside broadcast area
Cat 1 & £40m training ground rebuild
Amazing. Gamechanger deserve every penny of the return on their investment. |  | | |  |
| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 06:51 - Feb 26 with 328 views | hoppy |
Yeah, but apart from all that, what have Gamechanger ever done for us? |  |
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| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 07:03 - Feb 26 with 291 views | suffolkpoker |
Land purchase off staples |  |
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| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 07:15 - Feb 26 with 278 views | bluelagos |
All of that is welcome, but they have also failed miserably (or Ashton has) to engage constructively with Blue Action to improve the match day atmosphere. Hospitality capacity & revenue is persued whilst the lower tiers could easily be made safe standing.
We have to pay £40 membership for the right to purchase away tickets. We get charged admin fees for putting a ticket in an envelope. Match day prices are higher than ever.
Match days we have to listen to piped music and what passes as pre match entertainment. Coach travel more expensive than ever and I stopped looking at the cost of shirts when they sailed past £50. Away fans charged over £40 for poor seats.
We have been seemingly following the "tourist" model, Ashton's head no doubt turned by way Premiership clubs seek one off visitors and the extra revenue they bring.
I am not for a minute suggesting the ownership hasn't been positive but to suggest our owners are hero's, they've already got their investment back. They know sfa about football from what I can see and everything about maximising income.
How many of our current squad came through the youth team?
McKenna's appointment has been inspired and we have invested lots, but from where I am sat there is a gaping hole when it comes to improving Portman Rd, namely by excluding the traditional/poorest/working class fan we are continuing the journey of sanitising the game. The pace.of that is increasing imho.
And game changer are probably more responsible for that than anyone. If I wanted to go to a light show I'd go to a Taylor Swift concert ffs.
5 positive years for sure but let's not pretend everything is perfect. |  |
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| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 07:31 - Feb 26 with 189 views | Keno |
| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 06:51 - Feb 26 by hoppy |
Yeah, but apart from all that, what have Gamechanger ever done for us? |
spoken like a true member of the Hadleigh Independent Supporters Club |  |
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| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 07:44 - Feb 26 with 146 views | bluelagos |
| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 07:31 - Feb 26 by Keno |
spoken like a true member of the Hadleigh Independent Supporters Club |
Haverhill wouldn't take him? | |
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| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 07:57 - Feb 26 with 108 views | Keno |
| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 07:44 - Feb 26 by bluelagos |
Haverhill wouldn't take him? |
Of course!!
Having seen the ruined wedding mentioned earlier the Haverhill not Hadleigh Independent Supporters club came to mind
Why are places that begin with an H in Suffolk all such dumps renowned for weird people? Haverhill, Hadleigh, Halesworth | |
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| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 08:07 - Feb 26 with 74 views | bluelagos |
| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 07:57 - Feb 26 by Keno |
Of course!!
Having seen the ruined wedding mentioned earlier the Haverhill not Hadleigh Independent Supporters club came to mind
Why are places that begin with an H in Suffolk all such dumps renowned for weird people? Haverhill, Hadleigh, Halesworth |
I quite like Hadleigh tbf. They've even pretty much sorted out Benton St which was a nightmare for years.
Haverhill though, couldn't they donate it to Essex? Proper brings the tone down :-) | |
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| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 08:09 - Feb 26 with 64 views | bsw72 |
| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 07:15 - Feb 26 by bluelagos |
All of that is welcome, but they have also failed miserably (or Ashton has) to engage constructively with Blue Action to improve the match day atmosphere. Hospitality capacity & revenue is persued whilst the lower tiers could easily be made safe standing.
We have to pay £40 membership for the right to purchase away tickets. We get charged admin fees for putting a ticket in an envelope. Match day prices are higher than ever.
Match days we have to listen to piped music and what passes as pre match entertainment. Coach travel more expensive than ever and I stopped looking at the cost of shirts when they sailed past £50. Away fans charged over £40 for poor seats.
We have been seemingly following the "tourist" model, Ashton's head no doubt turned by way Premiership clubs seek one off visitors and the extra revenue they bring.
I am not for a minute suggesting the ownership hasn't been positive but to suggest our owners are hero's, they've already got their investment back. They know sfa about football from what I can see and everything about maximising income.
How many of our current squad came through the youth team?
McKenna's appointment has been inspired and we have invested lots, but from where I am sat there is a gaping hole when it comes to improving Portman Rd, namely by excluding the traditional/poorest/working class fan we are continuing the journey of sanitising the game. The pace.of that is increasing imho.
And game changer are probably more responsible for that than anyone. If I wanted to go to a light show I'd go to a Taylor Swift concert ffs.
5 positive years for sure but let's not pretend everything is perfect. |
True, not everything is perfect but it also needs to be looked at in context and priority as to what has been achieved in what is really a very short period of time. It's interesting what is important to some and not others . . .
Safe standing is a complex issue, and maybe one or two sections could be moved over to it, but not everyone does want to stand at football anymore, and we have a lot of younger or elderly fans and families which benefit from having an all seated ground, not just in the allocated junior section.
Investment in the ground, team and infrastructure has had to be made, and promotion to the PL in 2024 meant that ground, team and infrastructure priorities had to be bumped up the list far quicker than expected so other things were pushed down the list.
Membership at £40 is not unreasonable - I took a look at Burnley (first one I looked at) as a club which are recently in and out of the Prem. Their £35 membership only gets you access to the 4th Window for away tickets, to be any higher you have to pay a £150 premium membership at least before points are factored in.
One other thing is that by having a paid membership scheme, it is designed to limit the "tourist" model you refer to, and I doubt we are out there competing with the likes of top 6 PL teams and European sides for fans flying in.
Not sure I understand the point about piped music and pre-match entertainment, as what are you expecting / what do you want, especially when you state "If I wanted to go to a light show I'd go to a Taylor Swift concert ffs.", not sure what options the club have. Personally the fan zone is good and now that there are more food options at half time in the fan zone that's even better (appreciate it is West Stand only).
Football Shirts are a wider issue, not specific to Ipswich - maybe the club could do more, but while people pay that price then that is a supply / demand issue.
As for the youth team - that is a longer term investment that needs to be achieved through the training ground and academy status change - 5 years is not long enough to turn around a system which had been poorly invested for a long period before that . In addition it is was harder to attract youth players while we have been further down the pyramid, this is compounded with the the likes of Arsenal, Spurs, West Ham etc expanding scouting and training camps out from London into East Anglia and the Home Counties for their pre U11 intakes.
I agree it's not perfect but I also think that a number of the points you raise are a lot more complex and nuanced than just expecting Ashton and co to make immediate changes - plus what is important to you is obviously not as important to others (for example me) as I really do not care about in-ground pre-match entertainment or safe standing areas, and have no issue with a membership scheme. |  | | |
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