| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger 06:42 - Feb 26 with 2850 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 12:32 - Feb 26 with 661 views | Churchman |
| 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? |
Replaced the rusting seat frames in West Stand lower. Shame they couldn’t replace the miserable idiot that sat next to me. |  | | |
| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 13:17 - Feb 26 with 593 views | Vic |
| 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. |
You makes some fair points, and I don;t think anyone would say that everything is sorted and right yet. But accepting that i think you're being overly harsh here BL.
You say "They know sfa about football from what I can see and everything about maximising income" and also have a negative take on the youth.
But surely the investment in the pitch after years and years of neglect, moving to cat 1 and the new training facilities are all mega investments with football in mind.
And to be pushing for a 2nd promotion to the prem in 3 years from the utter mediocrity suffered for the previous 15 years is a fantastic achievement.
Sure, there's more to do, but there always will be. This thread should be a celebration of the development & resurgence of our club over the last 5 years. |  |
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| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 13:27 - Feb 26 with 581 views | Vic |
| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 10:11 - Feb 26 by Keno |
another member of the 38,010!!
Maybe Glory Days could do a commemorative T shirt [Post edited 26 Feb 10:12]
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And another! | |
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| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 16:03 - Feb 26 with 505 views | hoppy |
| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 12:32 - Feb 26 by Churchman |
Replaced the rusting seat frames in West Stand lower. Shame they couldn’t replace the miserable idiot that sat next to me. |
They let all sorts of miserable idiots in that bit down there, don't they?!! |  |
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| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 16:04 - Feb 26 with 503 views | hoppy |
| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 07:31 - Feb 26 by Keno |
spoken like a true member of the Hadleigh Independent Supporters Club |
You're getting confused with the Independent Hadleigh Supporters Club | |
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| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 20:41 - Feb 26 with 442 views | peterleeblue |
Come along way haven’t we. |  | | |
| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 21:14 - Feb 26 with 425 views | BlueForYou |
Very grateful for everything Gamechanger have done so far. |  | | |
| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 21:21 - Feb 26 with 415 views | Blue_Order |
| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 08:24 - Feb 26 by bluelagos |
I'll stick to safe standing (or could end up with an essay!)
A thought: How many of our fans chose to sit at away games? I've been to many games and looking at the front rows (where people could sit) the vast majority stand.
So I'd have no issue with all our bottom tiers being safe standing, starting with the North and Chirchmans. Might annoy a handful of fans but nothing stopping moving to another part of the ground.
No one ever asked fans about sitting, it was forced on us all by legislation introduced at a time when football fans were seen as thugs. If standing up is inherently dangerous then why is it allowed at Rugby or Horse racing?
Truth is it was brought in as the govt a d football wanted to gentrify the game, yet no one ever asked the fans if that was what they wanted.
And still no one asks us despite literally everyone in the North stand standing up. If we introduced it to all the lower tiers we'd still have more seats than standing spots and no one would be excluded.
It would improve the atmosphere no end but is barely being considered from what I can see... |
There is plans to add safe standing/rail seating in the NSL. Not for atmosphere reasons, but to get the SGSA off their back. |  | | |
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| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 21:44 - Feb 26 with 384 views | Swansea_Blue |
| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 12:26 - Feb 26 by MattinLondon |
Brought peace |
Oh peace. Shut up!
It’s been quite an unbelievable transformation after the Evans era neglect. We’re ridiculously lucky to have an ownership structure who backs us on and off the pitch. Whether this is sustainable I’ve no idea, but they’ve been true to their word for nearly 5 years. I wouldn’t swap this for all the Hollywood razzmatazz over here at Swansea with their high profile co-owners. That seems like window dressing compared to what we have. We’ve sprinkled a bit of star dust with Ed on top of very well funded foundations. And we don’t feel the need to shout about it, which I like. |  |
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| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 00:30 - Feb 27 with 348 views | Churchman |
| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 16:03 - Feb 26 by hoppy |
They let all sorts of miserable idiots in that bit down there, don't they?!! |
They do! Cheer up!😀😅😂😃🤣
I’m in the tartan rug, afternoon nap, thermos middle tier now, next to the directors box. God’s waiting room as I like to think of it.
Great view, but I dunno, I yearn for the pre 2001 NS or old Churchmans tbh. Behind the goal = rubbish view, but somehow you are at the match. | | | |
| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 00:41 - Feb 27 with 340 views | armchaircritic59 |
And now all we want is a consolidated PL team to put the icing on the cake. Or maybe that should be the cake under the icing? Having first rate/top class facilities and a second tier football team isn't the way forward. 14 matches to begin the first part of that goal. The owners have certainly lived up to their part of the bargain, over to KM and the team now. Here's hoping! | | | |
| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 07:30 - Feb 27 with 303 views | RetroBlue |
| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 08:24 - Feb 26 by bluelagos |
I'll stick to safe standing (or could end up with an essay!)
A thought: How many of our fans chose to sit at away games? I've been to many games and looking at the front rows (where people could sit) the vast majority stand.
So I'd have no issue with all our bottom tiers being safe standing, starting with the North and Chirchmans. Might annoy a handful of fans but nothing stopping moving to another part of the ground.
No one ever asked fans about sitting, it was forced on us all by legislation introduced at a time when football fans were seen as thugs. If standing up is inherently dangerous then why is it allowed at Rugby or Horse racing?
Truth is it was brought in as the govt a d football wanted to gentrify the game, yet no one ever asked the fans if that was what they wanted.
And still no one asks us despite literally everyone in the North stand standing up. If we introduced it to all the lower tiers we'd still have more seats than standing spots and no one would be excluded.
It would improve the atmosphere no end but is barely being considered from what I can see... |
Forgive me if this is wrong, but wasnt all seater stadiums brought about by tragic significant loss of life at football matches such as Hillsborough, Hyssell,(spl?) and Celtic crushes? |  |
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| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 08:31 - Feb 27 with 256 views | yesjohn99 |
| 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. |
Amen. | | | |
| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 08:57 - Feb 27 with 232 views | bluelagos |
| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 07:30 - Feb 27 by RetroBlue |
Forgive me if this is wrong, but wasnt all seater stadiums brought about by tragic significant loss of life at football matches such as Hillsborough, Hyssell,(spl?) and Celtic crushes? |
It was legislated after recommendations of Justice Taylor in his final report following the Hillsborough inquiry. Heysel was 4 years earlier, Rangers deaths were due to a stairway not a terrace nearly 20 years earlier, again no blame lay with the fans..
The legislation did not apply to League 1 and 2 clubs, or any other sport where terraces were and remain in use today.
He bought into the lies of the SYP, now totally debunked, that the reason for the deaths was in part down to.fan behaviour rather than grossly inept and incompetent policing.
There was an argument that stadia were outdated, but it was possible to upgrade stadiums and retaining terraces. Indeed if terraces are inherently dangerous why do we allow them to this day at Rugby grounds?
All over Germany terraces have been retained without any dangerous crushing. The idea that supporters caused the deaths at Hillsborough is simply untrue and remains down to the decades of lies by dishonest Policemen and those gullible enough to believe them.
Edit. Not implying you bought into that narrative, but Taylor clearly did in part imho. [Post edited 27 Feb 9:00]
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| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 09:08 - Feb 27 with 219 views | Churchman |
| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 13:17 - Feb 26 by Vic |
You makes some fair points, and I don;t think anyone would say that everything is sorted and right yet. But accepting that i think you're being overly harsh here BL.
You say "They know sfa about football from what I can see and everything about maximising income" and also have a negative take on the youth.
But surely the investment in the pitch after years and years of neglect, moving to cat 1 and the new training facilities are all mega investments with football in mind.
And to be pushing for a 2nd promotion to the prem in 3 years from the utter mediocrity suffered for the previous 15 years is a fantastic achievement.
Sure, there's more to do, but there always will be. This thread should be a celebration of the development & resurgence of our club over the last 5 years. |
Agree with your take Vic.
I don’t think anyone has said everything is sorted and right. This club is miles off it. Just about everything needs improving. But it started from about as dismal a point as you can get. There was nothing there. It’d been hollowed out and was being essentially propped up by a few individuals that cared. Death by a thousand cuts; no future whatsoever; nothing left.
Two years into Evans ownership and it was obvious what’d happen and none of it was good. People might have been ok with that (‘thank you for saving us, Marcus’ brigade). I was not. This club was heading down to L2 and beyond.
Now Gamechanger might not know anything about football, but at least they had the good sense to employ people that did. You might not like them. Who knows, I might not like them either, but on the outside looking in, I’d say overall we lucked out and then some.
Putting it bluntly, the owners did not invest in this club for the love of ITFC. They did so because they saw football in this country as undervalued and this club as a means of grabbing a slice of the pie. A club on its uppers with potential for the price of Haaland’s left leg? You can see why they did it. Maximising income? Of course. It’s how it is in sport these days and actually always was. Different scale now, obviously.
To be fair, they’ve done what they said they were going to do. I thought that if they put in a bit of infrastructure and flogged it after a couple of years at least they’d have done something positive after years of Evans decay and we’d be rid off dementor Marcus. They’ve gone a lot further than that.
Ok, it’s not perfect and there’s a lot to do, but I’ll take the past five years over the previous twenty any day of the week - and big chunks of my time following this club before that too.
To those that think that it should be invest in the team first, everything else second, I disagree. Foundations are everything and that’s precisely what they’ve been trying to do from the pitch to the training ground.
There’s plenty I’d like to see done and improved, not least the stadium, but progress as you say has been remarkable. I certainly celebrate that. | | | |
| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 09:21 - Feb 27 with 201 views | bluelagos |
| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 09:08 - Feb 27 by Churchman |
Agree with your take Vic.
I don’t think anyone has said everything is sorted and right. This club is miles off it. Just about everything needs improving. But it started from about as dismal a point as you can get. There was nothing there. It’d been hollowed out and was being essentially propped up by a few individuals that cared. Death by a thousand cuts; no future whatsoever; nothing left.
Two years into Evans ownership and it was obvious what’d happen and none of it was good. People might have been ok with that (‘thank you for saving us, Marcus’ brigade). I was not. This club was heading down to L2 and beyond.
Now Gamechanger might not know anything about football, but at least they had the good sense to employ people that did. You might not like them. Who knows, I might not like them either, but on the outside looking in, I’d say overall we lucked out and then some.
Putting it bluntly, the owners did not invest in this club for the love of ITFC. They did so because they saw football in this country as undervalued and this club as a means of grabbing a slice of the pie. A club on its uppers with potential for the price of Haaland’s left leg? You can see why they did it. Maximising income? Of course. It’s how it is in sport these days and actually always was. Different scale now, obviously.
To be fair, they’ve done what they said they were going to do. I thought that if they put in a bit of infrastructure and flogged it after a couple of years at least they’d have done something positive after years of Evans decay and we’d be rid off dementor Marcus. They’ve gone a lot further than that.
Ok, it’s not perfect and there’s a lot to do, but I’ll take the past five years over the previous twenty any day of the week - and big chunks of my time following this club before that too.
To those that think that it should be invest in the team first, everything else second, I disagree. Foundations are everything and that’s precisely what they’ve been trying to do from the pitch to the training ground.
There’s plenty I’d like to see done and improved, not least the stadium, but progress as you say has been remarkable. I certainly celebrate that. |
Yep. I do worry what comes next mind. Given the owners are (imho).only in it for the Financial returns, I doubt they'll care who it's sold onto when that day comes, selling to whoever waves the biggest cheque (as is their right)
They've spent plenty and we are in a much better place. The fact the council owns the land is also a huge plus, making a move to some out of town bland stadium far less likely (without the sale of the land) | |
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| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 09:45 - Feb 27 with 181 views | N2_Blue |
| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 12:11 - Feb 26 by chicoazul |
By and large these things have been funded by fans and TV money. Gamechanger are good owners who have made 2 or 3 excellent decisions BUT it is hideously expensive to be an Ipswich fan. I appreciate these are the times we live in. |
hideously expenisive to be an Ipswich fan... is it?
In relation to what?
I think that the cost of Tier 1 & 2 football. It's what it is.
If i go buy a matchday ticket at my closest ground Wealdstone, (National leage) it is £20. My Town ST works out at about the same per match.
Single match day tickets are of course pricer but £30 something for champ football isn't really that bad when National league clubs are chargeing £20+ per game. It's pretty much comparable to most other sized clubs at out level. |  |
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| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 10:47 - Feb 27 with 146 views | Swansea_Blue |
| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 09:45 - Feb 27 by N2_Blue |
hideously expenisive to be an Ipswich fan... is it?
In relation to what?
I think that the cost of Tier 1 & 2 football. It's what it is.
If i go buy a matchday ticket at my closest ground Wealdstone, (National leage) it is £20. My Town ST works out at about the same per match.
Single match day tickets are of course pricer but £30 something for champ football isn't really that bad when National league clubs are chargeing £20+ per game. It's pretty much comparable to most other sized clubs at out level. |
Yeah, if you live locally and have a ST it’s a reasonably cheap day out. ~£550 ticket for upper SAR/SBR works out at just under £24 a game. That’s not too bad. We’re about £100 cheaper over here, so about £20 a game. If you’re on a budget, just avoid buying food and drinks in the ground!
It’s a different ballgame for not ST-holders though. £43 or more for Cat A games is starting to get pricey. If you do a lot of away games or live away from FPR and don’t have a ST it’s an expensive hobby. The biggest chunk is often the travel or occasional accommodation though, especially if using public transport. If I take the easy option of train and stay over at Quayside Premier Inn, with food it becomes a £350+ trip. [Post edited 27 Feb 10:53]
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| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 11:15 - Feb 27 with 130 views | bluelagos |
| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 10:47 - Feb 27 by Swansea_Blue |
Yeah, if you live locally and have a ST it’s a reasonably cheap day out. ~£550 ticket for upper SAR/SBR works out at just under £24 a game. That’s not too bad. We’re about £100 cheaper over here, so about £20 a game. If you’re on a budget, just avoid buying food and drinks in the ground!
It’s a different ballgame for not ST-holders though. £43 or more for Cat A games is starting to get pricey. If you do a lot of away games or live away from FPR and don’t have a ST it’s an expensive hobby. The biggest chunk is often the travel or occasional accommodation though, especially if using public transport. If I take the easy option of train and stay over at Quayside Premier Inn, with food it becomes a £350+ trip. [Post edited 27 Feb 10:53]
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Throw in a couple of kids, a burger and the transport and it becomes too expensive for many. When we had the Ukrainian season tickets I would offer any untaken tickets on here and more than once some fans took me up of the offer, simply unable to afford the prices - and that was 3 years ago.
The prices of football has been going up exponentially for 30 years and is now quite a lot if you are struggling to make ends meet.
I like the quote from the former Bayern president Uli Hoeneß:
"We could charge more than €120 per season ticket. If we charge €350 per season ticket we would get €2m extra, but what does that mean for us? The difference for a fan between €120 and €350 is enormous and we do not believe that fans are like cows, which are milked. Football has to be for everyone. That is the biggest difference between us and England." | |
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| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 12:00 - Feb 27 with 103 views | N2_Blue |
| 5 Year Anniversary of Gamechanger on 11:15 - Feb 27 by bluelagos |
Throw in a couple of kids, a burger and the transport and it becomes too expensive for many. When we had the Ukrainian season tickets I would offer any untaken tickets on here and more than once some fans took me up of the offer, simply unable to afford the prices - and that was 3 years ago.
The prices of football has been going up exponentially for 30 years and is now quite a lot if you are struggling to make ends meet.
I like the quote from the former Bayern president Uli Hoeneß:
"We could charge more than €120 per season ticket. If we charge €350 per season ticket we would get €2m extra, but what does that mean for us? The difference for a fan between €120 and €350 is enormous and we do not believe that fans are like cows, which are milked. Football has to be for everyone. That is the biggest difference between us and England." |
But you can see this about so much. I think its a football problem rather than an Ipswich Town / Gamechecnger problem. Gamechanger at the end of the day are a business/company - not a charity and if they fill seats they will say they have it right.
I don't go to the theatre as much as I'd like to go very often because it's simpley way too expensive. Basically £100 a show for a decent view/seat.
German football are to be applauded in many ways but Ipswich Town are not Bayern. 2 million is a lot to us, we don't have the commerical revenue of a Bayern obviously. | |
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