Town MD Ian Milne said the Blues are in a good place both on and off the field at Wednesday evening’s PLC AGM, which was attended by around 150 shareholders in the Sir Bobby Robson Suite in Portman Road's Sir Alf Ramsey Stand.

Milne and manager Mick McCarthy took part in a question and answer session, while shareholders were handed a sheet outlining the financial highlights for the year to June 2015, in which the Blues made a profit of £5.335 million after player trading but an operating loss of £6.140 million.

The PLC is made up of the pre-takeover shareholders and owns 12.5 per cent of the club with Marcus Evans owning the rest.

“Good questions, Mick was on form, very genuine,” Milne told TWTD afterwards. “The club’s in a good place at the moment, both on and off the field. I think most people recognise that.

“There’s always the discussion about ‘why don’t we spend millions on getting players’ and I answer the same way, we’ve got a better squad than we had last year.

“We still have to pay market value for salaries and that’s the big part of the cost of running a club. It’s not the £1 million or £2 million you spend on players but the salaries.

“Hopefully we’ve got that point over and all the shareholders got their points over. I think it was a good meeting.”

PLC chairman Roger Finbow opened the meeting by praising former chairman John Kerr, who is retiring as a PLC director.

Milne, who is on the PLC board in addition to his role as club MD, made a short speech, also paying tribute to Kerr, before the question and answer session mainly with manager Mick McCarthy began.

The Blues boss was asked about the position of the team this year compared to last season and also the openness of the Championship during 2014/15 and the contrast this time around with five clubs threatening to pull away at the top of the division.

McCarthy said Town had had great start, then an indifferent period, but without losing games. He said his team couldn’t put games to bed at that stage and should have beaten the likes of Bristol City and Huddersfield.

Since then he said his side have picked up and are back in it again, having climbed to seventh after winning at Charlton at the weekend.

As for the teams at the top of the table, he said Derby have spent a lot of money, as have Middlesbrough, while Burnley have parachute payments, although he said he wasn’t using that as an excuse.

Looking at things the opposite way around, McCarthy said Reading and Sheffield Wednesday are having great seasons, and yet Town are ahead of them. Birmingham are having a great season but the Blues are just behind them. Fulham spent a lot of money and Town are ahead of them. He added that Town are adhering to Financial Fair Play (FFP) and are doing well.

Milne was asked whether there was any change in the situation regarding QPR’s challenge to the FFP rules, which is currently in a process of mediation.

Later the Town MD told TWTD: “There are a few of us feeling quite annoyed about what’s going on here. I decided to send Nick Craig, [the Football League’s director of legal affairs], a note and and said ‘Come on, we’re your constituency, you’ve got to give us some idea what precisely is going on. It can’t drag on’. There are rules out there which needed to be abided by.”

He added: “We were one of the people who voted against any increase on FFP limits but we lost that by a narrow margin and it’s something we want to see through.

“The other thing I would say with Bolton, Wolves, West Brom, Aston Villa and I’m sure you could name some others, there are a lot of clubs up for sale at the moment.

“Poor Bolton didn’t pay their players last month, so it’s not all rosy out there in ‘soccerland' and there isn’t the money around that there is [elsewhere]. Some owners are just paying the earth and aren’t getting too much result for their money.”

McCarthy was asked whether owner Marcus Evans would back him in January as the Blues look to get out of the Championship after 14 years, far longer than any other club.

The former Millwall, Ireland, Sunderland and Wolves boss said Town shouldn’t be too embarrassed about being longest-serving Championship team as likes of Sheffield United would love to be in this division, and that it’s a very hard league to get out of.

The Blues boss says he gets moral and emotional support from owner Evans and that he works within his budget.

He says people such as director of football Dave Bowman and assistant manager Terry Connor have asked him whether he gets frustrated that he can’t buy any other players. But he tells them he was told what the job was when he got it and that there’s no point in accepting a job and then wanting to change the rules of engagement.

But even aside from that, McCarthy says he looks at his squad and asks where he’d get a better striker than his current four without spending a huge amount of money and breaking the wage structure.

He says if Ryan Fraser, David McGoldrick and Teddy Bishop return from injury and Luke Hyam comes back after his month’s loan, he’ll have a great squad.

The Town manager said the £325,000 fee paid for Jonas Knudsen was a great deal and that he is delighted with the squad he’s got.

Milne added: “We’re trying to run a viable club. Marcus is still funding the club on a daily basis and there’s no argument between Mick and Marcus on players coming and going, as there was no argument with Paul Jewell and Roy Keane.”

McCarthy was asked, by TWTD poster SWGF, about the research he does when signing players before signing players and how long they are scouted for.

He related how Jonas Knudsen was scouted and signed in July. With players now on social media and knowing everyone else, someone always knows a player, he continued. He said when the Blues signed Brett Pitman he asked Cole Skuse about his former Bristol City team-mate.

But he says he also gets idea of what players are like and their personality by the way they play. Town learn about players by word of mouth and have scouts out watching players in every division.

Then they’ve got a scouting software system, Wyscout, which means they can watch players on TV and if they see anybody there they send someone to watch them in action live.

The Town boss was asked whether the academy was recruiting its fair share of local youngsters, despite being Category Two.

McCarthy said they are getting the local talent, citing Teddy Bishop and Matt Clarke, who is on loan at Portsmouth, and Josh Emmanuel, who joined Crawley last week, and pointed out that for the first time he’s been at the club Town are loaning out young players.

He says midfielder Kundai Benyu is an exciting prospect but is injured at the moment and Andre Dozzell is someone whose talent everyone is aware of.

The Blues manager also mentioned Myles Kenlock, who made his senior debut earlier in the season, and believes the club are getting their fair share of young players coming through and that the academy is doing very well.

McCarthy says the academy is still striving to get Category One status but that the goal posts are being moved once again. A pathway into the first team was a requirement he said but while there is such a pathway at Town, there’s evidently not at Chelsea and Manchester City, hence a change in the rules so it can be a pathway into someone else’s first team.

He was asked about David McGoldrick’s fitness, the striker having been out with a groin problem for the last three weeks.

McCarthy said the Ireland international is trying his best to get fit and was out training with first team squad on Wednesday and that the last thing he wanted was to be injured as he’s missed much of last two seasons.

The Blues boss says that he takes a positive view that McGoldrick will get back and score 15 or 16 in the rest of the season. He said that in previous years he has had little back-up for his main two strikers but now he has more options. He added that McGoldrick could be on the bench on Friday night when the Blues face Middlesbrough in a live SKy game.

The Town manager was asked how he reacts if there’s a blip in form and some fans are bemoaning the situation on radio phone-ins and elsewhere, as happened during the poor run in September and October.

McCarthy said he believed that it was a small proportion of people who make all the noise and that there will always be someone who doesn’t like him and wants him to move on.

Often on phone-ins it’s people who aren’t at the game, he added, citing calls about Aston Villa he heard on the way back from a recent match.

He says he knows most Town fans appreciate him and give him support and the backing that the team got against Bolton was something which will stick with him for a long time. It was a good performance and a good win.

When times are tough, he tries to keep level-headed if he can, although he said his wife wasn’t convinced that he was entirely successful at that.

Regarding squad players such as Jay Tabb, who aren’t getting first-team games, he says he tries to keep them up to match speed by playing them in the U21s from time to time, while the Blues also stage in-house matches. The players concerned also do extra work on the training field.

McCarthy said the gap between the Premier League and Championship is huge, pointing to Bournemouth and Norwich’s current positions towards the bottom of the top flight having been promoted last year.

He said the Championship is relentless and gruelling, with a run of seven games in 20-odd days, an international break and then another seven games in 20-odd days.

Regarding Town’s low spending on agents, McCarthy says that’s mainly as Town haven’t bought many players, most signings having been Bosman free transfers. The more a club spends, the more agents receive with five per cent of the deal and the salary due to them. He thinks the club should be lauded for the way they’ve gone about things.

Moving on to FFP, he says some clubs have embargoes and still seem to be spending. He thinks FFP is “an arse”. Town are following it but he’s sceptical whether those clubs that don’t will be punished.

Returning to agents, he says that as with anything else, there are good ones and bad ones. But he says spending on agents is a big drain on clubs’ resources when - as was the case with some Championship sides - it totals £2 million and admitted that it does irk him.

That ended the question and answer session and McCarthy reiterated his appreciation for the support he has received and was also pleased that Terry Connor’s name is chanted by fans, with few if any other assistants receiving similar acclaim.

After praising the club for giving out free pies at the event, he left to go and watch, he said, I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here.

During the last financial year, owner Evans’s shares in Ipswich Town Football Club Company Ltd were transferred from Marcus Evans Investments Limited to Marcus Evans Worldwide Holdings (IOM) Limited.

Milne said this was due to a reorganisation: “There was an internal restructure within the Marcus Evans Group and basically he’s moved the holding companies from Bermuda to the Isle of Man.

“But nothing has changed, no shareholding has changed other than it was just an totally internal reorganisation.

“It’s part of the plans on auditing and tax and all the rest of it, for the benefit of the whole group including Ipswich. No selling of any part of the group, including Ipswich.”

In November £1,616,000 of loans from Marcus Evans BV was waived as the club sought to stay within Financial Fair Play limits.

“He chose to waive it rather than convert to equity,” Milne explained. “We wouldn’t do anything without talking to KPMG to make sure it’s fine.”

Regarding the club’s debt, which is up to £87.008 million, the Blues MD says it’s all internal with nothing owed to anyone else, while no interest has been charged on any of the loans since July 2013.

“There’s no banks, there’s no lending institution behind it, it’s all Marcus’s money,” he continued. “He’s happy to spend the money that he’s spending on the club at the moment.

“We go through all the facts and figures once a month as we did yesterday and he’s in a very happy place. For the club and for the fans, we’re really in a very good place.”

The formal business of the PLC followed the question and answer session with McCarthy and Milne and saw Jonathan Symonds re-elected as a director and Peter Over elected for the first time, replacing former club chairman Kerr.

Photo: ITFC

Photo: Action Images

Stato added 08:32 - Dec 3 Hands up all those who agree that having over £80 million of debt leaves us "in a really good place". Will we become the first club in history to have £100 million of debt ? Looks to me like we are about 2 seasons away from that.
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GeoffSentence added 08:48 - Dec 3 @BossMan , no, whatever else happens we will not be the first club in history to have £100 million of debt. Bolton, for instance, already have debt of over £170 Million
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samsonblue added 08:50 - Dec 3 Get your facts straight http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/32138946 Bolton are not doing so well!!
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ArnieM added 08:57 - Dec 3 ..."We will become the first Club to have a £100m debt". How much debt do you think Bolton have at the moment then? You ignore the fact that ITFC is opened by Marcus Evans and it is HIS debt . This club does not owe any money to anyone. Evans bought that debt when he acquired the Club. It's his debt , owed to himself and that amount of money is in fact small change to Evans. So if he's not worried, why should you be? Very few Professional football Clubs are in the black. Towns debt is a paper figure in the books which Evans could clear tomorrow if he wanted to.

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vanmunt added 09:09 - Dec 3 The crazy world of football. Where else would you say to your accountant we have done well this year, we only lost 6M.
2

commuterblue added 09:14 - Dec 3 As a shareholder unable to attend the meeting, many thanks Phil, really informative. If I'd known there was free pie, I might have splashed out on some flights!
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rinkydinkpanther added 09:16 - Dec 3 BUT. WE. DO. NOT. OWE. IT. TO. ANY. ONE. EX. TER. NAL. LY. Please try and understand this! The club say it loud and clear whenever they get the chance. Evans owes himself almost £90m. He's running the club responsibly, trying to strike a balance, and making sure that amount doesn't unnecessarily grow. We'd be in serious trouble owing that to anyone other than Marcus Evans, our owner, hence why the club are 'in a good place'.

14

muccletonjoe added 09:39 - Dec 3 a very interesting read , and if nothing else it explains how the transfer fees are swallowed up on shortfalls and never used to finance more expensive signings . which is fair enough if we didnt get the spin about the money being made available to mm
4

TimmyH added 12:03 - Dec 3 Well we've got a bigger squad than last season - not sure whether it's better but we DO need to invest in some quality this January transfer (RB/GK would be a start) if we are to close the gap down on the Hull's, Boro's, Derby's etc of this division but saying that Brighton haven't spent that much but under the guidance of Chris Hughton have a decent manager.
3

Seasider added 12:19 - Dec 3 From Micks remarks little appears to be changing on the financial front ie he wont be allowed to spend much if any money in the next transfer window. Interesting to hear that the club were outvoted when they tried to keep the FFP limits the same;so now it has a little more leeway should they need it. If I was still analysing Accounts then I should consider this to be a pretty good balance sheet . It is interesting to note also that Marcus appears to have stopped taking out interest on his debt ftb

3

commuterblue added 12:37 - Dec 3 My impressionis that we are weaker at left back, and everywhere else we are either the same or stronger. Tabb started 30 odd games last year, and now he rarely gets a spot on the bench. We are stronger up front. Stronger out wide. Whatever you think of RB/GK this was the same last year, so I don't see how that on the LB can outweigh the areas where we are now stronger.

1

BlueandTruesince82 added 13:16 - Dec 3 Ahhh yes, Tabb can hardly get a game........ but Mick only picks his favourites... Wait a min....
1

Stato added 13:23 - Dec 3 My post says WILL we become the first club in history and not surprisingly there out come those more interested in hurling insults than worrying about the debt. Oh yeah it doesn't matter coz it's internal. So ME won't want it paying off then ? Numpties can buy the whole internal thing if they want but for my part I don't think it does us any favours.
0

Stato added 13:39 - Dec 3 If you're interested in challenging those that want to applaud while we extend our stay in the Championship it might be worth educating yourselves on consolidated tax returns. I don't want a rebuke from Phil so I'm not going to say anything which might cause problems for this website but guys honestly wise up and ask yourselves why ME bought Ipswich. Take the blinkers off and educate yourselves on the facts and not on some blind faith to the party line. For the record I applaud the recent ambition shown by ME in turning down offers Murph etc.

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radiogaga added 14:03 - Dec 3 The "debt" is NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT. As pink panther pointed out, we should only be worried if the debt is external...
0

BobbyBell added 14:42 - Dec 3 Anyone got any idea what Chelsea owe their owner?
0

itfcsince1974 added 15:03 - Dec 3 I don't know why we are worried about £80 mil internal debt. As of June Arsenal debt £240 mil, Man United debt £342 mil and Chelsea debt £958 mil. We are positively flush!
1

jas0999 added 15:48 - Dec 3 Nothing changes. Evans still won't spend and will be only too happy to cash in on the next asset, whilst raising ticket prices year on year. All bar one game has been charged at the maximum rate on the gate this season. Disgusting and I'm a season ticket holder! All of that said, who can blame Evans though? Also shows what a great job Mick is doing with virtually no financial backing or certainly that compared to teams who will ultimately be relegated or close to it. I would like to think Evans will be ambitious in January if we remain in contention. We made a grave error last season, let's hope he has learnt. I doubt it though!

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itfcbam added 19:37 - Dec 3 As I have been saying for a long time we lose "naturally" 6m per season yet idiots on here still bleat on about spending more money. I suggest most of you go back to school for basic maths lessons. Where does this spending money come from??? The last 2 seasons we have had to sell our left back just to balance the books! That sadly is the harsh reality of football. We couldn't continue losing 6m+ season after season and still sustain the club in its current format so a reality check is needed. We have a fantastic manager operating on a tight budget and transformed us from relagation fodder to play off candidates so there is plenty to be positive about.

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