Town owner Marcus Evans has apologised to Town fans in the wake of the Blues' relegation to League One and has outlined the plans for the future in a personal letter that will go out with season ticket renewals later this week, which has been published in part on the club website today.

Before I talk about the future, which I truly am positive about, I want to personally apologise to you for the position the club finds itself in at the moment. "

We tried something different at the start of the season. For one reason or another it didn’t work, and you will have your own views as to what went wrong, but clearly mistakes have been made and as owner, I have to take overall responsibility for that.

""Now my responsibility is to take this great club forwards again. Paul Lambert, as our manager, is obviously a key part of that plan and whilst results on the pitch have not been as we would have hoped for, performances and entertainment levels have vastly improved and most importantly as the manager has had time to work with the players, most of whom will be the core of next year’s team, we have recently been competitive with the best teams in the Championship.

As our young team develops and improves, this foundation has to be encouraging to all of us as a positive indication that we are now going in the right direction. We will quite rightly expect this team to carry on with this competitiveness in the lower league next season.

These players, who are still learning the game at the highest levels, all need a significant run of matches to consolidate their position in the first team and whilst there is a place for one or two loans and players who can bring vital experience in the latter stages of their careers, the majority of the squad need to be younger players who will be improving week by week. "

Where we don’t have talent in the building that is ready for developing in a particular position and it’s clear that we need to invest to improve we will do so but we will not bring in anyone who blocks our own players’ development and we will ensure we give our young homegrown players a run of games.

They will make mistakes, but as long as they learn from those mistakes we will have a team that gets better and better. ""We need players on the pitch who are the future of Ipswich for the next five or six years, not just for one or two seasons, whose development our coaches can influence and who are on the upward curve of their playing career.""

Much of this was the plan for last summer however it didn’t work out the way we planned. In Paul Lambert and his team, we have a group of excellent coaches who are completely invested in the strategy.

I cannot doubt the loyal support you have shown the club through thick and thin but now we need everyone’s support and togetherness more than ever. ""We are playing the attractive, entertaining football that I think you want to see. I certainly do. I have seen the players applauded off in many games this season, even after defeat, so I think that shows you are appreciating the way Paul is getting the team to play.

Of course, it’s about winning football matches though and that is something that we have to put right. ""Paul, our general manager of football operations, Lee O’Neill, and myself have had numerous meetings over the last four or five months to discuss the future direction of the club.""

We are all united in the strong belief that our young players need to be given a pathway into the first-team and a chance to establish themselves at that level, not just a few games here or there but over a period of time.

Developing and nurturing our own players and giving them first-team opportunities are at the core of our focus going forward. They will need patience but it’s the way forward for Ipswich Town. I want you to witness the excitement of a team developing week in, week out and see this turning this into a winning formula.

""We will still retain that balance of experienced players around them, of course. Players like Bart Bialkowski, Alan Judge, Luke Chambers and Cole Skuse will provide that guidance for our young players to progress.

""As stated earlier it’s not our intention to bring in loan players in any numbers. We may have one or two but the plan is to provide that pathway for our young players, rather than use the loan market. "

I have become much more hands-on at the club since the turn of the year and that will continue. I’m not going to hide from the fact that these are challenging times at the club but sometimes out of adversity you become stronger. That is our aim.

"I am also putting plans in place to take Ipswich Town deeper into the local community, working closer than ever before with schools, charities and local organisations. There will be more on that over the coming weeks.

""I know Paul has been amazed and humbled as well by the backing he, personally, and the team have received from you the fans and he is determined to repay that support in the years ahead.""

With Paul as our manager, we have the right man to take us forward. I will provide all the support I can to him but we need your continued fantastic support as well.

It seems strange to say this but we are not a club in crisis, we are once again already developing our community roots; we are financially stable; we have a proven management team intent on doing things going forwards in the Ipswich way and whilst the foundations have already been laid to move onwards and upwards THE REAL FIGHTBACK STARTS NOW to get back into the Championship and then on from there.

General manager of football operations Lee O’Neill will be on Mark Murphy’s Radio Suffolk breakfast show on Monday morning from 8am talking about Town’s relegation and the Blues’ future.

Photo: ITFC

Saxonblue74 added 18:07 - Apr 14 Bluearmy 81, ask a budgie about optimism after relegation and you may be surprised!
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blueboy1981 added 18:09 - Apr 14 Sorry Saxonblue voted you down by mistake.
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Saxonblue74 added 18:12 - Apr 14 No problem Blueboy, I've seen enough of your posts to have the measure of you!👍
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Saxonblue74 added 18:14 - Apr 14 Bluearmy 81, up to -25 now. Perhaps your facebook campaign is over before it's begun?!
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TBT added 18:31 - Apr 14 Saxonblue. I enjoy reading your posts but yes, Marcus Evans bought a football club he doesn't have any emotional attachment to, as a status symbol. Of course he thought a £16 investment in the team would get us straight into the Premier League, he didn't anticipate how badly this venture could go. You are underestimating how wealthy this man is. This is a potentially exciting time if we get it right as a business. The Budgies went down to the third tier, slashed their season ticket prices, gave young supporters season tickets for £20 and have had a full ground for about 5 years. They also invested in the team and took League 1 by storm. So, are we Coventry City or Norwich City? At this point in time we are Coventry City and in massive trouble because our owner isn't a fan.

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blueboy1981 added 18:32 - Apr 14 Get your Season Ticket - and join the revolution. It's been done before, and will again. Or will you wait until we win a few games, and then jump on the bandwagon..... ??
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TBT added 18:40 - Apr 14 Blueboy. Yawn. Why do you keeping posting that we're not genuine fans if we have the temerity to criticise the hierarchy of this club? Are you happy about this position? I'm way past middle aged and I wasn't alive when we were in the third tier. The very fact we are posting on this website means we care about our great club. As an Academy Sponsor that puts a slug of my hard-earned into ITFC, I find your harping on about genuine supporters really dull.

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Saxonblue74 added 18:40 - Apr 14 TBT, I live in Norfolk and most of my mates are Budgies, I've had the "attendance" arguement so many times. In my opinion the reason their attendances are so much higher is simply a geographical one. Norfolk is a huge county and they have a massive catchment area, Suffolk is smaller and much closer to the capital. That has us challenged by North London clubs. I agree he has made both mistakes and under estimations but also believe we have gone backwards in order to move forwards. Also, I think I'm right in saying season ticket offers haven't yet been confirmed? Given the deals this season to put bums on seats I'm optimistic that offers will be on the table for next season.

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TBT added 18:43 - Apr 14 Saxonblue, you might be right about the counties but NCFC's third tier strategy was outstanding and they hit the Championship running with full houses home and away. I so hope you are right about ITFC, of course I do.
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TrueBlueSince72 added 18:47 - Apr 14 Saxonblue has this right. We really aren't and never have been a 'big' club. Our amazing history came about through eras when we punched way above our weight through superlative management by Ramsey, Robson and Burley who all got the blend in their teams just right. Mick Mills talks about the importance of getting recruitment right and he is spot on. We have never bought big name players - our success was built on spotting gems and polishing them up. For example Paul Mariner came from Plymouth, Kevin Beattie, Terry Butcher, Russell Osman came through the youth set up, Matt Holland came from Bournemouth (who were way lower then) David Johnson came from Bury Town. Who had heard of Arnold Muhren or Franz T before they were recruited? All fantastic players to name just a few. We need to get back to being good at blending our own best youngsters with smart recruitment (much as they have done up the road........ didn't they sell their most valuable asset last summer and now look like they're going to win the league..... 😣) Paul L feels to me like he is the first manager we've had for a long time that is going to try to get as close to this way of doing things that the modern game will allow, and for me this is the approach that a club of our stature needs to follow to deliver sustainable success. Our club is at the lowest ranking I have known in 40+ years of support, but I still feel more positive now than I did two years ago when the MM era was literally going nowhere and we were stuck in a rut. Post match yesterday the connection between PL and the fans was cemented as we sang our hearts out to our team that had been relegated. I'm not ashamed to admit I had tears in my eyes. If we get our approach right again, and I think PL is on the right lines, we can come back from this stronger. ITID

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Saxonblue74 added 18:47 - Apr 14 TBT, patience may be virtuos next season also. Remember our "friends" lost their first game 7 -1!
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TBT added 18:52 - Apr 14 Good point, to Paul Lambert's Colchester United.
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Bert added 19:05 - Apr 14 Perhaps those on here who want to take lumps out of each other could use Facebook or Messenger rather than clutter up TWTD. How about putting the regular negative posters into a corner of one of the stands so we can see how few there really are. Most supporters accept where we are and how we got here. Evans has apologised for mistakes made. Time to move on and nurture the goodwill witnessed at the end of yesterday's game.

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ITFCsince73 added 19:21 - Apr 14 You can make all the comparisons you like to L1 and Norwich etc. Norwich had a budget for promotion. Sunderland, Portsmouth this season the same. Even little old Barnsley had a playing budget that said they meant business. Luton Town winning the L1 title this season on the strength of turning down offers for all there best players last summer. Turning down a reported £10m bid in January for there star player. We have Marcus Evans setting our budgets. I'm not saying there's better or worse out there, or anyone at all. But that's how we go into the 3rd tier. Just like the Championship has become awash with money. So has L1. Just like the Championship it gets harder by the year to get out of. All L1 teams fighting to go up, have done it on good Championship budgets. Sunderland struggling at the death to go up automatically, on premier league parachute payments. The talk of a new striker needed, that's a £10m signing in today's market. For the required quality. We couldn't be further away from that type signing. It will be cast offs and the like again. That I'm afraid dosent get you promoted from L1, these days.

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Bluearmy_81 added 19:27 - Apr 14 Hi Saxon, not really bothered about the down votes here, the group is doing really well thanks, only existed 2-3 days. Soon have enough members to organise concerted action 😀👍🏻
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runningout added 19:38 - Apr 14 Your not helping one bit
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Northstandveteran added 19:40 - Apr 14 Norwich get bigger gates for three reasons. 1) Their ticket prices for home fans are far more reasonably priced than ours. 2) They have been in the premiership now and then. 3) They have had a better football team than us for many years. Hard to swallow but those are the facts.
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Saxonblue74 added 20:11 - Apr 14 Bluearmy, 61 members on day 4, 36 down votes in less than 7 hours? Good luck!
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Wooly74 added 20:16 - Apr 14 If Mr Evans really is going to look to take the club more into the local community as he has suggested, then as a senior head of operations myself, here's some of my thoughts: 1. Bin the ridiculous shirt sponsorship deal we currently have which is making a vast number of fans refusing to buy strips. We are already a season into the deal, he has the money to pay half of it back and tell fans he is going to look at EACH as the main shirt sponsor for next season. Result would be higher merchandise sales of shirts. 2. In line with the above, make the shirt for next season much cheaper to purchase £25 Adults and £10 children. 3. Season tickets need to be realistic and I'm talking on average £100 cheaper to purchase, this way we stand a chance again of attracting 15k plus sales and averaging at least 20k every home game. The money raised on refreshment sales will in turn be much greater helping to make up the shortfall of the cheaper ticket sales. 4. Get more of the legends involved in the club, even if it's with the media or pre match entertainment, they are the life blood of our club and whilst they are still here they can help make the current players realise what this club is all about. 5. Offer matches for kids for £1 and certainly bring back the £10 season ticket price for all under 12's, it was ridiculous that it went up to £50 last season and turned a lot of young fans off coming every week. 6. Get ALL players who are long term injured (and of course who can), more involved with the local community and kids clubs. 7. Reinstate the European scouts especially in places like France, Holland and Belgium there is still major talent out there and Ipswich remains a big attraction and name in Holland having recently been there myself. 8. Get Lambert to plan his transfers early, that's partly why he was so successful up the road, look at his history most of his signings are completed in pre-season by the end of June, giving the squad time to get both super fit and gel as a squad. That's been our negative problem for the past 5-7 seasons, we don't get the new players in early enough! There's plenty more Mr Evans but if you do happen to ever read these comments, I would be more than willing to talk to you or representatives from the club. Put the team back into the heart of the community indeed and that starts Wednesday with your season ticket announcement. I drive a round trip of 84 miles every home game to support this beautiful club of ours so let's start thinking please?

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Bluefish11 added 20:22 - Apr 14 Everybody that currently weighs over 20 stone, once weighed 20 stone and most had a choice. They could make positive changes and improve their life, or continue with bad choices and decisions and get heavier. Mr Evans, 10 years ago you took over a 20 stone club that is now a 35 stone club. You have made bad decisions year after year culminating in the disposal of a 40 goal strike force at the end of 2017-18 season. The equivalent to stuffing your face with sweets, crisps and cream cakes every day and thinking you are going to lose weight. When you took the club over I thought ‘wow' how great it is for us to be taken over by a successful billionaire businessman. How wrong I was! Frankly I now invite you to get out of our club before you completely kill it! It has been going wrong for 10 years under your management and the pattern is not changing. As a fan I have spent well over £10,000 following the club in the time you have been the owner and I would not even know you if you sat beside me. You may be disappointed in relegation and your heart might be in the right place but you are not a real fan and your performance as our club owner has been nothing less than disastrous and it is time to cut your losses. Whilst my blood is blue, my pot is not bottomless and though I am excited by the potential of a young attacking home grown squad peppered with experience next season, I am not prepared to continue funding your asset stripping tax vehicle. Mr Sheeran, are your global royalties sufficient enough to take ownership of your No. 2 passion. You are probably the most famous ITFC fan in the world and I for one would welcome a famous fan with a healthy bank balance as an owner to come in and rescue the club instead of continuing to ‘stack the weight on' under our current anonymous owner. Ask your friend Elton for some guidance as we need a change and are ripe for a takeover!

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ITFCsince73 added 20:23 - Apr 14 Agree Whooly with all your points. Although imagine the revenue lost over past years because of the rubbish catering that is offered. I stopped using any club kiosk some years back. How is horrible warm beer worth that? They could do well on catering, but haven't.
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ITFCsince73 added 20:25 - Apr 14 In fact just poor service and offering.
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Saxonblue74 added 20:38 - Apr 14 I too agree Wooly, guess we've agreed on something 73?! As for the warm beer I blame Chambers, standard has gone way downhill since his captaincy!😂
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bingboast added 20:38 - Apr 14 All these so called loyal fans, they want ME out, I guess they are prepared to back their big talk with there own finance, so I have to assume that Marcus won't sell, because otherwise they would have bought the club. Or is it all just big talk !!! So to use their big talk, why dont you FOFFS & "support" some other club.
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Bluearmy_81 added 20:42 - Apr 14 Saxon blue, thanks for looking! Less than 3 days actually , get it right
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