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Evans on Relegation, New Arrivals and the Promotion Challenge
Wednesday, 7th Aug 2019 11:26

Town owner Marcus Evans has written a column for Saturday’s match programme, which the club has given TWTD permission to reproduce in full.

The Season Ahead

As we all look forward with excitement to this season, the team at Portman Road and at the training ground have been hard at work since the final whistle against Leeds in preparation for a year where quite rightly our goal is for a return to the Championship.

It’s been a difficult summer at the club with a re-organisation taking place to meet the financial repercussions of relegation; however these challenges have been met with professionalism right throughout the club.

I am pleased to say that the reorganisation is complete and we are now set to go with the structure required to support the team’s promotion push.

Last year’s relegation, as I am sure all fans realise, has had economic consequences for the club and the effects add considerable strain to our finances and bring to the fore decisions relating to balancing short-term and long-term investment decisions.

At the top of my list of long-term priorities has been, despite the considerable drop in revenues which is close on £9 million, a determination to maintain and in fact grow the club’s investment in the academy.

This runs to multi-millions every year and not just for one year. So I have looked to ensure that these funds remain available year on year going forwards and are not risked by overspend on other long-term contract commitments.

Cash Made Available to Improve Fans’ Matchday Experience at Portman Road

I also put cash aside for some much-needed investment at Portman Road to improve your matchday experience. There has been a substantial outlay on a new CCTV security system to increase supporter safety; plans are in place to improve the speed of service across all bars in the concourse area; we are looking at upgrading the PA system; the North Stand roof will be the first to get a clean up with the other stands to follow and even the ticket office has had a makeover!

Other improvements around the stadium are at the planning stage. These range from simple painting and decorating to much more substantial and long-term projects - and significant financial outlay.

The training ground also required a number of planned infrastructure improvements to meet the requirements of an elite Academy and first-team environment.

The Money Game

The cost of running a football club isn’t exactly a sexy subject for most fans. However it’s a fact of life for those of us in that position and who are looking to run a club on a secure and sustainable basis.

I have to make sure that we can meet our commitments not just this year but for the next two, three and four years with many contracts having long-term implications.

The hard facts are that a trickle of cash from the Premier League and the club’s normal revenues aren’t enough, on their own, to enable us to compete in this league let alone the Championship. Hence the need for my additional investment each year.


There is annually a big hole in our finances (and most non-Premier League clubs) which has to be plugged by me in order to support the wage policy and provide transfer funds. This year has been more difficult than when we were in the Championship with my annual support going mainly - despite player wage reductions due to relegation - to support the club’s core financial requirements.

One of the questions I am asked all the time is where does all the money go from our transfer sales? The short answer is back into the club and you would be surprised at how far a large amount of money DOESN’T go in the football world.

So when balancing the club’s budgets, I have many issues to consider. I have an amount of money I put into the club each year and I have been consistent with that support every season.

This results in a budget being available through the club’s own income plus my annual support which has to be spread across a number of areas including wages; stadium and training ground infrastructure; improved contracts to existing players; academy costs and transfer fees to name some of the bigger areas. There are plenty more.

In most seasons I have been able to organise the club’s finances so that with the benefit of my annual support we have been able to invest, to a certain extent, in the transfer market.

Income from transfer sales and sell-ons in that time have helped to boost the overall budget which has mainly gone into the squad by way of additional wages or transfer fees. When you sell a player though, or get a sell-on fee, that rarely comes in one hit. It is spread over two, three, sometimes four years.

This year, with relegation costing the club up to £9 million, any income from player sales/sell-ons has been swallowed up by the financial gap caused by the drop into League One.

That said we do have funds available for a further two or three new players the manager and I would like to secure before the end of the window, to bring that bit extra to the squad and I hope that those we are targeting can be secured on terms that work for Ipswich.

I also want to ensure that, going forwards, we have funds to strengthen in January if we see gaps or injuries appear in the first half of the season.

Every fan, including me, can see how money could be spent but I have the task of matching desire with reality and whatever the pressures I will never do anything to risk the club’s financial security.

As always, I can assure every supporter not a penny is coming out of the club into my pocket. It never has. It goes back into the club’s budget and yes, as I have already said, that does include funds for transfers and additional wages when we find the right players at prices we can live with.

A Healthy Mix of Players at Different Stages in Their Career

On the pitch our plan remains the same - to play attractive, winning football supported by a stable management team with a healthy squad mix of some young players, some highly experienced and some still developing but with a large number of appearances under their belt.

I feel, with the players we have added in the summer, as well as agreeing longer-term contracts with existing players - Freddie Sears being the latest - we now have an exciting mix of talent ready for the challenges ahead.

Most of the players coming back from injury will be ready to go in weeks, not months, which will further strengthen our options.

Last season was a difficult time for some of the 2018 additions to flourish but having had a year to settle in, this is the year they can really get going.

For the first team, this summer has been as much about keeping our best as bringing in new additions. We have worked hard to keep all of our key players and while every player has a price at which monies can be reinvested for the benefit of the squad overall, I have wanted to do everything I can to avoid making the same mistake as last year by letting key players go when I could not replace them.

In terms of strengthening, as well as bringing in James [Norwood] and Tomas [Holy] on permanent deals, we have added Luke Garbutt from Everton. He is in the last year of his contract and could be looking for a new club next year. So there is a long-term plan behind some of our loans.

That long-term plan also includes having the cover to allow some of our younger players to go out on loan and get valuable experience playing first-team football elsewhere. We have seen the benefits of that with Luke Woolfenden for instance, who played over 30 games for Swindon last season. He has returned to us far better for the experience and ready to compete for a place in our first-team.

Will Norris has also joined us on loan from Wolves, which has freed up Bart to go out on loan to the Championship. He remains an Ipswich player though and will return to Portman Road at the end of the season.

I am pleased that we have signed new contracts with Freddie and Myles Kenlock. Again, that is all about the long-term.

Looking at the squad from front to back. James Norwood is an exciting addition, Jordan Roberts has played up there, Kayden has looked good in pre-season and we are all excited to see what he can do with a run of games in front of him. Of course, we have Freddie to come back in and we are still on the look out for another additional striker.

The Midfield is Awash With Talent

In the middle of the park we have so many options, giving the manager an enviable task of picking who to start. We have a great mix of experience and developing players in that area and it’s great to see Alan [Judge] in the squad, despite approaches from elsewhere.

I fully understand why a move to QPR would have appealed to Alan for personal and professional reasons but I must point out that he has always been totally professional in the way that he dealt with a difficult, personal situation and I know that he will be giving everything to the team this season as always.

I am looking forward to seeing Luke [Woolfenden], after his year on loan, challenging Toto [Nsiala] and Chambo [Luke Chambers]. We have also added James Wilson on a short term contract to add competition in the middle of defence.

In goal we have a huge prospect in Tomas challenged by the highly-thought of Will so there is real competition in that department.

Judge the Manager on the Cards He Has Been Dealt

And one final point I want to make is that I hope everyone will judge the manager on the cards he has been dealt by me and not just on our expectations.

I know that expectations quite rightly are high and that due to Premier League parachute payments and big spenders in the Championship, we have gone from a team with a budget in the bottom 10 of the Championship to a team with a budget in the top 10 of League One.

However, please reflect on the fact that I have asked Paul, along with his coaching staff to accept the challenge of developing a team, not just for this year - which absent any player sales will be without the benefit of any significant transfer budget - but for the years ahead as well.

He will be giving our younger players a chance and they will need time and support along the way. This league has some big teams and experienced squads to pit against our developing talent. We are not the only club aiming for a top two position.

That said, be assured that everyone is working at full throttle to get the most out of the group and have a season we can be proud of.

Let’s have a great season and if your support is even half as good as last year (but let’s crank it up a notch) then you will be more than doing your part to push us over the line.


Photo: Action Images



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Saxonblue74 added 13:51 - Aug 7
A truthful, if overdue statement of facts on the harsh realities of running a modern day football club. The financial issues in the modern game are entirely self purpetuating. Many feel that in order to succeed multi millions must be spent on players and, in turn their wages. If this policy fails then so in turn does the entire football club. Regarding PL's transfer frustrations that is something we heard from MM many times, along with dozens of other managers at dozens of other clubs. Just to respond to a couple of other posts, Norwich fans do NOT love ME, he managed to negotiate the writing off of huge debt to Norwich Union when he bought our club. Robert Chase, hated by many Norwich fans back in the day but many of his very wise investment and business accumen came to fruition for them years down the line. Short memory? Not me!
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warwickblue added 13:53 - Aug 7
Thank you Mr Evans, That statement is what fans had been asking for; and few but the most seriously antagonistic will find anything in it with which to disagree. Thank you for your continued support of our club.
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martin587 added 13:58 - Aug 7
Well,I asked for an explanation last weekend after PH made comments about players coming in and today we got one from the owner.I accept his comments and the future plans as they make sense.I just hope he keeps to his promise in allowing Paul to get in the players he wants.I appreciate it's difficult getting players when we don't have the funds available but surely we are a big enough club to wet most players appetites.
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rabbit added 13:58 - Aug 7
Robert Chase was a very shrewd man, Delia Smith has earned many thousands lending to NCFC, the hatred shown to her when they went into the third tier was huge.
The demise of ITFC under the atrocious stewardship of the previous regime is unquestionable.
Memories, yes mine are long term also!!
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Jollyblue added 13:59 - Aug 7
MEs investment in the academy is paying off. Thats a key place where i want the money to go, not journeymen transfers.

Weve got a good and exciting squad at this level. Lets not get distracted, now is time for PL to show how good HE is.
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martin587 added 13:59 - Aug 7
Should be PL.🙉
0

Blocker123 added 14:00 - Aug 7
Happy 50TH birthday Paul Lambert!🎂🍰🎈🎉🎁
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jong75 added 14:00 - Aug 7
I would love to know why Mr Evans bought the club in the 1st place and what he has got out of owning it? All we hear about is the defecit. What value was placed on having his companies name on the front of the shirt for the first 7 or 8 years, does owning the club help him to offset tax from his empire? He is no fool being in the top 200 rich list in the uk. How do smaller clubs like, wigan, barnsley and norwich manage to balance their books and be competitive? Has Mr Evans ever shown any ambition that matches the fans? I think not.
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Naylorsboots added 14:01 - Aug 7
I can see people have been taken in by his spin yet again. He can preach all he likes about no money. Fact is he wouldnt have a 9 million deficit if he had invested better in the championship. We wouldnt be in this situation. I have no sympathy. But most will see all that garb through rose tinted glasses and sit there happy clapping for another season.
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oH_bluey added 14:02 - Aug 7
We also have until the end of August to get Prem/Champ deals in, whereas their deadline shuts tomorrow. Be patient people!
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Michael101 added 14:09 - Aug 7
At last Marcus opens his mouth,but would be have if Paul Lambert don't have his hissy fit(rightly in my view)???
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TractorRoyNo1 added 14:20 - Aug 7
You get what you pay for
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TractorRoyNo1 added 14:21 - Aug 7
But cheap, buy twice
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Surco72 added 14:27 - Aug 7
Evans ambition when he took over was Premier league football , we are currently further away from that then at any time in my 40 plus years of supporting under his control and in a far worse position than when he took over .
Honest he may be but a series of poor decisions and lack of investment at crucial times and we are where we are all under his control
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rugbytomc added 14:28 - Aug 7
Town fans will always be divided over Evans ownership of the club. We're all just human at the end of the day and all we can do is form our own opinions. I don't personally like it when people on here try to say "he IS taking money out of the club" or "he ISN'T taking money out of the club" because at the end of the day, we will never really know as why would he share his accounts with us? There's enough to suggest a successful and wealthy (on paper) businessman would not lose £100m into a football club but somehow increase his net worth by £35m - but again, we'll never know.

So treat this as it is, a PR piece - he quotes the £9m cost of relegation, that is not the cost to Ipswich just an estimated cost of any team going down due to basic revenue differences. He also asks more of us to support the team - through attendance, vocally at games, shirt sales, food etc. Nothing has changed though, we knew Lambert wasn't getting given any money to spend, he still isn't, so as you were, good luck to Lambert and the boys, let's hope we get luckier with injuries, lets hope we get promoted, then maybe next year we can spend some money because we should have an extra £9m of revenue and would also be going up with a smaller squad and lower wage bill than we came down with - plus some of these longer term payments we'll be receiving from sell on clauses
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midastouch added 14:36 - Aug 7
@ Rabbit the previous regime (Sheepshanks and Burley) gave us far more happiness and entertainment (winning at Liverpool away, beating Inter at home (playing against the likes of Ronaldo and Vieri away in Italy!, winning at Wembley, nearly qualifying for the Champions League), yes they made costly mistakes with Finidi George the subsequent season in the Premier League and the loss of ITV football money was almost the nail in the coffin (which had been budgeted for). But boy did the boys in Blue entertain us for a long while under Burley. Yes it didn't end well but there were plenty of good times (the good outweighed the bad - compare what we had then to what we have now) this website used to be called Those Were The Days and since Bobby Robson those really were the days. Been none since under Marcus. There might of been another chance to have a season in the sun had Evans given McCarthy some money in the Jan transfer window when we were making the promotion push but again he failed to back his man. If you can't back his man when the Premier League is in sight when will he ever?
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Blue041273 added 14:49 - Aug 7
Any business which purports to be a well run business operates under a predefined budget. ME has explained that the club's budget requires a contribution from him to maintain the sustainability of the club. Only a deluded minority would surely dispute the veracity of this statement. There are those who feel that he should top up his contribution so that some new players can be acquired. The question is - Why should he? Why should he be the cash cow, routinely chucking good money after bad in pursuit of the improbable dream?
There are FFP rules to follow as well as corporate and financial law. Midas has provided information on the Salary Management Protocol and suggests that there is some wiggle room available under the guidelines to allow ME to up his contribution. Again why should he? The operating budget has been set and the club needs to work with it. The club's financial statements do not present a rosy picture of the financial health of the club. Without the support of the ME Group we would be dead meat. ME can't demand repayment of his contributions/loans because there is no money. He can only cut his losses by selling the club and in our situation we would not represent a good business opportunity. He could stop the funding which would very quickly result in administration and ultimately liquidation. In so doing ME even as a preferred creditor would get precious little of his money back!
So the bottom line is we are stuck with him and he is stuck with us and we just need to get along like it or not!
2

rabbit added 14:59 - Aug 7
Midastouch, yes you are quite right about the excitement of those days, and yes we did all wonder where the money was coming from but didn't question it because it was such fun.
The Wembley play off final, the thrilling first season in the Prem undeniably brilliant memories, thank heavens though there was someone out there to pick up the pieces of that financial disaster.
Am I pleased we are now third tier?
Not one bit but I still have my team to support and we can only hope that at some stage we become self sustainable again as have the likes of NCFC and Sheff Utd but I am afraid there is a long hard road of financial prudence ahead for that to happen.
1

nhabo added 15:02 - Aug 7
I argued financial prudence in previous comments on the sell-on fee news stories and got jumped on for it. Now those same people are hearing it straight from Evans himself perhaps they'll accept that aiming for a sustainable financial model is the only way to run a football club outside the Premiership.
4

whosroundisitanyway added 15:11 - Aug 7
All the Evans haters, and I'm not a lover, BUT!
ALTERNATIVES???????????????
0

midastouch added 15:17 - Aug 7
@ whosroundisitanyway
Bill Gates.
Gates would go up to 30k every week under him and we could do a system restore and get Burley back! :-)
0

itfcasual added 15:22 - Aug 7
The bloke who has put close on £100M of his own money into the club deserves our gratitude and respect.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Sure mistakes have been made but I like the fact that he is prioritising the academy.

I want to see local lads making something of themselves playing for Ipswich and pulling on a shirt that means something to them. Over the years we've had too many players who are only here for the paycheck. They were never loyal, even if some them were quite good!

From my reading of things PL and ME are communicating well. PL understands the financial constraints. We might not like it, but we should too.
0

cat added 15:35 - Aug 7
The fact of the matter is he has failed in the 10 plus years he's been here. Tragic for him as he's the big loser in all this. It's laughable though that some on here want to spend his hard earned money for him, who have no right or any idea what it takes to run a football club. Unless you can be pro-active in getting him removed, which i simple cannot be arsed or have the time to do, then I suggest (like me) you cling onto the one positive that we are being financially managed.
1

Hiltzkooler added 15:46 - Aug 7
To all the Evans haters... how do you explain the millions the man (or his business) put in each year to keep our club in existence..you have a club to support because of this man..he has made mistakes, he has said so..we all know so...(some out of hindsight) ...but without his millions there would be no club...I simply do not get why your Ill informed diatribe gets air time... yes Evans has faults as an owner, and yes in some circumstances the buck does stop with him, but vilifying the man ...?...he spends millions every year to keepITFC a going concern.. I suppose it is very easy to spend someone else's money..
4

PortmanTerrorist added 15:47 - Aug 7
PR, spin, whatever. Things are just the same, but 2 points:-

1. we should now have access to opportunities re Chamionship players at better value given their Widow closing tomorrow and ours staying open

2. Heaven forbid we get promoted this year, ME has created a rod for his own back as all these negatives will be reversed and would surely then have money to spend....right ? Don't hold your breath.
1


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