Are we just glad to be rid of Evans, or genuinely excited about the consortium? 10:16 - Mar 3 with 3306 views | Matt_Netherlands | Not a BCWYWF post, more a genuine question. Yes we know Evans has been at the heart of most of our problems for a long time now, but is this takeover just seen as a breath of fresh air and a relief, or do we genuinely believe that the new owners have the investment and the know how to push us back up the leagues? I.e. are people just glad to get ANY new owners or glad to get THESE owners? It’s a bit of both for me. They are clearly trying to establish a club model across their different teams, but at the same time perhaps don’t have the deepest of pockets compared to other owners around the country. Just got to hope that some smart decision making can compensate for not being billionaires! |  | | |  |
Are we just glad to be rid of Evans, or genuinely excited about the consortium? on 10:21 - Mar 3 with 2635 views | Ftnfwest | Excited by it but not so much from the financial side of things as such, for which i haven't got huge expectations, but more the organizational side of things. Hopefully a more modern day game structure/coaching incorporated - a lot of which i'm hoping come from Cook as well including scouting. I think although lambert missed the point about his own considerable inadequacies as a manager in his discussions with Marcus, he probably told him a few justifiable home truths about the way the club is run. |  | |  |
Are we just glad to be rid of Evans, or genuinely excited about the consortium? on 10:21 - Mar 3 with 2632 views | Kieran_Knows | For me its the excitement of the consortium and how 'hopefully' we'll be a lot better run off the field - which in turn will help us on the field. If le2blue is anything to go by (and he has seemed to be bang on the money with regards to this takeover), the group look set to appoint a DoF, CEO and Commercial Director. That's a massive step forward for us. |  |
|  |
Are we just glad to be rid of Evans, or genuinely excited about the consortium? on 10:23 - Mar 3 with 2605 views | Swansea_Blue | Glad to be rid of Evans. The new owners come with a very different set of challenges and I've no idea how that will go. But we've just endured the most depressing period in our history, so I'm delighted we've got a change coming. Obviously I want the new lot to be a success, but we just don't know. They seem to be going about things the right way and are making the right noises so far (they want an experienced DOF; have been involved (presumably) in a sensible managerial appointment). |  |
|  |
Are we just glad to be rid of Evans, or genuinely excited about the consortium? on 10:23 - Mar 3 with 2601 views | Steve_M | Evans departure is essential for the longer-term good of the club but anyone welcoming new ownership with starry eyes hasn't been paying much attention to football over the last decade or so. I'm cautiously optimistic, I'm quite sure that our prospective new owners will want to make money out of the club but to do that we have to be more successful over the next five years than over the last 13. They will certainly have a better idea than Evans got from playing golf with people who knew how the game worked in the 80s. |  |
|  |
Are we just glad to be rid of Evans, or genuinely excited about the consortium? on 10:24 - Mar 3 with 2592 views | monytowbray | Evans has ALWAYS been the problem, managers are temporary. So yes, very happy. |  |
|  |
Are we just glad to be rid of Evans, or genuinely excited about the consortium? on 10:24 - Mar 3 with 2593 views | BryanPlug | [content removed at owner's request] |  |
|  |
Are we just glad to be rid of Evans, or genuinely excited about the consortium? on 10:27 - Mar 3 with 2564 views | Keno |
Are we just glad to be rid of Evans, or genuinely excited about the consortium? on 10:24 - Mar 3 by BryanPlug | [content removed at owner's request] |
wouldn't disagree with any of that Pluggy so yeah, what he said |  |
|  |
Are we just glad to be rid of Evans, or genuinely excited about the consortium? on 10:27 - Mar 3 with 2561 views | bluefunk | For me the issue we have to solve is the right people in charge of the club, in every aspect. It’s been obvious for some time to fans that Evans decision making has been flawed, but the focuses of the past couple of weeks has provided insights from outside the club on the problem. Jim White’s interview had him criticise the over control Evans exerted, Paul Jewell’s comments about the way he always took time to consider things, and Paul Hurst saying he couldn’t get a meeting with him. So a clear management structure for the club would surely mean a better outcome for the in pitch results. While money talks, clarity of vision and a cohesive approach will take you a long way - ,Swansea, Brighton and the Scum are good examples of that |  | |  | Login to get fewer ads
Are we just glad to be rid of Evans, or genuinely excited about the consortium? on 10:34 - Mar 3 with 2504 views | TJS | I'm not expecting massive increases in investment but it would be nice to have people involved who actually have experience of running clubs other than just Ipswich. Hopefully some fresh ideas will help end the culture of failure that has built up over the last 10 years. |  | |  |
Are we just glad to be rid of Evans, or genuinely excited about the consortium? on 10:39 - Mar 3 with 2477 views | dirtyboy | Personally, I would like some decent food outlets aound the ground rather than just a greasy portion of chips, but appreciate I may be in a minority on that one! Cheerleaders? Or is that objectifying? Just an effort into the matchday experience, but it still needs the team to win to create the feel good factor in and around the club. |  | |  |
Are we just glad to be rid of Evans, or genuinely excited about the consortium? on 10:44 - Mar 3 with 2442 views | abracaDOBRA_ | I'm excited about both, don't expect them to splash the cash as such, but im interested to see how they approach recruitment, season ticket sales etc Also, Brett has liked numerous tweets now along the lines of; 'thanks for saving us' and pictures of a packed out Portman Road..He seems like a guy who will communicate with us, and does seem like he genuinely wants to take us forward |  | |  |
Are we just glad to be rid of Evans, or genuinely excited about the consortium? on 10:51 - Mar 3 with 2416 views | noggin | I am completely ignorant when it comes to business but is it possible that Evans might look to become an investor in the consortium, sometime in the future? Or is he likely to just keep his 5% with the hope it reaps some reward without further investment? |  |
|  |
Are we just glad to be rid of Evans, or genuinely excited about the consortium? on 10:54 - Mar 3 with 2397 views | Charlie_pl_baxter | Both. Evans initial injection of cash was the defibrillator that kept the club alive at a dangerous time and I'll always be grateful for that. More recently when the required treatment became too expensive he seems to have allowed us to slip into intensive care, doing just enough to keep us breathing but with no real chance of recovery! It's not just about the cash either, the club needed proper care and attention which has also been lacking. I also like the prospective new owners (more now that Ashton seems to be drifting out of the picture). Brett Johnson seems to have a genuine understanding of football and form his liking of tweets etc seems excited to take over. With four investors they will have to appoint a proper CEO and structure to manage the club day-to-day which I think can only be positive as well. Not saying they will be the miracle cure, but perhaps a new drug regime that gives us a real chance of recovery. PS apologies for the dodgy metaphor |  |
|  |
Are we just glad to be rid of Evans, or genuinely excited about the consortium? on 10:56 - Mar 3 with 2386 views | chrismakin | For me its knowing we havent just got 1 person coming in. We will more than likely have a group of people interested in getting involved and we may see an actual structure. Which isnt a major thing at league 1 but a must have for higher ambitions. The brizzle chairman for example if he comes in. Hes involved in contracts and transfer negotiations. Has a very good history on making profits from player sales etc. There will be a big effort in commercial income opportunities and one thing american firms are known for is their commercial activity |  |
|  |
Are we just glad to be rid of Evans, or genuinely excited about the consortium? on 11:04 - Mar 3 with 2348 views | Matt_Netherlands |
Are we just glad to be rid of Evans, or genuinely excited about the consortium? on 10:24 - Mar 3 by BryanPlug | [content removed at owner's request] |
Completely agree on the Evans point. He’s curated himself into a villain but what he’s done for the club shouldn’t be forgotten in a hurry. Plenty of mistakes among the way, and I’m sure he looked back at December 2014 thinking what could’ve been if he gave Mick a million or two to spend in that window! Regarding the new investors, it’s pretty evident that nobody is going to be able to make a quick buck out of us in a hurry so they’ll need some decent plans to get a return on their investment! |  | |  |
Are we just glad to be rid of Evans, or genuinely excited about the consortium? on 11:08 - Mar 3 with 2303 views | trncbluearmy | Good question Evans has been the root course of all our problems. But the basic deal was very good for ITFC, it guaranteed the clubs survival without debt. I cannot imagine we will get as good as that again. If Evans had sacked Lambert 6 months ago, announced he was appointing a new experienced board, partly local and that board would then have been responsible for all football related appointments and he would disappear into the background with no football input whatsoever but continue to provide funding, that would have been the perfect scenario. But he has not, so a complete leap into the dark it has to be. |  | |  |
Are we just glad to be rid of Evans, or genuinely excited about the consortium? on 11:16 - Mar 3 with 2253 views | Guthrum | Both, really. The club is in need of a new approach if things are not going to stagnate. I don't believe Evans has the spare money to put a lot more in, nor does he seem to be able to get the right dynamic in the relationship between club and fans. This consortium - if that is who it is to be and with the expected composition - are at least experienced football people, with a record at clubs in England as well as abroad. They seem to have some money behind them. I think Evans' (supposed) continuing involvement is a good thing, from the point of view of continuity and understanding of the circumstances. Much rather that than someone coming in wanting to change our colours, name, etc. |  |
|  |
Are we just glad to be rid of Evans, or genuinely excited about the consortium? on 11:23 - Mar 3 with 2209 views | TieDyedIn95 | Marcus Evans has hardly poured billions in either though, so if the organisation as a whole just got better than that's a step up anyway. Evans 100mil that gets banded about a lot works out at £7-8mil a year investment since arrival, which is one of the factors as to why we dropped. While that is a large sum for a League One outfit, if you really want to be challenging at the top of the Championship, and this was even the case even 7 or 8 years ago, you really need to spend more than that. It doesn't always work (Derby) but it generally takes a lot more minimum investment to be competitive in that league where there's always 6 or 7 teams who are going to be buying and spending wages on the top players for that league. We were never in that race. We only got the likes of Chopra, Loach and Bullard on a bargain years past their worth. Mick was smart and got a lot out of nothing, even his last transfer windows were proof of just how good he was at that but Evans took him for granted and expected him to turn water into wine. Supporters always blame managers when things go wrong it can hardly be our fault that so many wanted Mick out. This situation is a mess entirely of Evans own making. I get that he didn't have the resources to continue to drive this, but he should have looked at doing things differently and being more honest with the support. It's always been smoke and mirrors with him and that is why he is so widely detested. Even now with takeover talks going on, instead of instructing Lee O'Neill to say he doesn't have anything to say on it, he sent him out to firstly claim we'd be spending a while finding a new manager and then a day later appointing one, and in that very same statement O'Neill tells us that Evans wasn't able to meet Lamberts high standards and Lambert did the best with the players we have... and then he's claiming there is nothing to these takeover talks. A decent PR team would have had him go out and say simply he cannot comment on Evans ongoing management of the business end of Ipswich Town and that we would be looking to appoint a new manager but we thank Lambert and Taylor for their efforts. Then we had the training ground "fire" story spun to the press.... Why do they talk so much bllocks? |  |
| Football League First Division / Premier League
Champions (1): 1961—62 - Runners-up (2): 1980—81, 1981—82
Football League Second Division / EFL Championship
Champions (3): 1960—61, 1967—68, 1991—92 - Play-off winners (1): 1999—2000
Football League Third Division / EFL League One Champions (2): 1953—54, 1956—57 - Southern League Champions (1): 1936—37
FA Cup Winners (1): 1977—78 - Texaco Cup Winners (1): 1972—73
UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League Winners (1): 1980—81 | Poll: | Would you attend a socially distanced training ground protest? |
|  |
Are we just glad to be rid of Evans, or genuinely excited about the consortium? on 11:25 - Mar 3 with 2190 views | chrismakin |
Are we just glad to be rid of Evans, or genuinely excited about the consortium? on 11:23 - Mar 3 by TieDyedIn95 | Marcus Evans has hardly poured billions in either though, so if the organisation as a whole just got better than that's a step up anyway. Evans 100mil that gets banded about a lot works out at £7-8mil a year investment since arrival, which is one of the factors as to why we dropped. While that is a large sum for a League One outfit, if you really want to be challenging at the top of the Championship, and this was even the case even 7 or 8 years ago, you really need to spend more than that. It doesn't always work (Derby) but it generally takes a lot more minimum investment to be competitive in that league where there's always 6 or 7 teams who are going to be buying and spending wages on the top players for that league. We were never in that race. We only got the likes of Chopra, Loach and Bullard on a bargain years past their worth. Mick was smart and got a lot out of nothing, even his last transfer windows were proof of just how good he was at that but Evans took him for granted and expected him to turn water into wine. Supporters always blame managers when things go wrong it can hardly be our fault that so many wanted Mick out. This situation is a mess entirely of Evans own making. I get that he didn't have the resources to continue to drive this, but he should have looked at doing things differently and being more honest with the support. It's always been smoke and mirrors with him and that is why he is so widely detested. Even now with takeover talks going on, instead of instructing Lee O'Neill to say he doesn't have anything to say on it, he sent him out to firstly claim we'd be spending a while finding a new manager and then a day later appointing one, and in that very same statement O'Neill tells us that Evans wasn't able to meet Lamberts high standards and Lambert did the best with the players we have... and then he's claiming there is nothing to these takeover talks. A decent PR team would have had him go out and say simply he cannot comment on Evans ongoing management of the business end of Ipswich Town and that we would be looking to appoint a new manager but we thank Lambert and Taylor for their efforts. Then we had the training ground "fire" story spun to the press.... Why do they talk so much bllocks? |
What annoys me is the constant " he puts a lot of money in " etc Thays great. But as an owner to allow a business to lose £700,000 a month whilst allowing a squad size of 50 odd players is complete mismanagement. |  |
|  |
Are we just glad to be rid of Evans, or genuinely excited about the consortium? on 11:29 - Mar 3 with 2164 views | TieDyedIn95 |
Are we just glad to be rid of Evans, or genuinely excited about the consortium? on 11:25 - Mar 3 by chrismakin | What annoys me is the constant " he puts a lot of money in " etc Thays great. But as an owner to allow a business to lose £700,000 a month whilst allowing a squad size of 50 odd players is complete mismanagement. |
Oh yeah, there were 2 times before under Evans ... 2012 and I think 2016 when we had the same thing happen with wages exceeding turnover. I do think that 2016-17 was the most players we ever used in a season and we scraped staying up by just 4 points. He's managed things terribly. |  |
| Football League First Division / Premier League
Champions (1): 1961—62 - Runners-up (2): 1980—81, 1981—82
Football League Second Division / EFL Championship
Champions (3): 1960—61, 1967—68, 1991—92 - Play-off winners (1): 1999—2000
Football League Third Division / EFL League One Champions (2): 1953—54, 1956—57 - Southern League Champions (1): 1936—37
FA Cup Winners (1): 1977—78 - Texaco Cup Winners (1): 1972—73
UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League Winners (1): 1980—81 | Poll: | Would you attend a socially distanced training ground protest? |
|  |
Are we just glad to be rid of Evans, or genuinely excited about the consortium? on 11:38 - Mar 3 with 2118 views | BlueNomad | I've heard the consortium will be taking advice from Harry Redknapp. |  | |  |
Are we just glad to be rid of Evans, or genuinely excited about the consortium? on 11:47 - Mar 3 with 2084 views | Swansea_Blue |
Are we just glad to be rid of Evans, or genuinely excited about the consortium? on 11:38 - Mar 3 by BlueNomad | I've heard the consortium will be taking advice from Harry Redknapp. |
|  |
|  |
Are we just glad to be rid of Evans, or genuinely excited about the consortium? on 11:52 - Mar 3 with 2051 views | BlueNomad |
Are we just glad to be rid of Evans, or genuinely excited about the consortium? on 11:47 - Mar 3 by Swansea_Blue |
|
(: |  | |  |
Are we just glad to be rid of Evans, or genuinely excited about the consortium? on 12:48 - Mar 3 with 1938 views | RegencyBlue | Both! Evans had his chance and blew it. He could have avoided many of the mistakes he made if he had brought in football people to run the club from the off but instead we got Clegg, a man who thought painting the turnstiles was an achievement and who wasn’t installed for the good of the club but for his connections with the British Olympic Committee! We’ve been on a downward spiral for thirteen years and it was only going to continue. The consortium seems to include people who know football, which puts them way ahead of Evans from the start, and they seem to plan what they do. The only way we will find out if it works is to try it. As my old dad used to say you either do something, or do nothing. We have been doing nothing for far too long! |  | |  |
Are we just glad to be rid of Evans, or genuinely excited about the consortium? on 13:04 - Mar 3 with 1884 views | Churchman | My overriding feeling, assuming it goes through, is relief at being rid of Evans. If Evans remains owning the club, it will continue to die. It’s been doing so for years. League 2 beckoned, then what? The pervading feeling of being short of everything in every way. Terrible appointments, tatty football ground, faceless owner and a clearly unhappy football club. The only decent element was the inadequately supported youth system and the few people left at the club who cared about it. Klug, Dyer, Butcher and a few others. The rest of it was fading badges, fading pictures and fading memories. Now this consortium might be a lot of hot air. No substance. A group of chancers that last 5 minutes. But what’s to lose? The dead hand of Evans? Hardly a loss. These people might just revive the club and get it to a sustainable level. The club has the long term potential to compete in the Premier League to the level of say Southampton and dare I say it with fair wind and a miracle, even Leicester City. We used to be similar sized clubs. In 2001 we didn’t finish 5th by accident. We were damn good. Ok, I maybe over egging it but a takeover represents a chance of at least a brighter future unimaginable a month ago. And some fun again. |  | |  |
| |