| Why Ashton met Führage 12:16 - Apr 1 with 4837 views | Zx1988 | Not sure I've seen this covered yet. Today's EDP/EEN covers yesterday's Reform rally up here in Norwich, and covers Führage discussing why he was at Portman Road: "He revealed he had travelled to Portman Road to discuss Reform's opposition to the government's independent football regulator, which was introduced last year to oversee clubs' financial conduct and test the suitability of owners." ( https://www.eveningnews24.co.u I'm not too well-versed in the proposals for a regulator - is it a fairly defined 'Pro Money' vs 'Pro Fans' divide, or is it more nuanced than that, with decent arguments for and against? Given the nature of the visit, and how it was used by Reform, would it be fair to assume that Ashton is against the introduction of a regulator? |  |
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| Why Ashton met Führage on 12:20 - Apr 1 with 3068 views | J2BLUE | Are you over the Squires disappointment yet? |  |
| "I am a genuine believer in free speech, in the real sense, not the left wing sense, the 'I think free speech is important for people I agree with' Guardian readers" - Jonathan Pie
"These middle class, perma-offended, virtue-signalling woke w@nkers have declared that the great unwashed are just one tasteless joke away from turning into fascists" - Jonathan Pie
"In a sense, the political left’s attempts to silence ideas they cannot, or will not, debate are a confession of intellectual bankruptcy" - Thomas Sowell
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| Why Ashton met Führage on 12:21 - Apr 1 with 3065 views | bluebud | "I went to Ipswich because Mark Ashton wanted to meet me to talk about football regulations" Farage ..is the quote today in the Star |  | |  |
| Why Ashton met Führage on 12:23 - Apr 1 with 3031 views | MattinLondon | If Ashton simply said that he met Farage in order to ascertain where Reform stood on the proposed football regulator, I wouldn’t have issues with that. And if he met with a leading Tory etc to discuss their position on this, I wouldn’t have an issue - indeed, that would be quite a sensible thing to do. But the ‘10 Farage’ shirts, the PR stunts etc - Ashton out. Anyway, of course Ashton is against the Football Regulator - anything that limits his egotistical abuse of power he’s going to oppose. Maybe that’ll be the club position but in my opinion that’ll be his position. Ashton out. [Post edited 1 Apr 12:25]
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| Why Ashton met Führage on 12:24 - Apr 1 with 3004 views | DJR | I posted this on another thread. https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/25 "Nigel Farage reveals reason behind his Ipswich Town trip Nigel Farage has blamed "hard left lunatics" for forcing Ipswich Town to make a humiliating apology for hosting him, describing his critics as "deeply intolerant"." [Post edited 1 Apr 12:25]
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| Why Ashton met Führage on 12:30 - Apr 1 with 2931 views | SitfcB |
| Why Ashton met Führage on 12:21 - Apr 1 by bluebud | "I went to Ipswich because Mark Ashton wanted to meet me to talk about football regulations" Farage ..is the quote today in the Star |
If the club had just come out with that from the start then I can’t see that there would’ve been much outrage. |  |
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| Why Ashton met Führage on 12:36 - Apr 1 with 2851 views | FoghornGleghorn |
| Why Ashton met Führage on 12:30 - Apr 1 by SitfcB | If the club had just come out with that from the start then I can’t see that there would’ve been much outrage. |
Or indeed within the pseudo-apology. Funny how Nigel Farage can be more open with us than our own chairman. If of course any of this is even the truth. |  | |  |
| Why Ashton met Führage on 12:36 - Apr 1 with 2843 views | MattinLondon |
| Why Ashton met Führage on 12:30 - Apr 1 by SitfcB | If the club had just come out with that from the start then I can’t see that there would’ve been much outrage. |
Indeed - just admit that Reform played him but that the subject of the football regulator was the reason for that visit. |  | |  |
| Why Ashton met Führage on 12:40 - Apr 1 with 2795 views | reusersfreekicks |
| Why Ashton met Führage on 12:24 - Apr 1 by DJR | I posted this on another thread. https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/25 "Nigel Farage reveals reason behind his Ipswich Town trip Nigel Farage has blamed "hard left lunatics" for forcing Ipswich Town to make a humiliating apology for hosting him, describing his critics as "deeply intolerant"." [Post edited 1 Apr 12:25]
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Straight out of the Trump playbook All opposition are hard left lunatics Tw@t |  | |  | Login to get fewer ads
| Why Ashton met Führage on 12:41 - Apr 1 with 2785 views | reusersfreekicks | Regulator is a good thing Keep the nightmare owners out of football Gary Neville wrote very well about it in his book post the demise of Bury |  | |  |
| Why Ashton met Führage on 12:43 - Apr 1 with 2750 views | reusersfreekicks |
| Why Ashton met Führage on 12:30 - Apr 1 by SitfcB | If the club had just come out with that from the start then I can’t see that there would’ve been much outrage. |
What about all the photo ops The Media output The gifting of shirts Farage running a racist party (know a lot on here don't care about that but chucking it in anyway) And would you believe Farage anyway |  | |  |
| Why Ashton met Führage on 12:44 - Apr 1 with 2740 views | urbanpenguin | Yes, it's been reported on before, and Farage mentioned it himself at various points since. ultimately, the optics from that visit (and the cover up) did not say "professional business meeting", they said "cheap leverage off a community club's brand for personal benefit ahead of critical local elections, followed by cheap one-liners on social." Also, personally I think it's very important we have a football regulator. The Premier League has proven that they alone cannot be trusted with the wider national game (through their shifts in policy on youth, finances, etc) and the FA has basically become toothless when confronted by big capital and Premier League egos. I get why Farage would be positioning against it, but i doubt he knows much on it really - just that it helps his schtick to be seen as against regulation, against government involvement in wider society etc. He has repeatedly said he has no interest in football, I just think it's a useful soundbite for him until May and after that he will move onto a new topic to shout about. |  | |  |
| Why Ashton met Führage on 12:48 - Apr 1 with 2655 views | reusersfreekicks |
| Why Ashton met Führage on 12:36 - Apr 1 by MattinLondon | Indeed - just admit that Reform played him but that the subject of the football regulator was the reason for that visit. |
That assumes he's not a supporter |  | |  |
| Why Ashton met Führage on 12:50 - Apr 1 with 2634 views | You_Bloo_Right |
| Why Ashton met Führage on 12:30 - Apr 1 by SitfcB | If the club had just come out with that from the start then I can’t see that there would’ve been much outrage. |
Well on a personal level, seeing the club's name exploited in a tawdry political "advert" was one of the more important issues for me rather than the visit of a politician, no matter how odious or worthy of adultion I might think that politician to be. |  |
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| Why Ashton met Führage on 12:52 - Apr 1 with 2612 views | DanTheMan |
| Why Ashton met Führage on 12:30 - Apr 1 by SitfcB | If the club had just come out with that from the start then I can’t see that there would’ve been much outrage. |
And if they hadn't done all the lying, making him a load of shirts, letting him use the club for a politics vehicle etc. |  |
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| Why Ashton met Führage on 12:54 - Apr 1 with 2577 views | nrb1985 |
| Why Ashton met Führage on 12:30 - Apr 1 by SitfcB | If the club had just come out with that from the start then I can’t see that there would’ve been much outrage. |
Eh?! So that would have excused all the publicity shots and the hanging Farage shirts etc because there would have been semi believable reason for him coming?! |  | |  |
| Why Ashton met Führage on 12:54 - Apr 1 with 2575 views | SitfcB |
| Why Ashton met Führage on 12:52 - Apr 1 by DanTheMan | And if they hadn't done all the lying, making him a load of shirts, letting him use the club for a politics vehicle etc. |
When the social media stuff from Reform came out the club should’ve just been upfront, put their hands up and said letting them use that material may have been a mistake, yes Ashton did meet and chat to Nigel with this being the topic discussed. |  |
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| Why Ashton met Führage on 12:54 - Apr 1 with 2561 views | nrb1985 |
| Why Ashton met Führage on 12:52 - Apr 1 by DanTheMan | And if they hadn't done all the lying, making him a load of shirts, letting him use the club for a politics vehicle etc. |
Literally just posted this. Spot on Dan. |  | |  |
| Why Ashton met Führage on 12:55 - Apr 1 with 2534 views | MattinLondon |
| Why Ashton met Führage on 12:48 - Apr 1 by reusersfreekicks | That assumes he's not a supporter |
I really couldn’t care if Ashton supports Reform or not - if he does then that would be his right. But don’t lie, don’t treat the club like his plaything, just own the mistake and take ownership of it. |  | |  |
| Why Ashton met Führage on 12:57 - Apr 1 with 2496 views | nrb1985 |
| Why Ashton met Führage on 12:55 - Apr 1 by MattinLondon | I really couldn’t care if Ashton supports Reform or not - if he does then that would be his right. But don’t lie, don’t treat the club like his plaything, just own the mistake and take ownership of it. |
Also, Mark Ashton being Reform supporter would be up there with some of the least surprising things I've ever heard. As you say though, he's brought himself and the club into disrepute and shown himself to be naive and frankly negligent - which is why he needs to go. Now or in the summer. |  | |  |
| Why Ashton met Führage on 13:04 - Apr 1 with 2441 views | Swansea_Blue | I’ve not seen too much about the pros and cons of the regulator. There’s not been a lot of critical appraisal from reliable journalists or expert review, as far as I can see anyway. There was this from Kick it Out saying that the EDI elements of the regulator’s plans were woefully inadequate- https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/fo Safe to say Farage will be strongly against any mandatory collection and reporting of EDI data and won’t give a crap if BAME people are under-represented. Extra regulation would add administrative work for clubs of course, but if they truly believe the diversity publicity they generate, they shouldn’t have a problem with that. |  |
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| Why Ashton met Führage on 13:08 - Apr 1 with 2394 views | LandOfMickyStockwell | This is not a surprise if you piece together what Farage said in response to the Sunderland invite and what Ashton said about the regulator at a recent fans forum. The regulator has to be implemented correctly, and there have been political questions about the appointee, i.e. politics in football. I think this only explains how one aspect of the day came to be a meeting or lunch together. The other aspect of promotional content / printed shirts is about politicians being publicity seeking. For example, the complete opposite of this is when Keir Starmer visited Bristol Rovers on 17 June 2024. He discussed Labour's intention for there to be a football regulator. However, the media shows Starmer with a printed shirt with "Change 24" on it. This was during the general election and used the Labour's campaign slogan. Highly political. Yes, some fans on the BRFC forum criticised this. I do not recall it reaching the level as across Suffolk. Perhaps the Bristol Rovers owned it at the time? Ipswich should have done, however, I believe they were caught on the hop with public furore over Farage as soon as Reform posted a teaser about coming to Portman Road. It was back foot after that. Had ITFC got their message out first, then perhaps it would have looked even more an endorsement??? They cannot win, so the lesson to learn is to avoid public political connections. Matters of policy will still be discussed in other means with all those in power. |  | |  |
| Why Ashton met Führage on 13:08 - Apr 1 with 2381 views | Illinoisblue |
| Why Ashton met Führage on 12:44 - Apr 1 by urbanpenguin | Yes, it's been reported on before, and Farage mentioned it himself at various points since. ultimately, the optics from that visit (and the cover up) did not say "professional business meeting", they said "cheap leverage off a community club's brand for personal benefit ahead of critical local elections, followed by cheap one-liners on social." Also, personally I think it's very important we have a football regulator. The Premier League has proven that they alone cannot be trusted with the wider national game (through their shifts in policy on youth, finances, etc) and the FA has basically become toothless when confronted by big capital and Premier League egos. I get why Farage would be positioning against it, but i doubt he knows much on it really - just that it helps his schtick to be seen as against regulation, against government involvement in wider society etc. He has repeatedly said he has no interest in football, I just think it's a useful soundbite for him until May and after that he will move onto a new topic to shout about. |
Where was it reported on previously? |  |
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| Why Ashton met Führage on 13:14 - Apr 1 with 2288 views | WeWereZombies |
| Why Ashton met Führage on 13:04 - Apr 1 by Swansea_Blue | I’ve not seen too much about the pros and cons of the regulator. There’s not been a lot of critical appraisal from reliable journalists or expert review, as far as I can see anyway. There was this from Kick it Out saying that the EDI elements of the regulator’s plans were woefully inadequate- https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/fo Safe to say Farage will be strongly against any mandatory collection and reporting of EDI data and won’t give a crap if BAME people are under-represented. Extra regulation would add administrative work for clubs of course, but if they truly believe the diversity publicity they generate, they shouldn’t have a problem with that. |
It is still at the consultation process following last year's act, more details here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/in |  |
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| Why Ashton met Führage on 13:14 - Apr 1 with 2293 views | Blueschev | If Reform are against it, it's almost certainly a good thing. |  | |  |
| Why Ashton met Führage on 13:16 - Apr 1 with 2233 views | Blueschev |
| Why Ashton met Führage on 12:30 - Apr 1 by SitfcB | If the club had just come out with that from the start then I can’t see that there would’ve been much outrage. |
Given that it would have been complete bo11ocks, I think people would still have been outraged. |  | |  |
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