 Wednesday, 8th Dec 2010 03:14 Chief executive Simon Clegg says he and owner Marcus Evans are still backing manager Roy Keane, despite the current run of five successive league defeats. The former British Olympic Association chief, speaking after Tuesday’s PLC AGM in the Sir Bobby Robson Suite, believes that the Blues can still make the play-offs this season. Clegg said: “The owner and I are absolutely joined at the hip regarding Roy. If we weren’t supporting Roy he wouldn’t be here now. “There’s no timescale on it at all, other than the fact that Roy’s contract is up at the end of the season. “We all know that Roy is a very driven individual, a very focused individual not used to accepting failure and if there’s anyone who can turn it around, Roy Keane can.” Clegg dismissed media claims that Saturday’s visit to Preston could be Keane’s final game in charge at Portman Road: “I have spent quite a lot of time reading stuff which is nothing more than pure speculation and it causes me much hilarity and amusement.” The Town chief conceded that form has to improve soon and that patience will eventually run out: “We recognise that we’re on a bad run at the moment and that things have got to change and we’ve got to turn things around. “If we lose the next 20 games without taking a point, if you take that eventuality, of course the manager won’t be here. “But there really is no mark in the sand when the owner and I have agreed that we are going to address this issue one way or another. It’s just not there.” Clegg says he is the main route of communication between Evans and Keane, although the two also talk when the need arises: “There is direct contact, but in the main I’m working with Roy on a day-in, day-out basic and I’m working with the owner on a regular basis. “Marcus and Roy speak when they need to speak. We’re very lucky here that we’ve got an owner who is quite hands-off, but that doesn’t mean he’s not interested, he’s intimately involved with the way this club is run and is a very driven individual, but he doesn’t get himself involved in the minutiae.” Clegg and Evans remain patient, which the chief executive says is very much in line with Town’s heritage: “This club has had a rich tradition of giving people a good opportunity to turn things around. “Look at what we went through last season. Perhaps lesser owners and lesser chief executives would have looked to have moved the manager on.” Despite the current malaise, Clegg is still confident that Keane can take Town into the top six by May: “Absolutely, we’re only eight points off the play-offs and we’re not even halfway through the season yet. “The table’s very, very tight. After performances like the Carling Cup victory against West Bromwich Albion last week and to a lesser extent against Swansea on Saturday, there is no reason why we can’t aspire to the play-off zone this season.” The meeting itself, which was attended by around 150 shareholders, was a less fractious affair than it perhaps had promised to be given the current position in the league and the antipathy towards the manager from significant sections of the support. David Sheepshanks chaired and was flanked by fellow PLC board members Philip Hope-Cobbold, Martin Pitcher, Simon Clegg, John Kerr, Roger Finbow and Richard Moore as well as Roy Keane and Town’s company secretary and financial controller Mark Andrews. PLC chairman Sheepshanks opened the meeting with a speech outlining how the evening would proceed and highlighting the work of the ITFC Charitable Trust, of which he is also chair and which recently took on its new name. Simon Clegg took to the stand to speak about the club’s current position, which he said hurt everyone at the club, from the top down: “Players, coaching staff, the manager, employees at Portman Road, as well as the owner and myself. “We are all deeply committed to the club and deeply committed to turning it around and doing it quickly.” He emphasised that the season has not yet reached halfway and that the team needs to consistently show the good form of last week’s victory over West Brom. Like Sheepshanks, Clegg praised the Charitable Trust’s work in the community and said the Blues will be helping to support the Iceni Project, who are amongst the victims of recent Government cuts. The club will raise funds and offer professional advice to help secure its future. Clegg, who says he has enjoyed visiting Supporters’ Club branches around the country but not as yet the globe, revealed that the players will be delivering presents they have bought themselves to children in hospital and hospices in the weeks before Christmas. The academy was praised with all seven second-year scholars winning professional contracts in the summer. Clegg moved on to finances and Marcus Evans’s continued support of the Blues: “I promised last year that I would endeavour to run the club on financial grounds and we need to recognise that we would not be able to do so without the support of our owner Marcus Evans. “Marcus remains absolutely committed to the club and over the last 18 months I have not experienced one iota of wavering from the aspiration of taking this football club back into the Premiership at the earliest opportunity. “Be clear, we could not continue to operate in the way that we do without the day-in, day-out financial support of the owner.” Clegg says the club’s costs are increasing and he has reduced non-footballing operating costs, which has seen the shop’s warehouse return to Portman Road and a number of “non-essential redundancies”, while keeping season ticket prices at the same level they have been for four years. The club has reopened a shop in a new location in the Buttermarket, which Clegg says has done well so far, as did last summer’s P!nk gig. Further concerts are likely in the future. Clegg, who has become a shareholder in the PLC, was pleased that the club has reached the semi-finals of the Carling Cup, but says the main aim remains unchanged: “The day job for this club is about securing Premiership football, which is where our focus is and needs to be.” Martin Pitcher, the club’s financial director and a member of the PLC board representing owner Marcus Evans, gave a brief outline of Town’s financial position, the Blues having made a £14 million loss in the financial year to June 2010. The PLC’s financial activities are basically limited to dealing with the loan notes issued after Town came out of administration in 2003 and Pitcher quickly moved on to the overall club’s financial picture, shareholders having been sent a sheet illustrating the highlights of this year’s accounts. Pitcher says Town’s financial situation should come as no shock: “The key point is there is a loss. The loss isn’t surprising, many Championship clubs make a loss. “In terms of what goes in and out of the bank account, which is more important than the notional accounting charges, it’s in the order of £5 million to £6 million a year, the difference between the cash income — tickets, money from the league, any commercial income — less the cash costs of running the club — salaries, any payments to any suppliers, police charges etc. “That £5 million to £6 million is what Marcus funds per year and in addition he will fund any capital expenditure on player purchases.” Pitcher says that gap is unlikely to be reduced given the current straitened times and with attendances decreasing across the Football League. He says he battles to try and keep the loss at the current level. After Pitcher invited questions on the accounts for the question and answer session which was to follow (none were forthcoming), Sheepshanks took the first question from the floor, which asked whether the squad was good enough to climb the league. Keane said the ambition was to go beyond retaining their current position and didn’t want to make excuses for the Blues’ current plight. He explained why he thought his side had fallen away after their decent start: “I’ve been concerned since pre-season that our squad is very, very small and we needed to be lucky with injuries, which we certainly haven’t been. “Look at the team that played at the weekend and from the Middlesbrough game on the first day of the season. Steady, who scored, we sold, Jon Walters is gone, Mark Kennedy, Luke Hyam, Márton Fülöp, David Norris, Gareth McAuley — the rest of the team has been ravaged by injuries. “My concern all along was that if we got injuries we would be far too dependent on our younger players.” Keane, who hopes more of his senior players will be back in the weeks to come, says this is evident when looking at the division’s top performers this season: “I think our average age against Barnsley a few weeks ago was 22, compared to QPR’s on the same day, which was 27. That’s five years in every position.” At full strength the Town boss says his side can compete at the top level in the Championship, but he says his team has lacked consistency and admitted that he’s made errors. Like Clegg he says the Carling Cup run is a nice bonus but that the league is the most important thing and that he believes his side can still have a good season. Keane was asked about the three players the club were close to signing over the summer where deals fell down at the last minute. Shaun Derry, now with QPR, was one of them and had actually been at Portman Road prior to his free transfer move from Crystal Palace breaking down. The Blues boss chose to field the question and said he felt he needed to add experienced players in the summer but that close to the end of pre-season the club made the decision to have a smaller squad, taking what he admitted was a gamble, although one he said he was “OK with”. The injury situation, particularly involving senior players, has since highlighted that gamble with the Blues having had little luck. Keane says his targets weren’t hugely expensive but that he can understand Town’s position. Simon Clegg next responded to a query regarding the conjecture surrounding Connor Wickham, outlining the club’s position: “There are no offers on the table for Connor, there is a lot of speculation, a lot of hot air out there. Roy and myself are clear that we’d like to retain him, as indeed is the owner. “But you may get to the point in the future where the offer for the player is considerably in excess of the value that we place on him as a club and financially it would be wrong not to take that. “If you find yourself in that situation, you would expect that money to be reinvested to replace that particular player as that would be a huge loss for the team and that hole would need to be filled.” The number of loan players currently at the club was put to Keane, who admitted that the system has its positives and negatives, but that the Blues find it hard to get senior players to move to Ipswich on loan and have needed the cover they have provided given the injury situation. Geography is one factor hampering the Blues with more established players preferring to move to clubs closer to their parent clubs and their homes. Town therefore have instead moved for younger players, such as Jack Colback, who Keane reminded shareholders was an impressive performer last season. Overall, he feels the gamble on the likes of Colback, Jake Livermore and Andros Townsend is worth it given the high costs of some loanees elsewhere. “There are massive loan fees involved, I’m not talking £50,000 or £100,000. I know clubs who are spending a loan fee of £1 million for a young player for a season. That’s pretty scary,“ he said. Keane was thanked for his honesty and his lack of spin by one shareholder, then the Blues boss was asked about the current situation and lack of goals when compared to the likes of QPR and Cardiff, which he said was his main concern at present. The former Manchester United skipper says Town currently aren’t in the market for players who would cost the sort of fee that someone like Michael Chopra would command, but even so feels that the top six shouldn’t be beyond his side, if they can bounce back to form sooner rather than later and cut out the silly mistakes. Keane was asked about the Tamás Priskin-Jason Scotland pairing which one shareholder felt needed more game-time to develop, the Blues boss believing that similar partnerships need to develop all over the pitch, citing Grant Leadbitter and Jack Colback’s performance in central midfield at the weekend as an example. While the Town manager said he agreed that players need minutes in matches to gel, he says changes need to be made during games to freshen things up and that players also benefit from time playing together in training. Regarding Priskin and Scotland specifically, Keane says he wants to see more from them. Simon Clegg was asked about Town’s high ticket prices, the chief executive responding by saying that this is an aspect of running the club which takes up a lot of time. Clegg says Town’s overheads have gone up: “We are being hit by a significant increase in rent from the council, for example. That has got to be absorbed somewhere. “We can’t constantly be going back to the owner asking him to dig deeper and deeper and deeper into his pocket. “Protecting the season ticket holders does mean that one of the other areas we need to look at is the price we charge people coming into Portman Road [on a match-by-match basis].” Clegg says the drop in attendances is not being taken lightly: “I am very concerned about the reduction in numbers that we’re experiencing through the gates. “This is consistent across the whole of the Championship. Numbers this season are 5% down to date on where they were last season and we have fared better than most with our numbers only 2% down.” Matchday ticket prices are an area which Clegg says are being looked at and will continue to be monitored. The lack of on-field entertainment was blamed for the drop in attendances by a fan, who said Keane had been given more money to spend than any previous manager with the result a struggling side. Keane suggested the budget comment was probably incorrect, but admitted that when buying players there’s always an element of risk: “There’s always a gamble when you bring players into your club, whether it’s Lee Martin, someone we’re still waiting to see do well, Jason Scotland’s new to the club, Damien Delaney, Tamás Priskin, Grant Leadbitter, who I think should be playing in the Premiership, Carlos Edwards. I think they’re all good players but also you’re always looking for more.” The Blues boss agreed with the crux of the argument regarding performances: “I’m sure if we were doing a lot better, playing better and scoring a more goals, which has been a problem since I’ve come into the club, supporters would come back in greater numbers. “I think that happens at football clubs all over the planet; the better you’re doing the more supporters you get.” Clegg added that it takes some players longer than others to bed in, citing Tamás Priskin as an example. Another shareholder backed the previous questioner regarding performances and playing style suggesting that the pressure to get promoted quickly might be a factor. Keane said that ultimately fans want to see their team winning, regardless of formation or tactics and that he has a background in attacking football, but that the injury situation hasn’t always helped matters this season. He outlined his aims with regard to the team, which he feels needs the addition of more physically strong players: “Yes, we want to play better football, we want to be a bit more solid and we certainly need to score more goals. The big issue is that we don’t score enough goals.” Keane says he currently has no plans to add an assistant manager to his staff - having spoken to one or two people over the summer - praising coaches Tony Loughlan and Ian ‘Charlie’ McParland, keeper-coach Jim Hollman, reserves coach Chris Kiwomya and fitness coach Antonio Gomez. After what had been a relatively easy ride given the current situation, Keane was taken on more combatively as the evening moved into its closing stages: “You said you’d get us promoted in two seasons, so is this your last AGM?” asked one disgruntled shareholder. “Possibly so, but it might be yours as well!,” responded the Town manager. “When I first met the owner he offered me a three-year contract,” he continued, “but me being me I said ‘I’ll do it in two’. I do set myself high standards. “In hindsight it might take a little bit longer. I set the bar high and if people think I’ve set myself up for a fall, I’ve no problem with that. There’s a good chance this will be my last AGM. If we don’t get results I will lose my job. “If I leave in a few months or if I leave next week I certainly won’t regret taking the Ipswich job. I’m very proud.” Keane says managers in significantly better positions than him have been sacked: “Chris Hughton lost his job yesterday — a top, top manager and a really good bloke. “I’m under no illusions. If I don’t get results I’ll be out of a job. But I’ll survive, just like the club will and the club is more important than any manager.” The same questioner suggested that any significant offer for Connor Wickham ought to be taken, but Keane feels that the Blues striker is the type of player who doesn’t come around too often: “There aren’t many Connor Wickhams around. You’ve got to be careful not to get blasé about Connor and say we’ll take £7 million or £8 million for him. “I have a certain figure in my head that we’d have to consider. I think Connor and his agent would have that as well. “These big teams, they wouldn’t be buying him for what he’s doing now, they’re going to buy him for what he can do in four or five years’ time — his potential. Whether that’s Tottenham or Liverpool or whoever. United had to buy Rooney for £28 million when he was 18. “Can Connor be as good as these boys? I think he has the potential, but that’s up to the club and I don’t think the club’s had any concrete offers yet, although there’s been the usual speculation.” It was David Sheepshanks who answered the final question of the evening, on the Blues’ tendency to sell the best players who have come through the academy in years gone by. Sheepshanks said: “The fact of the matter is that we’re always going to be a selling club. We’re not Manchester United, we’re not Liverpool, and when the price is right that’s what you have to do. “Sir Bobby Robson was a past master at knowing when to sell a player and when to buy a new one. You can think of David Johnson being sold to Liverpool and lo and behold David Johnson goes and in comes Paul Mariner. Who’s going to argue with that?” Sheepshanks added that the club is lucky to have the backing it has, but feels that the situation with Championship clubs is not healthy: “The amounts of money that it costs to run a Championship club today are obscene. “They are simply unsustainable unless you have the real backing of someone like Marcus Evans. Occasionally you can be lucky like Blackpool, and Blackpool are backed by an extremely wealthy Latvian gentleman as well as the Oyston family. “The vast majority of clubs in the Championship, I think it’s 22 clubs, are losing seven figures and most are losing £4 million, £5 million, £6 million and upwards every year, and it’s a real worry for the game. “It’s an effect of the overall football tree, the knock-on effect of the Premier League and the type of wages which are paid, but also the temptation for clubs to want to join it, and it’s the same for us.” Sheepshanks says that at the end of the day Championship clubs will never be able to keep hold of their young talent: “I would support Marcus Evans for the amounts of money he’s investing in the club and ultimately he will decide one part of the equation, which is how much he wants for the player. “But there is the other side of the equation, which is the player pursuing his ambition. And ultimately when a player and his agent want that player to go to earning several million pounds a year compared to several hundred thousand pounds a year in the Championship, you cannot prevent it. “I would support what Roy is doing here, he’s brought on a number of young players in the last few months, and it’s fantastic to see them in the team, and in terms of commitment in the youth academy, I’m sure we all support it totally.” The evening’s official business followed, Sheepshanks — who was praised by former club chairman John Kerr for his role in securing Marcus Evans’s 2007 investment in the club - and Richard Moore were re-elected to the PLC board, while groundsman Alan Ferguson was applauded for his work in making sure the last two games went ahead despite the inclement weather.
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