| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans 14:20 - Mar 26 with 3090 views | Cheltenham_Blue |
I just for the life of me, can't wrap my head around the easy ride that Evans gets from a big proportion of our fan base.
Yes, be bought us at a point that we were in a bad place, but do people really think he did that out of the goodness of his heart and therefore we should remain grateful to him ad infinitum?
He did what all successful businessmen do, he saw a well known brand in financial trouble, bought it at a knocked down price, buying out the debt from Norwich Union at a very favourable discount and took a business risk on the basis that, with a little investment that it would soon turn a profit and he could sell it on again.
How was he to know that Roy Keane was a megalomaniac that players would eventually not really want to play for? Well, the name 'Roy Keane' might have been the first clue of that.
People often cite that, "if it hadn't been for Evans, no one was buying us and we'd have gone out of business."
I think this rhetoric really needs to be corrected, because people were buying clubs at the time, lets not forget, Gould and Sullivan were sniffing around us, but they were run out of Town by Sheppy, and a large number of the fan base on the basis they were 'porn kings', in favour of a man who even then, was described as 'The worlds biggest ticket tout'. Odd.
We have no idea who else was seriously considering buying us, back then, we were a big name outside of the Premier League, probably one of the biggest, We literally didn't know about Evans until the deal was virtually done, so this idea that no one would have come in after Evans did, is frankly, fanciful.
Then we move on to the fact that Evans puts in £4-£7million per year to cover our losses, which is often framed by some on this forum, and in the stands as some kind of 'miracle'. Great.
Except its not really a miracle, or amazing is it?
In our relegation year alone, and this pattern is repeated every year of Evans tenure, by the way. Town operated on a loss of £8m. 11 (Eleven) other clubs, lost significantly more money that Town that year, and only 3 clubs reported a profit, mainly driven by parachute payments and player sales.
Of course, those losses were covered by the respective owners of those clubs. Marcus Evans is not unique in covering a football clubs losses, (although he is often treated as though he is), every football club owner does it; because they have to unless they are frankly bonkers like the Olson's, at the end of it all, that's exactly what they commit to when they buy a club, and they go in with a full awareness of that fact.
However, the bit you do have to factor in with Ipswich, despite having one of the largest grounds (by capacity) and one of the largest fan bases (by attendance) in the league, we were operating on the joint 3rd lowest wage budget in the Championship, equal with Wigan on £19m, and having just Millwall (£17m) and Rotherham (£8m) below us in terms of wages.
Despite our stadium size and our fan base, our revenue in 18/19 was just £18m, a figure dwarfed by that of some clubs, and the 6th lowest club revenue in the Championship. It makes you wonder, in ten years, what exactly did Evans do to ever make us more sustainable, other than to financially cut corners?
People will point to parachute payments in the Championship, but our revenue at £18m, was significantly lower than Notts Forest (£24m), Birmingham City (£24m) and Bristol City (£30m)
I may not know much, but I do know this. Marcus Evans has watched from the Cayman Islands whilst his club, our club has sunk out of sight and finally appointing the correct manager years too late, should not get him a free pass. He needs to decide if he can actually be a football club owner or not.
If he isn't selling the club, fine, but he has to do better, much better. Many on here are saying that the takeover disappearing could be a good thing, and we are better off sticking with Evans.
To my mind Evans is as dangerous as all those other bad owners we are so lucky to have avoided.
I'll get my coat. |  |
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| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 14:23 - Mar 26 with 2766 views | hype313 |
He's been happy to hide behind all the managers, only now are people starting to put the pieces together, smell the coffee and realise he's an absolute abomination of an owner. |  |
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| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 14:27 - Mar 26 with 2752 views | longtimefan |
I think you’ve just eloquently described how overachieving we were while under the management of Mick.  |  | | |
| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 14:33 - Mar 26 with 2706 views | BlueandTruesince82 |
He has to go.
#EvansOut |  |
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| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 14:50 - Mar 26 with 2671 views | JackSted |
Now's the time where we need Blue Action the most. Protests, banners, ariel advertising, tennis balls thrown on pitch. We need to send him a message |  |
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| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 15:01 - Mar 26 with 2617 views | Marshalls_Mullet |
Ah, just what we need, another Evans post. |  |
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| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 15:01 - Mar 26 with 2632 views | Stewart27 |
| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 14:50 - Mar 26 by JackSted |
Now's the time where we need Blue Action the most. Protests, banners, ariel advertising, tennis balls thrown on pitch. We need to send him a message |
I genuinely don’t think he realises how much he’s not wanted.
How would he? | | | |
| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 15:06 - Mar 26 with 2597 views | chrismakin |
| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 15:01 - Mar 26 by Stewart27 |
I genuinely don’t think he realises how much he’s not wanted.
How would he? |
Speak for yourself. |  |
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| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 15:07 - Mar 26 with 2609 views | Cheltenham_Blue |
| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 15:01 - Mar 26 by Marshalls_Mullet |
Ah, just what we need, another Evans post. |
So we shouldn't post about the man that owns ITFC?
Noted. | |
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| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 15:08 - Mar 26 with 2587 views | chrismakin |
| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 15:01 - Mar 26 by Marshalls_Mullet |
Ah, just what we need, another Evans post. |
I just hope for all of them when the takeover happens it's exactly what they wanted. | |
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| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 15:18 - Mar 26 with 2575 views | jeera |
| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 14:50 - Mar 26 by JackSted |
Now's the time where we need Blue Action the most. Protests, banners, ariel advertising, tennis balls thrown on pitch. We need to send him a message |
I reckon the laundry product advertising will certainly throw him, if nothing else. |  |
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| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 15:18 - Mar 26 with 2576 views | Cheltenham_Blue |
| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 15:08 - Mar 26 by chrismakin |
I just hope for all of them when the takeover happens it's exactly what they wanted. |
I can only assume that 9th in the Championship to 10th in League one is exactly what you wanted. | |
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| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 15:20 - Mar 26 with 2555 views | chrismakin |
| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 15:18 - Mar 26 by Cheltenham_Blue |
I can only assume that 9th in the Championship to 10th in League one is exactly what you wanted. |
I wasnt talking about the past. Just hope when a take over happens it does go how you want it to go. | |
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| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 15:28 - Mar 26 with 2550 views | BlueWorldOrder |
That was an excellent assessment. He is the reason for the decline not a savior. |  |
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| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 15:28 - Mar 26 with 2550 views | Cheltenham_Blue |
| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 15:20 - Mar 26 by chrismakin |
I wasnt talking about the past. Just hope when a take over happens it does go how you want it to go. |
Well, even you were all for it a little while ago.
Take over. The future by chrismakin 26 Feb 2021 15:02Lets be honest. With how football has changed it's really sht or bust time isnt it
This will either go very very well. Or it goes very wrong. Wither way it's a gamble a club like ours needs.
"it's a gamble a club like ours needs". You really should try to remember your posting history. | |
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| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 15:30 - Mar 26 with 2531 views | chrismakin |
| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 15:28 - Mar 26 by Cheltenham_Blue |
Well, even you were all for it a little while ago.
Take over. The future by chrismakin 26 Feb 2021 15:02Lets be honest. With how football has changed it's really sht or bust time isnt it
This will either go very very well. Or it goes very wrong. Wither way it's a gamble a club like ours needs.
"it's a gamble a club like ours needs". You really should try to remember your posting history. |
I'm still happy enough to see a take over happen. I've never said I dont.
That doesnt mean I wish to see protests. Tennis balls and flares.
Apart from financial. I'd hope ME sold to a firm he believed would protect us long term. Rather than being hounded out by protests and just selling to anyone who offers what ever he asks for. [Post edited 26 Mar 2021 15:34]
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| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 22:02 - Mar 26 with 2391 views | LeoMuff |
Well put, this is last chance saloon for me with ME, he needs to back Cook properly with a transfer fund, no contract run down situations, stumping up and paying the going rate, not penny pitching so we spend all summer chasing to end up with loan fillers, giving fees received in full to re invest in replacements.
If that is not forthcoming I am done until he goes, otherwise what is the point |  |
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| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 22:23 - Mar 26 with 2359 views | patrickswell |
| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 15:08 - Mar 26 by chrismakin |
I just hope for all of them when the takeover happens it's exactly what they wanted. |
New owners could very well chop our heads off. But let’s not forget who’s tied our hands behind our back and pulled us to our knees in front of the chopping block. [Post edited 26 Mar 2021 22:25]
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| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 22:57 - Mar 26 with 2336 views | HARRY10 |
One of the constant bleats is how Evans 'pumps money into the club' - like it is some sort of extra help to cope with an external cost.
He is running the club so any imbalance of expenditure over income is caused by him, and him alone. Why should we be grateful for that ?
It is not as if this money has achieved anything, as we have slid lower and lower, with a squad seen as weaker by the season and a ground that like wise suffers as the years pass.
How come others clubs far smaller than us are performing better without having run up nigh on £100 million of debt ? How come we can lose to a club like Fleetwood, which has a population the same size as Felixstowe.
Coughing up whatever amount it is, does not indicate unfettered benevolence, but a level of incompetence whereby our club is not being run within its means, nor achieving even a modest level of success, | | | |
| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 06:44 - Mar 27 with 2220 views | chrismakin |
| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 22:57 - Mar 26 by HARRY10 |
One of the constant bleats is how Evans 'pumps money into the club' - like it is some sort of extra help to cope with an external cost.
He is running the club so any imbalance of expenditure over income is caused by him, and him alone. Why should we be grateful for that ?
It is not as if this money has achieved anything, as we have slid lower and lower, with a squad seen as weaker by the season and a ground that like wise suffers as the years pass.
How come others clubs far smaller than us are performing better without having run up nigh on £100 million of debt ? How come we can lose to a club like Fleetwood, which has a population the same size as Felixstowe.
Coughing up whatever amount it is, does not indicate unfettered benevolence, but a level of incompetence whereby our club is not being run within its means, nor achieving even a modest level of success, |
"How come others clubs far smaller than us are performing better without having run up nigh on £100 million of debt ?"
Alot of these smaller clubs don't have the initial outlay we have per game to start with, we've heard during this pandemic the costs to the club of holding a game and that's without bars/restaurants/stewards/police etc. I also think it was Gav who mentioned that by having such an ageing ground that we have, the general upkeep of the stadium isn't cheap either.
And our squad clearly is broken, individually, the players may be good enough, but they've been given such a free ride for the past couple of years, there just doesn't seem to be any drive in them to succeed. [Post edited 27 Mar 2021 6:49]
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| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 07:10 - Mar 27 with 2203 views | Churchman |
| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 06:44 - Mar 27 by chrismakin |
"How come others clubs far smaller than us are performing better without having run up nigh on £100 million of debt ?"
Alot of these smaller clubs don't have the initial outlay we have per game to start with, we've heard during this pandemic the costs to the club of holding a game and that's without bars/restaurants/stewards/police etc. I also think it was Gav who mentioned that by having such an ageing ground that we have, the general upkeep of the stadium isn't cheap either.
And our squad clearly is broken, individually, the players may be good enough, but they've been given such a free ride for the past couple of years, there just doesn't seem to be any drive in them to succeed. [Post edited 27 Mar 2021 6:49]
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General upkeep of the stadium? Mould and trees on the roof cost nothing. Seats that were there 20 years ago cost nothing. Nor does crumbling concrete. Every club needs a lawnmower and I suspect the old club Flymo is still going strong. Yes, somebody has to mop out the stinking toilets twice a season and he did invest in that famous tin of paint for the turnstiles under Clegg. Whoopee.
Beyond my sarcasm, there are of course costs. But I think it’s fair to say that our slippery owner has kept those costs to the absolute barest minimum. Odd really that for a man that must know how important image is, and who is allegedly so interested in the club, should let it fall apart in every way imaginable.
Funny thing about the football ground, fading badges and image. I used to look at the club and think how smart it was against others I visited. I used to feel sorry for people following clubs standing on crumbling concrete behind rotting hoardings. Now that’s us, two leagues lower. Thanks Evans. |  | | |
| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 07:39 - Mar 27 with 2162 views | Stewart27 |
| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 07:10 - Mar 27 by Churchman |
General upkeep of the stadium? Mould and trees on the roof cost nothing. Seats that were there 20 years ago cost nothing. Nor does crumbling concrete. Every club needs a lawnmower and I suspect the old club Flymo is still going strong. Yes, somebody has to mop out the stinking toilets twice a season and he did invest in that famous tin of paint for the turnstiles under Clegg. Whoopee.
Beyond my sarcasm, there are of course costs. But I think it’s fair to say that our slippery owner has kept those costs to the absolute barest minimum. Odd really that for a man that must know how important image is, and who is allegedly so interested in the club, should let it fall apart in every way imaginable.
Funny thing about the football ground, fading badges and image. I used to look at the club and think how smart it was against others I visited. I used to feel sorry for people following clubs standing on crumbling concrete behind rotting hoardings. Now that’s us, two leagues lower. Thanks Evans. |
This.
100%. | | | |
| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 08:07 - Mar 27 with 2119 views | Freddy |
| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 14:23 - Mar 26 by hype313 |
He's been happy to hide behind all the managers, only now are people starting to put the pieces together, smell the coffee and realise he's an absolute abomination of an owner. |
Nothing will change whilst he's here & agree hes had an easy ride | | | |
| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 08:21 - Mar 27 with 2104 views | DinnernotTea |
Said it hundreds of times but somehow people think he paying the bills in the business he owns is saving us? No one congratulates you on paying your mortgage, utility bills and council tax, you own it you pay it.
Difference is he once owned a decent 3 bed semi on a decent street. The same house has needed rewiring, new bathroom, new heating system and the garden has completely overgrown. But because you pay said bills you've decides to leave it.
He's filth, pure filth who has made the last 14 years hell following this club. Convinced the recent sale collapse was an ego boost to him and to get Brand Evans out in the nationals again.
He's scum. | |
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| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 08:27 - Mar 27 with 2087 views | noggin |
| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 15:01 - Mar 26 by Marshalls_Mullet |
Ah, just what we need, another Evans post. |
Albeit a very good one. |  |
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| Just to follow up on the thing about Evans on 08:33 - Mar 27 with 2076 views | ElephantintheRoom |
I agree with virtually everything you say - BUT, thanls to the even more culpable Sheepshanks, his spineless cabal of directors AND gullible shareholders at the time - he was gifted the club. It is his to do with as he wishes - and I think the results are more disastrous than just the collapse on the pitch. The club's reputation is now down in the gutter too - and the once much vaunted academy has been carved up into a would be building site and a fading force living on past reputation no longer owned by the club.
I also quibble slightly with your confidence in Cook being the right manager at the right time. After all he simply walked out in very similar situation at Wigan where one dodgy offshore owner shifted his millstone to another as a money making opportunity..
The really startling thing is that all evidence points to Evans being completely and utterly clueless - from the moment he took over by proxy and appointed the utterly incompetent Major Soundbite with a brief to cream off from the London Olympics. Every scrap of evidence suggests Evans is a chancer who must be suffering at every one of his alleged core businesses if he runs them as idiotically as he has Town.
Town are not the only club to suffer from asset stripping whilst waiting for the big time to reappear - far from it - and the entire world has changed recently, not just the football world. Given that Evans must be skint, relatively speaking, that the only mooted takeover is by another set of offshore chancers funded by very real debt - then I personally cant see Cook having a chance..... but yes Evans chose wisely when he looked for a money-making opportunity at a badly run club. But yes, compared to some he may just be incompetent and a bit of a greedy idiot, rather than a villain to be pilloried | |
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