Town owner Marcus Evans will clarify manager Mick McCarthy’s future "well in advance" of the Monday 30th April early bird deadline for purchasing season tickets, the club has revealed.

Earlier today, the Blues confirmed that the price of 2018/19 season tickets purchased prior to the deadline have been reduced by 10 per cent but many fans have made it clear they won’t make up their minds whether to renew until they know whether McCarthy, whose contract is up at the end of the season, will be staying in charge or there will be a change at the Portman Road helm. After the deadline prices increase significantly.

The club subsequently released a tweet indicating that news will come before the deadline date.

Town owner Marcus Evans has confirmed that Mick McCarthy's future will be clarified to supporters well in advance of the Early Bird deadline on season tickets (April 30th)#itfc pic.twitter.com/I47mIb7njE– Ipswich Town FC (@Official_ITFC) March 26, 2018

The club later added further thoughts from Evans on the situation from a letter which will go out to season ticket holders.

“As I’m sure you are aware, Mick’s contract is up at the end of the season and I’m fully aware that there will be supporters who will be waiting to see how that situation develops," the Blues owner writes.

“I continue to have a very good relationship with Mick. We talk regularly and we will sit down and discuss the best way forward for this football club in the next few weeks. And that is the sole concern for me - what is best for Ipswich Town.

“Supporters will know the result of that conversation in due course but it will be made public well in advance of the early bird deadline.”

Looking at the club’s position more widely, Evans added: “Although the league is a different prospect now from when I first invested in the club more than 10 years ago, I remain as determined as ever to see Ipswich Town back in the Premier League.

“In the next few weeks I will be outlining my thoughts in detail on how we can best go about achieving that in an interview which all supporters will have access to.”

That interview is expected to be the first time Evans has spoken on camera since taking over at Portman Road just over a decade ago.

Photo: TWTD

wkj added 11:03 - Mar 26 You mean we all panicked over nothing? That's not like us!
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agravenor added 11:05 - Mar 26 I get my hopes up when news like this comes out. It sounds like MM will be going, it's a strange statement to make otherwise? I really hope I am right.
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BlueHarwich added 11:08 - Mar 26 Well in advance is NOW! Get it sorted!!
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bressinghamblue added 11:14 - Mar 26 Here's hoping that both commercial sense and communication sense prevail. McCarthy out.
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Penguinblue added 11:15 - Mar 26 McCarthy OUT - nothing else SICK of his anti football boring dross, his foul mouth, arrogance and contempt for supporters. Tactically inept, proper blocks, gravy train etc Out now - as above, in good time is NOW
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BlueBlood90 added 11:21 - Mar 26 He has to go. He did a brilliant job in the first 3 years to stabilise the club and undo the errors made by Keane/Jewell but unfortunately he hasn't built on it and taken us any further. I do feel sorry for him with the budget he's had and wonder what might have happened if we'd invested a couple of million during the January window in the play off season. Unfortunately, the whole club needs a breath of fresh air and new ideas.

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MattinLondon added 11:26 - Mar 26 I think that ideally ME wants Mick to stay. Too much hassle to get another manager in. If season tickets stay at the same level then he'll see it as an endorsement from the fans for Mick. By not stating either way now ME is simply seeing which way the wind blows instead of actually doing something
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3stars added 11:30 - Mar 26 Massive miscommunication from the club on this after someone presumably pressed 'go' on the season ticket prices too early. Both announcements should have happened together, like Milne said they would "within two weeks", 16 days ago. However, now the cat is out of the bag with the season tickets, why wait with the manager announcement unless it is not yet decided (why?) or not something the bulk of supporters want to hear. Either way, this has once again been handled spectacularly badly.

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Currie10 added 11:30 - Mar 26 He's leaving - the club are simply making mathematically sure we're in this division first then it will be revealed. Don't panic.
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Barty added 11:32 - Mar 26 Simple - MM out
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WBBlue18 added 11:34 - Mar 26 I can (just about) put up with MMs boring football and lack of entertainment - some of this is firmly at the door of ME and if it weren't for the rest of the MM "package", I'm sure that ME would be getting far more stick aimed at him as currently he can hide behind MM. What I cannot stomach is the continued jibes at supporters at every opportunity and foul language used during public press conferences. It is unnecessary, not professional, not right, not clever, rude. Basically it is totally unacceptable for someone who publicly represents an organisation - and the main reason MM has to go. We can reset what this Club is about. It will also remove the excuses and put ME in the firing line for the future (which could be the reason he decides to keep MM!).

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Wallingford_Boy added 11:45 - Mar 26 I thought we were finding out this week? Isn't that what Milne said a couple of weeks ago.
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martin587 added 12:15 - Mar 26 It appears that nobody can come up with a sensible solution.They are just not talking to each other.Understandably why there is so much uncertainty at the club.Just get it sorted Mr Evans,now rather than later.We the supporters need to know.Its our hard earned money at stake here.!!
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Marcus added 12:20 - Mar 26 I respect what ME has done when we were in crisis. However his distance and style of talking at fans rather than to them is creating a huge amount of tension at the club. When things go well the distance is more tolerated, right now it's creating a huge divide. There's too much power-distance in a community that has always appreciated more familiarity.
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Mark added 12:27 - Mar 26 This doesn't even sound fair to Mccarthy, as surely he himself deserves to know? I don't seem the point of continuing this limbo. Surely it would be better to announce MM is leaving at the end of the season, then market the season tickets with the literature?
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Gcon added 12:33 - Mar 26 The person that 'briefly' put the season ticket info up on the ITFC website over the weekend has moved things along, somewhat! I assume they got quite a b*ll*cking this morning...The club are in panic mode.
3

MrJase77 added 12:36 - Mar 26 Wait... an interview???!?! with Evans???
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westernblue added 12:39 - Mar 26 This suggests that Mick may be going, and if so my feeling is profound relief. Living out west I no longer have a season ticket. But after years of making quite a few away matches, for the first time this season I have stopped going. The friends/family that I had 'treated' to tickets before were dreading being invited again. And like so many on here, I had become bored with the way Town have been playing - for a long time now, as the rot set in as far back as the New Year of the play off season. As for Marcus Evans, all I can say is that without finding a way to bring in substantial funds, we must look to managers who manage to deliver a good quality of football on limited funds. There's Nigel Clough, but in the lower leagues, as well as the Cowleys, Paul Cook (Wigan) and John Coleman (Accrington Stanley) have both done excellent jobs. Given a chance, and some time, they could bring a breath of fresh air to our club.

18

Cookycrew added 12:46 - Mar 26 After Milne did his usual cock-up communication of 2 weeks ago. I therefore don't personally believe the apparent 'accident' of releasing ticket prices..... (followed by an informed ME/ITFC Twitter information on MM's future). I believe it is a planned 'piecemeal' approach of drip-feeding information & appeasing the supporters.
10

shortmarine1969 added 12:50 - Mar 26 Cant wait for this - Letter on future plans - I am up for assuming it will be another back of a fag packet plan like the 5 pint plan that was "unveiled" last time , that was absolute drivel that any owner could come up with and said nothing.!. Milne announces this and that will be said , and is either let down massively by the bloke he is a mouthpiece for or he is a complete buffoon . The 10 % is a welcome move not to be sniffed at , but the whole thing should have been addressed (manager / prices / over 60,s) but this club seems incapable of sensible planned marketing , which sums up the mess we are in at present. Ant to top it off we are linked with another "jobbing" merry go round manger , just prey it,s a tabloid rumour and nothing else , as ME can not cock this one up or we could very well sink.!! We need a new owner as much as a new manager imo.

8

OriginalMarkyP added 12:51 - Mar 26 He is staying
1

MicksZzzTactics added 13:20 - Mar 26 Hmmm here is very crucial line , imho anyway, that for unknown reasons were left out of by TWTD on their take on this official news story originating from the club itself: Marcus Evans : “I hope THIS ["substantially drop in ticket prices" just to aptly use ME's own bombastic description] encourages current season ticket holders to renew again for next year and acts as an incentive for those who perhaps have not been regulars at Portman Road this year. " Alas, depending of course on how much weight you put in these very striking words by Marcus, THERE you have it folks! :-) :-) lol -- to go with this utterly pathetic, way too late & basically still just 'not-getting-it!' sounding: "Mick & I are going sit down and discuss the best way forward for this football club in the NEXT FEW WEEKS [should probably read: NEXT FEW DAYS!!!] -- at of right now on April 26, Marcus certainly appears to me to both seriously and very merrily think that this 10% cut in ticket price is Thee CARROT, repeat Thee CARROT in getting back the fans ....and not getting rid of Mick 'The Nick' McCarthy himself!!! ....And thereby getting rid of Mick's very trademarklike fan-deterrent and way too often of either little or no 'Value-For-Money' brand of archaic & negative 7-9 man strong defending hedgehog football!!! .....Which even at our home turf -- the once upon a time very feared venue to come visit -- Portman Road, this calendar year has been just sooo absurdly goal-bereft & insomnia-curing!!! (Aye Marvelous Marcus might still see 'The Light' before April 30 and axe the dreaded Dino... but as of right now I think I'll cautiously stick to my less than optimistic views on us REALLY getting a new manager, as I most recently expressed twofoldly elsewhere on TWTD i.e. on the initial article about the cut in ticket prices. But again: This here is definitely one of those pivotal occasions in life where I wouldn't mind one bit to be proven all-out wrong though! :-) :-)

4

masetheace added 13:20 - Mar 26 Would somebody name me a manager who could play entertaining football without his five constructive midfield players for the majority of the season .
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baxter7 added 13:21 - Mar 26 The best way forward Evans is to get rid of mcarthy and start investing in the team and a hungry manager who lets his team play football instead of the s--t the dinasuar dish up while he is here with his proper blokes we will go backwards mcarthy out
8

Count_Arthur added 13:25 - Mar 26 I'm pretty sure he's off. It's like if your boss at work announced to your work mates and customers there would be an announcement about you in a couple of weeks, would you not think it reasonable they spoke to you first? Either MM is staying and for whatever reason they're scared to announce it, which isn't much of a vote of confidence in MM's likeability or he's going but they won't tell him until a new manager is decided and then it's not great for MM finding out at the same time, or just before we do. Either way the whole thing is managed badly and I see no reason on God's green earth why MM would want to stay now anyway! Hooray!

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