Town owner Marcus Evans has given his backing to manager Mick McCarthy and outlined the five-point, “sustainable and consistent” long-term strategy he believes will provide the Blues with “the best chance of promotion out of the Championship” in a lengthy column for today’s match programme.

Evans says he has every confidence that McCarthy will get the Blues back on track, despite the disappointing first half of the season.

“No one is more frustrated about that than Mick and the players and no one is working harder than Mick, his staff and the players to turn it around,” Evans writes. “Mick is vastly experienced and I’m confident he can get us progressing again.”

He adds: “Plans for the club to move forwards are always at the front of my mind.

""This has been a tough season so far, and, no excuses, we haven’t lived up to our potential with results and on occasions performances being below the standards of the last two seasons.

“That said, I am not the only one who has seen bright points and I believe if we follow the strategy outlined in this article then we will not be that far away from competing, once again, at the upper end of this league.”

The Blues owner, who is entering the 10th year since his takeover, says Town are competing on a “non-level playing field” with eight Championship clubs with parachute payments following stints in the Premier League and others having the benefit of very substantial - if often temporary - funding from their owners.

“My view, based on the finances available to us compared to those with parachute budgets and the small group with, often short-term, huge owner investment, is for your club to maintain a sustainable and consistent strategy, which I firmly believe provides a foundation each season for a promotion challenge,” Evans continues.

His five points are a “significant financial commitment to the Academy”, providing a sustainable and competitive squad salary budget, making funds available annually to buy younger players who can be developed, a stable management team and producing a side which will play “attractive and exciting football”.

You can read Evans’s column, in which he goes into each of these points in greater detail, in full on the club site here.

Photo: TWTD

BrettenhamBlue added 06:13 - Dec 30 Don't misunderstand me. It's great that we have finally heard from ME. The bit about "playing attractive and exciting football" cracked me up though. Even most MM Inners know that our football style and tactics has diminished considerably in the last few years. mickszzztactics might have something to say about this!
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Adam91T added 06:16 - Dec 30 'On occasion' been worse than the previous two seasons?! Should read that we've CONSISTENTLY been worse, having a decent game on occasion! Two of his five points contradict each other if he's talking about McCarthy and co being the 'stable management team' producing 'attractive and exciting football'. Really, you can have one or the other. Essentially, reads exactly as I thought it would: excuses about other teams having a lot more money than us, backing Mick despite a vast majority of the fans (and possibly some players based on performances) turning on him, his arrogance and his tactics, and saying that he'll invest in youth that rarely gets a chance to play under McCarthy. It's got to the point where I don't want to wear my ITFC shirts anymore, because I don't want to give him the publicity. If he wants promotion, and his brand to be shown around the world on one of the highest viewed platforms there is, MM needs to go, serious investment is needed, and a manager who will actually try to win a damn game needs to be hired.

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LimitlessBlue added 06:20 - Dec 30 Biggest pile of utter crap I have read from him. We are going to become a Charlton or Coventry or Blackpool with an owner who has his head up his backside.
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greenfinch added 06:24 - Dec 30 Please can I add another point to your five point strategy, point 6, in order to win a game the team needs to shot and on target would be helpful.
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trncbluearmy added 06:29 - Dec 30 And the bright points are? But putting that aside, the amount of clubs with parachute money will increase making this "long-term strategy" even less likely to succeed as it is now. And the whole thing fulls flat if you buy young players and develop, which we are good at, but then SELL AND NOT INVEST. and we have not even touched on the declining crowds,crp football and obscene pricing structure (not season tickets which are fair money wise but poor football wise)

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prebbs007 added 06:31 - Dec 30 Oh dear oh dear !!!! As stated many times before, the definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results. Our dinosaur manager is blatantly guilty of that and it's clear after this utter drivel that our owner is too. Since we went top at Brentford 2 years ago we have been in a massive downward spiral. £5m per season is obviously not enough, especially when you pay upper championship wages to lower league 1 players. If you think that's gunna get us promoted Evans then you're a retard. You use ITFC as a tax break, don't spend enough on transfers and continue to back a manager who has so obviously failed the club the fans and the players. This is why so many of us long term season ticket holders have done the only thing we can and that is to walk away. To reduce your income to a level where even you have to react. Season tickets will drop below 10k next year at current rate and your £5m will need to be £6m just to stand still. I'm totally astonished that a so called intelligent business man of your stature can't see what's crumbling beneath him right in front of his eyes. Unless you really don't care !!!! Well we do and I won't be back until the dinosaur is gone and if you continue to show such distinct lack of investment acumen then you may aswell sell up and go use some other business vehicle to hide your taxable profits from the revenue please and give us our club back before it dies forever. Sad sad days. Sir Bobby will be turning in his grave at what we have become. 😡😩😢😢😢😩😡

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trncbluearmy added 06:36 - Dec 30 Tell you what if I was in the UK and could be bothered to go I would buy a programme and tear his column up in front of him.
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shakytown added 06:37 - Dec 30 So to put it simply nothing is wrong Mick is here to stay and just keep giving him your money. I QUIT.
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battyblue added 06:40 - Dec 30 What a load of crap he don't know what he is on about,i have a new shirt bought for me as a present at the start of the season but i have not worn it because its am embarrassment to be seem in it and it will stay in the draw until we have a new manager.Never ever felt like this in forty five years as a town supporter.Happy new year to all
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flashblue added 06:41 - Dec 30 From what is written here, I don't see that he is explicitly backing Mick for the long (or even short) term. So, unless I have missed something, the article should read, "Evans fails to back Mick"
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flashblue added 06:48 - Dec 30 In fact he says: "I have always tried to back our managers for as long as is realistic and I have no plans to change that policy." To me that's means Mick is on his way. If he really was backing Mick he would say so explicitly.
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Suffolk_n_Good added 06:54 - Dec 30 Well there's 5 minutes of my life I won't get back, as others have said, it's a list of excuses, no wonder McCarthy is still here, we have an owner who blindly supports him, I'd of loved him to actually point out some of the "bright points" of this frustrating season, I can't remember many. "Investing" in academy players only works if you have a manager who is prepared to play them, when his "proper blokes" aren't doing well enough, & don't make me laugh, "investing in players with Premier League experience" this is a smoke screen for filling the squad with average older players who are not committed. We've heard all this "3 point plan"/ "5 point plan" before, yet 14 years later we're now a below average Championship club on the verge of slipping further down the leagues, 10 years of Evans in charge & we are going further backwards than we were when he arrived, 4 years of McCarthy & we have completely & utterly stagnated on the pitch with an ageing squad. Well that's it for me, that's the last penny on ITFC I spend until Evans starts proving he really wants to invest to achieve promotion. He's buried his head in the sand..... #itfcdecline #mccarthyout #evansout

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DurhamTownFan added 07:07 - Dec 30 What a load of shte! And Zhou knows it would be as soon as you heard he had a new 'interview' out. This changes nothing for me. Need a BIG outburst at PR today from fans, even if we do win. Got that horrible feeling that we will and then mick hangs on for another month. I want my team to win, but we've got more chance of that if we lose the next few and appoint someone new. So am I wanting my team to lose? Yes I am, until that idiot leaves.

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Suffolk_n_Good added 07:20 - Dec 30 With ya DurhamTownFan 👍🏼
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iaintaylorx added 07:23 - Dec 30 Sorry, but is this the first time we have ever heard Evans talk since he came in and he says he's backing Mick? How bad does it have to get!? Owners are supposed to listen to the fans! Mostly all if us have been supporting this club alot flaming longer than this bloke has been here, we know what and where we should be!! No wonder he never talks if this is what comes out when he does!! We need a change of manager, asap! Mick has taken us as far as he can. Getting in someone else will change this negatuve mood around the place, get supporters on your side Evans and show that you aren't blind to the fact that MM isn't the man to change this around!!! Worst state the club has been in, in years!!

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surgery added 07:28 - Dec 30 Got a feeling this was penned by his puppet Milne
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therein61 added 07:33 - Dec 30 Oh Dear I fear the worst for our once great club!!
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dukey44 added 07:37 - Dec 30 Oh well fans really don't matter as chairman obviously sees something we don't. We can all moan and groan but Evans isn't going to take any notice as it seems he thinks Micks what we need. Sad sad day one thinks....
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corfu72 added 07:39 - Dec 30 Once again,Papering over the cracks.This club will just plod on as a below average club in this league,happy not to get relegated or promoted.!!
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martin587 added 07:44 - Dec 30 The trouble is,This club IS NOT MOVING FORWARD.We are falling behind and until we change the management and invest on a few DECENT players we will get nowhere.We don't want other clubs rejects,and why do we have an Academy when the good lads are not given a chance.I rest my case.Well said Seasideblues,100%correct.
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jas0999 added 07:45 - Dec 30 He has seen bright points? Presumably he is talking about flogging Murphy to Newcastle and the value for Webster increasing? No doubt Evans is rubbing his hands together. Because there has been nothing on the field for a year now. He also talks about non-level playing field, and although this is true to an extent, it's also utter spin. We have seen Rotherham have a net spend on fees higher than us, whilst Preston outfought us on wages for a player. We have a league one budget at best and are nowhere near competitive enough. Evans is destroying the club and is surely the most unambitious owner in the league.

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blue75 added 07:47 - Dec 30 Rose tinted spectacles must be how Evans looks at McCarthy's cv if he thinks he'll get us playing attractive and exciting football. That style goes against everything McCarthy stands for!! But I could be wrong we'll soon know if McCarthy plays Douglas and Skuse, nothing says attractive and exciting like those two!!!!
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Blue_Meanie added 07:55 - Dec 30 So the 3 point plan is now a 5 point plan. Just hope we're safe by 3 or 5 points come the end of the season. ITFC has to be a front for something else, there is no other logical explanation for Evans excepting the sh1te that is served up by the 'manager' week in week out. ALL OUT.
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tallguy6767 added 08:03 - Dec 30 What utter crap! Long term you ain't kidding! Where's the evidence that we develop youth and play them.its all to sell them for a good profit ! As for attractive football well that' never going to happen while that pig headed arrogant obnoxious dinosaur is in charge. If you think this drivel you call a five point plan is enough to appease the fans which are turning their back on this once proud club think again Mr Evans .start by sacking the idiot and you might just have some credence to your plan.

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Notts_tractor added 08:05 - Dec 30 Excellent choice of picture. The dark clouds gathering over Portman Road symbolise things only getting worse. This platitudinous load of fobbing -off merely confirms what we already knew: Evans doesn't give a sh*t.
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