Chairman David Sheepshanks hailed confirmation that Marcus Evans will take an 87.5% stake in Town as a “massively important day for the club”. The Blues have called an EGM for Monday, 17th December at which Evans's takeover will be formally ratified.

The deal will see Evans take an 87.5% share of the club through Marcus Evans Investments (MEI), but not the PLC which was set up to facilitate the share issue in 2003 and which currently owns 100% of Town. The remaining 12.5% of the club will remain in the hands of the PLC, which is made up of the club's existing shareholders.

As TWTD reported last week, Evans's takeover will see changes to the club's board. Only chairman David Sheepshanks, chief executive Derek Bowden — who both stay in their jobs - and Kevin Beeston will remain on the board and will be joined by three as yet unnamed representatives of MEI. The new board will meet between two and four times a year.

The PLC board will continue to be made up as it is at present (as per the current club board) with the addition of Martin Pitcher, the business development director of MEI, an accountant who previously worked for Price Waterhouse Coopers.

Town's shareholders have been sent a letter, available on the club site, which outlines the deal and the EGM, as well as the annual report and accounts for the year ending 2006/07. Town have confirmed that the AGM will be held in January on a date yet to be set, as reported here a week ago.

Sheepshanks says the deal gives Town a chance to reclaim the Premier League status lost in 2002: “I think it's a massively important day, a tremendous opportunity for us to invest more into the team and push on and realise all our dreams of being a Premiership club. That becomes that much closer as a result of the likelihood of this deal, which isn't done until shareholders approve it at the EGM.

“The economy of football is increasingly lop-sided and most Championship clubs are loss-making. Fifteen out of 21 clubs in the Championship have made losses, the only ones which haven't are those with parachute payments.

“When you look at the finances, you've got to have someone to balance the books. You ask every Championship club and they'll tell you the same.

“Now we have an opportunity, not only with Marcus Evans putting £12 million into the club, but with him signalling that he will put in more money if necessary. He has also bought our entire debt, so we don't have an external debt.

“His interests are aligned with the club and we have a real opportunity of taking it on and realising our dreams of promotion.”

Sheepshanks says that all other clubs in this division are searching for investment of their own, but that interested parties are thin on the ground: “Everybody's chasing external investment because they can see the way things are going. I think in some ways it's a sad reflection on the disparity of wealth in football; the fact that we can't any longer afford to sustain a challenge as a community-owned club.

“We've been very public about our seeking investment, but we hadn't had any other propositions until we got this formal approach from Marcus.”

The club chairman is confident the move is in the best interests of Town: “It's a good deal for the club, a good deal for the supporters, a good deal for the shareholders, because their shares will hopefully become more valuable in time, and it's a good deal for Marcus. All round, this is a very, very bright day for Ipswich Town Football Club.”

Evans himself remains a mysterious figure but Sheepshanks says this ought not to concern supporters: “He is a private person and he wishes to retain that, but he will meet people in due course. I've met him a number of times, the whole board of directors have met him and the board are unanimous in their support for this investment.

“Marcus is a nice guy, a bright chap, he has great acumen with ambitions for Town to be in the Premier League. He likes the values of the club and the community ethos, the academy and the whole style.

“He's investing in the current set-up, he doesn't want it all changed, he wants to back what we've already got and I'm quite sure he'll meet supporters and some local stakeholders in due course, albeit with him still wanting to remain private.

Sheepshanks played down newspaper reports referring to Evans as “the world's biggest ticket tout” and said that the club had examined his background closely, asking for references from “professional figures”, and that he checked out in all respects.

In addition, the Premier League also looked deeply into Evans when he took on the lease of their former head office in Connaught Place. Sheepshanks said Town passed the due diligence process carried out by MEI with “flying colours”, leading to today's announcement.

Chief executive Derek Bowden says that Town have been hampered by their debts throughout his five years at the club and the deal gives the Blues a new lease of life: “We've been labouring with a large volume of debt since I've been here, which has become increasingly difficult for us to service. The debt, to all intents and purposes, disappears within this arrangement, which is great news for the club.

“More importantly the injection of £12 million in January to spend on players in order to push for promotion is fantastic.”

Bowden says Evans is not just putting money into the club but the existing structure of the club: “He's investing behind the management team. He's visited and investigated a number of clubs in the Championship [Southampton among them] and even in the Premiership, but has chosen this one as the one he wishes to invest in.

“History has shown in recent years that no club has been promoted without a parachute payment or a benefactor and that trend is likely to continue. While we're punching above our weight and doing well at the moment with the squad that we've got and Jim's done a fantastic job, if we invest in more money in quality players to strengthen the squad — not wholesale change by any means but selected purchases — then if that gets us to the Premiership then we'll all be very happy.”

The chief executive says that he expects Marcus Evans to be involved in the club for the long haul and that he isn't out to make a quick profit if Town are promoted: “The way the debt has been acquired and the structure of the deal suggests that our interests are aligned, both Marcus as the owner and the club going forward over a long period of time. I don't think it's a short-term gamble by Marcus, but a long-term investment.

“The debt remains but will not be serviced in this division as it's not in Marcus's interest to put money into the club with one hand and take it out with interest on the other. The objective is to get promoted and to reap the rewards of being in the Premiership.

“Over a period of time in the Premiership the debt can be paid off. In that division, over a five or 10-year period, it's not a lot of money to pay off. In this division it's pretty much impossible.

Evans has purchased £32 million of the club's external debt for a sum TWTD understands to be £8 million, but Bowden says the club cannot confirm these figures: “It's a private arrangement between Marcus and Norwich Union and Barclays. We've been involved in those conversations and we're party to confidentiality arrangements, so we don't wish to comment on that.”

Bowden says Evans would not be able to sell the club at a later date and then demand payment of the debt: “He has to sell both the debt and the club together, that's part of the contractual arrangement we've got. He can't on-sell the debt and remain the majority shareholder in the club, the two have to go hand in hand.

“The debt will remain an internal debt which is the big difference, in that whilst the debt doesn't disappear, it's an intra-company debt, serviceable as and when we chose to do so, rather than on demand.

“The debt when it was originally created [largely in 2001 when the bond was taken out with Norwich Union to build the new stands] was serviceable in the Premiership and at the time it appeared to be serviceable in at Championship level.

“With the changes in the football industry a few years on — transfer windows in particular and the failure of ITV Digital — it became more difficult to service that debt in this division without selling players. And if you sell players, you end up in League One, so it's a much better arrangement than the one we had previously.

Part of the deal with Norwich Union will see MEI take their stake in the PLC: “Marcus will own Norwich Union's shares which is 9.98% of the 12% shareholding that the PLC has in the club. That's good news too because his interests are also aligned with the 3,500 shareholders to some degree as well as with the club itself.”

The 2006/07 accounts show that the Blues made an operating loss of £2.32 million, but after £3.52 million in profit on player sales (including the £2.58 million from the Darren Bent top-up) are brought into consideration Town made an overall profit of £175,000.

The Blues will receive the £12 million from MEI in one instalment after shareholders ratify the deal, but boss Jim Magilton will not be going on a spending spree. Chairman David Sheepshanks confirmed that Town are likely to look to recruit two or three new players during the January transfer window, building on the successful start to the season made by the current squad.

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