Town boss Paul Lambert says getting the fans coming back to Portman Road has given him the greatest satisfaction during his first year in charge, while he says the club’s Playford Road training ground was “horrendous” 12 months ago and has undergone significant work since then. Lambert was speaking, along with members of his staff and general manager of football operations Lee O’Neill, at the annual Meet the Club event at the Supporters Club’s AGM.

Lambert and O’Neill were joined by assistant manager Stuart Taylor and fitness coach Jim Henry, while members of the club’s off-field staff also took questions from the floor. PLC director Peter Over chaired.

The Blues boss, who celebrated one year in charge on Sunday, was warmly welcomed by fans, many thanking him for reconnecting the club and its fans over the last year.

Lambert said that is what has given him greatest satisfaction since taking over at Portman Road.

“I think the fans coming back, I think that’s the biggest thing,” he reflected. “I said before, there’s no game without the supporters.

“The fans now are starting to come back. It’s terrible saying this, but I actually felt sorry for the club the way it was dipping and dipping, it’s too big a club to go the way it was, [the fans] have to be behind it.

“It was too big to let that go, the disconnection was too much. I felt ‘Dear oh dear, this can’t go on’. So that coming back, the support coming back.

“It’s not just the numbers, what’s happening in the stadium is fantastic, good, bad or indifferent the atmosphere’s there. The fans going to away games, for me that’s been the biggest turnaround for me.”

Asked what other changes have been made that fans might not be aware of, he spoke at length about the state of Playford Road when he took over.

“The training ground was horrendous, it really was,” he said. “I keep going back to it, for the size of the club it should never, ever have happened. I’d never seen anything like it for the size of the club. I could understand if it was a small club and that was the foundation of it.

“What was wrong with it? Everything. Honestly. I thought it was terrible, I really did. There wasn’t a recovery place for the lads to go after games. There was no blue basically, there wasn’t enough blue, there weren’t any badges to indicate where you were.

“So many things that were wrong. The structure there wasn’t right. The security of the fencing, people could just come off the street on to that area and play football or play whatever they wanted to play.

“The whole thing was wrong. I remember a chat with [owner] Marcus [Evans] about it and to be fair to him he’s been brilliant with it. I think everybody recognises that the training ground was nowhere to the level that the football club deserved.

“I think it was tired. Everything was wrong. The whole bloody thing was a mess. And that’s been a lot of work.

“It wasn’t just building a football team, you were actually building a football club again to try and give it some sort of uplift.”

Lambert was even unhappy with the signage at the gates: “The first thing you should see flashing right in your face is ‘Ipswich Town Football Club’ or ‘Welcome to Ipswich Town Football Club’. It was a bomb site, the whole thing. Even the entrance to Bent Lane, that gate, it’s horrendous.”

Fitness coach Henry continued: “There has been a significant amount investment into the football club in the last year. The recovery suite alone is certainly worth about £90,000.

“And anything we’ve asked for so far we’ve got regarding that. We’ve got a GPS system which is basically a Premier League set-up, Lee put that in place at the start of last season and we’ve continued to use it, heartbeat monitors. There’s been a huge investment.

“Even the manager’s area that we work in daily, Marcus has spent a lot of money in the last year getting it up to scratch and we’re definitely getting there.

“For the players, recovery suite is very important, basically before they didn’t have anywhere to go, they had no spa facility, that’s all in place, that makes a massive difference.”

Lambert added: “Everything was really, really tired and it came to the stage when I thought it was never-ending. We used to have meetings every morning where we said we need to get that sorted and that sorted because a football club has to have an infrastructure and if the team wasn’t performing it was falling from a great height.

“If there’s an infrastructure it only falls a little bit and bounces back. Now we’re starting to get that. We’ve still got, bloody hell, a helluva long way to go but it’s definitely a better environment than it was 12 months ago.”

You can find notes on the rest of the question and answers at the event on the TWTD Forum, here.

Earlier in the even, at the Supporters Club AGM part of the evening, Mark Ramsay was reappointed chairperson, Martin Swallow vice-chair, Mandy Garner events co-ordinator and Trish Clarke secretary, while Sandra Cuningham, Max Helm from Blue Action, Nathan Parris and Irene Davey were voted on to the committee and Steve Doe remains treasurer.

Photo: TWTD

rfretwell added 21:29 - Oct 31 This is where having an experienced manager with high level playing experience like PL really benefits the club.. But why had the facilities got into such a poor state before he came in? PH wasn't there long enough to be the culprit. So it must be down to MM. Maybe he just gave up trying to secure sufficient investment in the club by ME. Whatever, well done Paul and thanks ME for backing him to date.

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Suffolkboy added 21:58 - Oct 31 When PJ was Manager ( if you can so describe his awful motley as thus engaged ) ,and having known the training grounds really quite well , and so being ‘ proud ‘ to introduce my son and a friend to the site, we were actually ejected by Jewell' s henchman ,at his express instruction !The signage even then was not up to standard but did say ‘welcome to ITFC ‘ ( seemed a mis- nomer ) . It was our distinct view so many years ago that detailed and proper oversight and knowledge of the organisation, it's structure and the assets was sorely tested . I do not think McCarthy can be ascribed blame at all : our so called ‘Managing Directors ‘ have been distant , not up to scratch and sorely sorely lacking , either in ability ,enthusiasm for the task ,or may have been lacking in talent or drive . It seems obvious PL has got ME thoroughly invested and motivated : WELL done ! BUT remember , even if not the man for the task , a our previous Manager did say that there was a great deal around ITFC which needed vast improvement !In that respect I suspect many gave the remark little credence ; but he was correct ! Respect for PL and Co increases all the while , I hope he's with us for the duration and leaves the sort of legacy of which he speaks ! COYB

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cooper4england added 08:36 - Nov 1 Reason for the "misfortune" with injuries?
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BlueHarmony added 09:07 - Nov 1 Totally agree copper4england. It just has to be a factor for muscle injuries
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Blue_Moses added 09:08 - Nov 1 Cooper4england - Thought exactly the same thing.
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ArnieM added 09:18 - Nov 1 So my question is, if Paul Lambert has been able to have meaningful communications with Evans to get these things done at the training ground in less than a year, just wtf was that prima dona, McCarthy actually doing for nearly 6 years at this Club??? Taking an easy £1m a year in wages, taking the easy way out on a daily basis if you ask me . The c***t. Well done PL. This man truly does “ Get it”, and long may he remain here. We'd be sunk without him !

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haynes_toe1 added 09:58 - Nov 1 How is it McCarthy's fault that our owner couldn't walk down to the training facilities and notice that things don't look right?
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ArnieM added 10:17 - Nov 1 Haynes: are you just dim? McCarthy was the manager. How is it HE didn't see what was all around him and question it ( just as Lambert has done after less than a year in the job). Evans isn't in the UK half the time, and ITFC is just one of his many companies, (Just in case you weren't aware). He relies on the man on the ground to keep him up to speed ( as in any company). You seem incredibly dim. But more to the point , what's YOUR Beef with me ? Tis is not the first time you have targeted my posts. If I didn't know better Id say you are known by another name on another forum as you appear to be targeting me on this forum. Get over yourself.... ps I see you didn't have the balls to answer my pm to you . You utter inept tool.

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Beattiesballbag added 12:55 - Nov 1 Suffolkboy...as ArnieM says, if PL can get Evans to improve things as soon as he gets here shows that it is down to the manager ie MM not making or showing enough effort or interest in all the years he was here, As when Sir Bobby was here he would oversee every thing & the Cobbolds to their credit trusted him to get on with it all.......nobody critisised them for not being hands on...........A golfer who has no interest in football once said to me how does that MM run ITFC when he's always up Rushmere playing Golf.......If true that would suggest he did what he had to & no more !

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ArnieM added 13:07 - Nov 1 Beattiesballbag. Thank you, you explained it better than me. McCarthy was for the easy life here I think. Interestingly it mirrors Didsy's comments about Town when he compared the approach between us and Sheffield Utd. I think this explains a helluva a lot about why we got Only so far under McCarthy. I wish we had been able to get Lambert from Col Utd and not that lot up the road, because I'll put money 9n it, Town would be a PL Club now!

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MaySixth added 13:08 - Nov 1 ArnieM - McCarthy wasn't arsed.He should have seen it but I don't think he cared. He was more interested in his salary and Marcus Evans was very happy that Mick McCarthy was making him a big profit on transfers, Have to question what Clegg, Milne and co were doing in the MD role - clearly puppets for Evans.
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Foreverdon_Blue added 14:01 - Nov 1 One of the most important strengths of a manager in any industry is to have good communication skills. PL obviously has this in abundance and it has been brilliant the way he has discussed his requirements with ME and got the investment in place which was sorely needed. McCarthy, I'm afraid was so far up his own backside that he always thought that ITFC was a small club and never gave the club the respect it deserves. Regardless, whether we go up this season or not, the club is in much better state now than it was only 12 months ago.

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SickParrot added 18:30 - Nov 1 MM is a dinosaur. He has no interest in sports science or anything that has changed in football since he was playing. He is completely out of his depth in the modern game.
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ITFCsince73 added 19:40 - Nov 1 Agree arnie. I think MM was to far stuck up his own arse, to have even bothered what Playford Road was like. Since the day Evans came into the club, he's required advice from someone with a vast superior knowledge. It's only these last 12 months, he's had that. Although it would appear even PH thought MM was running a circus, not a professional training facility.
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Epiphone added 23:44 - Nov 1 Yet more evidence of Big Mick's shoulder shrugging "that'll do" attitude!
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budgieplucker added 09:45 - Nov 2 It's easy to knock MM, and the last year of his tenure was something this club should not have gone through and the whole management team has to be responsible for that. I was grateful for what Mick did for the club in his first couple of years, he brought a togetherness back in the playing staff and it shouldn't be forgotten the real damage done by his two predecessors. MM has never adapted to the modern game and is synonymous with guerilla style football, that's his forte - the whole bust up with Keane typifies this and the facilities the Irish training camp had in those days were sub standard. MM can do a job to stop the rot but facelifts are just not part of his reportoire

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BlueandTruesince82 added 13:08 - Nov 2 One wonders is Mick took the view that it simply wasn't his job? Mick was the playing side of things, that's where he saw his role and TBF that in itself was probably a fair amount to handle given the structure that was in place (no DOF or similar etc) so whilst ME maybe did the negotiating it was all off MMs advice and input, Identifying players, tactically, contract reccomendions etc I think it's fair to say Mick's role was greater than that of just manager and I reckon he saw Stadler and Waldorf sat in the boardroom doing F all and thought I've got enough on my plate. Now that's not to excuse the failing, Mick always claimed he and Marcus had a great relationship so it can't have been to much of an imposition to say the training ground is a mess and we have to do something, so I think there is blame there and all the way up the chain. At least Hurst set the wheels of change in motion, pushed for tech, pushed for modern thinking and approaches, that's about the best than can be said but it no doubt helped Lambos case when he came in and said many of the same things. When you consider it that way it's a real comment of the malaise that set in under Mick.... That's said had he ever had anywhere near the money Hurst was given he might of been shaken out of it. Turns out all those signings talking about "the facilities" and "premier League set up" we're literally just going to page 1 of the big book of clichéd comments for new signings and spouting soundbite 101 rhetoric, "everything is in pace for it to be a PL club", "you can see it's a big club", "all the infastructure is here" etc all nonsense. True 15 years ago but the club hadn't moved on. There is no doubt in my mind this had had a huge impact, on injuries as other have said but also on mentality, it showed lower league attitude which must have rubbed off on the players and perhaps explains why many mooted signings never materialised, it's wasn't just about cash but the environment they would be comming into which seems to say nobody really cares. If you have L1 mentality don't be surprised to end up a L1 club. I think Marcus always has cared but prioritised 1st team over everything when sometimes there is real value in diverting cost elsewhere (and not just towards turnstiles) and thankfully in PL we have a manager who identified just that and didn't shy away from pointing it out to the owner where others have just not done so. We need to be challenged, even as head honcho, questioning things is never bad, challenging thinking is never bad, we often need someone to open our eyes to something that may be clear as day for others and whatever happens now PL will be remembered as the man that laid the groundwork do refurbing this fixer upper of a club.

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Edmundo added 13:54 - Nov 2 The Men Who Remade The Town. Coming to book stores near you in a few years?
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