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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
Much as I Hate to Admit it.... on 20:43 - Aug 27 by BackToRussia
Is it really saying much to compare him to the 2 worst owners in the country?
There are a whole load more bad owners/chairmen than those two. The Oystons, Ridsdale, Yeung, Cellino, any of the Portsmouth shambles, to name just some of the more egregious (ignoring the colour/name change brigade). Would far rather have Evans than any of those.
Marcus Evans' biggest issue for me has never been about finances, but more his appointments and people management, Clegg, Milne (both a whole lot of guff), Keane, Jewell, Hurst, asking the outward manager who should come in... etc
Although there was a groundswell of people clambering for young and hungry, which prompted Jack Ross or Paul Hurst to be the top men for the job, Evans' man management of Hurst was atrocious, he sanctioned some utterly baffling deals at stupid prices because there was no one at the club who was in place to say "hang about Marcus, this int' a good idea buh".
I am thankful he saved the club, but he could have done so much more to curb the decline of our club if he made better choices and had a sensible infrastructure of senior figures at the club.
Much as I Hate to Admit it.... on 20:53 - Aug 27 by Guthrum
There are a whole load more bad owners/chairmen than those two. The Oystons, Ridsdale, Yeung, Cellino, any of the Portsmouth shambles, to name just some of the more egregious (ignoring the colour/name change brigade). Would far rather have Evans than any of those.
How can you be worse than taking a club out of existence??
Much as I Hate to Admit it.... on 20:55 - Aug 27 by wkj
Marcus Evans' biggest issue for me has never been about finances, but more his appointments and people management, Clegg, Milne (both a whole lot of guff), Keane, Jewell, Hurst, asking the outward manager who should come in... etc
Although there was a groundswell of people clambering for young and hungry, which prompted Jack Ross or Paul Hurst to be the top men for the job, Evans' man management of Hurst was atrocious, he sanctioned some utterly baffling deals at stupid prices because there was no one at the club who was in place to say "hang about Marcus, this int' a good idea buh".
I am thankful he saved the club, but he could have done so much more to curb the decline of our club if he made better choices and had a sensible infrastructure of senior figures at the club.
Marcus’ comments about being surprised at the number of changes to the squad was quite a staggering admission of the lack of any scrutiny in the club, imo. I still can’t work out how he would have been surprised if he’s involved in all deals (as we’re told).
Much as I Hate to Admit it.... on 20:53 - Aug 27 by Guthrum
There are a whole load more bad owners/chairmen than those two. The Oystons, Ridsdale, Yeung, Cellino, any of the Portsmouth shambles, to name just some of the more egregious (ignoring the colour/name change brigade). Would far rather have Evans than any of those.
Sheepshanks?
Ade Akinbiyi couldn't hit a cows arse with a banjo...
Much as I Hate to Admit it.... on 21:04 - Aug 27 by homer_123
Sheepshanks?
Took us into admin, partly through hubris after one outstanding season in the Prem, but was also, like many others at the time, shafted by the collapse of ITV Digital. OTOH was better/more fortunate at selecting managers than Evans
Much as I Hate to Admit it.... on 21:19 - Aug 27 by Guthrum
Took us into admin, partly through hubris after one outstanding season in the Prem, but was also, like many others at the time, shafted by the collapse of ITV Digital. OTOH was better/more fortunate at selecting managers than Evans
All three sides relegated from the Premier League in 2001/2002 fell into administration soon after.
Much as I Hate to Admit it.... on 20:55 - Aug 27 by wkj
Marcus Evans' biggest issue for me has never been about finances, but more his appointments and people management, Clegg, Milne (both a whole lot of guff), Keane, Jewell, Hurst, asking the outward manager who should come in... etc
Although there was a groundswell of people clambering for young and hungry, which prompted Jack Ross or Paul Hurst to be the top men for the job, Evans' man management of Hurst was atrocious, he sanctioned some utterly baffling deals at stupid prices because there was no one at the club who was in place to say "hang about Marcus, this int' a good idea buh".
I am thankful he saved the club, but he could have done so much more to curb the decline of our club if he made better choices and had a sensible infrastructure of senior figures at the club.
Evans did not "save the club". He appeared the best bet when there were also other buyers around for Town. We also could have persuaded Norwich Union to take the substantial haircut on what they were owed, as did Evans. Evans did put a lot of money into Town initially, most of which was squandered by inept managers, but his lack of a proper footballing strategy has always been a huge impediment.
Much as I Hate to Admit it.... on 21:25 - Aug 27 by Radlett_blue
Evans did not "save the club". He appeared the best bet when there were also other buyers around for Town. We also could have persuaded Norwich Union to take the substantial haircut on what they were owed, as did Evans. Evans did put a lot of money into Town initially, most of which was squandered by inept managers, but his lack of a proper footballing strategy has always been a huge impediment.
Evans has relied heavily on the manager to oversee the club as a whole. Lambert is the first one who's managed the off field issues effectively and has had to drop down to get a grip on the pitch. Mick was effective with the squad itself but understandably didn't concern himself with elsewhere.
Us falling apart is because of weak leadership from Evans, bleeding through under-qualified managers - some football wise as well as off field - who had to bite off more than they could chew.
Much as I Hate to Admit it.... on 21:19 - Aug 27 by Guthrum
Took us into admin, partly through hubris after one outstanding season in the Prem, but was also, like many others at the time, shafted by the collapse of ITV Digital. OTOH was better/more fortunate at selecting managers than Evans
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.
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Much as I Hate to Admit it.... on 08:10 - Aug 28 with 3416 views
With all due respect Town are in exactly the same position as several other clubs facing financial ruin - an owner of no known provenance, of no commitment to this country let alone the club and its community - and a flow of assets out of the club that has continued unabated since he was gifted the club. Alarm bells were ringing when he bought a £32 million debt for 20p in the £ and then apportioned the full debt to the club - and simultaneously burdened it with a high interest loan. For most the jury was out at the time of the sell out - and still are. The way this club has been run by Evans is a betrayal of everything it used to stand for - but yes it still exists over half way down the league.
Much as I Hate to Admit it.... on 08:21 - Aug 28 by ElephantintheRoom
With all due respect Town are in exactly the same position as several other clubs facing financial ruin - an owner of no known provenance, of no commitment to this country let alone the club and its community - and a flow of assets out of the club that has continued unabated since he was gifted the club. Alarm bells were ringing when he bought a £32 million debt for 20p in the £ and then apportioned the full debt to the club - and simultaneously burdened it with a high interest loan. For most the jury was out at the time of the sell out - and still are. The way this club has been run by Evans is a betrayal of everything it used to stand for - but yes it still exists over half way down the league.
He owns an estate in Cornwall that he's restoring and a house in London.
Just because he spends a lot of time outside of the UK, doesn't mean he doesn't care about the country.
Then you have absolutely no idea when the rest of your mangled writing about finances is posted for the world to see. Go back to your paper round.
Evans has not betrayed the club, he's made mistakes but they're not financial ones, Keane, Jewell, Hurst (Clegg?) are the mistakes, but I can understand why he made them.
If Evans walks away, without someone else stepping in and wasting their hard earned, we'd go the same way as Bury pretty sharpish.
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Much as I Hate to Admit it.... on 09:07 - Aug 28 with 3208 views
Much as I Hate to Admit it.... on 08:21 - Aug 28 by ElephantintheRoom
With all due respect Town are in exactly the same position as several other clubs facing financial ruin - an owner of no known provenance, of no commitment to this country let alone the club and its community - and a flow of assets out of the club that has continued unabated since he was gifted the club. Alarm bells were ringing when he bought a £32 million debt for 20p in the £ and then apportioned the full debt to the club - and simultaneously burdened it with a high interest loan. For most the jury was out at the time of the sell out - and still are. The way this club has been run by Evans is a betrayal of everything it used to stand for - but yes it still exists over half way down the league.
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.
Much as I Hate to Admit it.... on 20:55 - Aug 27 by wkj
Marcus Evans' biggest issue for me has never been about finances, but more his appointments and people management, Clegg, Milne (both a whole lot of guff), Keane, Jewell, Hurst, asking the outward manager who should come in... etc
Although there was a groundswell of people clambering for young and hungry, which prompted Jack Ross or Paul Hurst to be the top men for the job, Evans' man management of Hurst was atrocious, he sanctioned some utterly baffling deals at stupid prices because there was no one at the club who was in place to say "hang about Marcus, this int' a good idea buh".
I am thankful he saved the club, but he could have done so much more to curb the decline of our club if he made better choices and had a sensible infrastructure of senior figures at the club.
That's exactly right - I even don't really think there was actually much clamouring for 'young and hungry,' it is just the case that most people (certainly myself) had so little faith in the man's judgement of what was best for ITFC that an untried manager would at least be interesting.
I can't see how anyone could have put Paul Hurst through rigorous interview process and concluded that he had what it takes to manage the club - his approach basically consisted of upsetting the best players, selling them if possible, and replacing them with weaker players from the lower leagues who would be more likely to buy into his fitness based approach.
it can only be the case that Marcus Evans either has very poor judgement of people, or just doesn't know much about football.
And the fact that he has no vision for how the club operates beyond what each manager decides is really poor - there should be a basic structure and ethos in the place, and then we look for a manager that wants to operate within that environment, and fits with the vision. Rather than bouncing around from one type of manager to another, with significant upheaval and change of direction each time.
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Much as I Hate to Admit it.... on 09:13 - Aug 28 with 3182 views
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.
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.
On interest, which as you says hasn't been charged since 2012, it was only ever added to the balance sheet in any case. Nothing was ever actually paid out of the club.
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