Blues boss Paul Lambert says Marcus Evans is a “very good” club owner but admits he doesn’t always agree with him and says the pair have “running battles”.

Asked at last night’s PLC AGM whether Evans was going to back him with cash for experienced signings in January, Lambert said: “The last conversation I had with Marcus was him saying to never really protect him. And I agree with him, I won’t protect him in a lot of stuff, I did it once and it never did me any favours.

“There two sides to look at him, I think. If he wasn’t as good as what he was then your club could be the same as Bury, it could be in real trouble. He keeps everything afloat. We work within the parameters of what he says.

“Do I agree with him all the time? No, I don’t. I don’t agree with him all the time. I’ll probably want things that he doesn’t want and vice versa, it’s give or take with him.

“But as an owner he’s very good because he looks after the club where you look at the way some football clubs are run now, it’s a precarious business that the owners are in.

“Unless there are so many investors, five or six of them, then that’s not a problem, but you’ve got one investor here.

“I heard the debt earlier, £90-odd million. Jesus! That’s incredible, absolutely incredible. You look at that side of it, there are good bits to him.

“But definitely, the other side of it, we have a running battle, [general manager of football operations] Lee [O’Neill] will tell you, we have running battles. And probably the best man wins and [the other one] succumbs to it.

“We can’t go and buy loads of players, it’s impossible, that isn’t going to happen, spending millions isn’t going to happen, that’s me being realistic.

“We have to try and battle against a lot of things to try and get ones in that we think can help us, whether that’s experience, young guys who have played 100 games, that’s experience.

“So, if we can’t go out and do it, no doubt me and Marcus will probably have a little nibble at each other!”

O’Neill added: “It’s also important to point out that we’ve got a big squad. We’ve got players returning from injury, players that we’ve had at the football club that have done very well.

“Both Freddie [Sears] and Teddy [Bishop] are coming back from long-term injuries, that’s two more players to add to the existing squad.

“I think there’s really healthy competition, so if we are looking at any players out there, they have to be fundamentally better than what we’ve got or not stopping the opportunity for one of the younger players coming through.

“It’s an ongoing conversation, they don’t just stop and happen in the transfer window in the summer and in the winter, they’re ongoing conversations that myself, Paul and Marcus have all the time about the squad and areas we can make improvements on. Whether that be financial or development, we have to look at it all the time.”

O’Neill says Evans has shown willingness to loosen the purse strings when signings have been required.

“I’d just like to say that 12 months ago we were talking about how much more involved Marcus was going to be involved in the day to day operations of the football club,” he added.

“Myself and Mark Andrews, head of finance, have lots of meetings with Marcus and we have got that long-term strategy and plan and vision in place, along with the manager’s thoughts on how we’re going to play.

“Like we’ve talked about, it is one of our key initiatives to bring younger players through the football club.

"“We’re not going to be in a position where we’re going to have an open chequebook in the transfer windows to go and buy significant players.

“But if you look at the last window where, for example, we didn’t have a successful right-back in the building that we feel can do the job the manager required, Marcus was willing to invest into that area [by signing Kane Vincent-Young from Colchester for £500,000] and we looked at the strategy going forward.

“I think it will be looking out there, with the recruitment strategy, we wouldn’t invest in those areas if we weren’t looking.

“We have to go out there and try and find the right blend of players that can fit both the way the manager wants to play, the age profile and the position profile.

“And if we can do that, and if we can find them at the right price, then I’m sure that’s a situation Marcus will look at.

“But one of our fundamental strategies though is to try and encourage the development of the younger players from within the club.”

You can find notes from the question and answer session on the TWTD Forum here.

Photo: TWTD

Gcon added 10:24 - Dec 18 BlueArmy81. Astonishing that you get marked down, and a bit part of the problem. Clearly many are satisfied with League 2 football. I'm not.
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dirtydingusmagee added 10:50 - Dec 18 Blues1 ,you are right , good result = no Ba81, poor result = Ba81 going into one about Evans & ''you lot'', in the end Evans need only care about the paying supporters as far as fans are concerned, he owes nothing to those who dont contribute anything , .....Bluearmy81, living in or near Liverpool, im not convinced you get to go to many, if any matches, thus contribute little if anything, but you feel free /compelled to serve up all your anti Evans moans at every opportunity. AND everyone is chomping at the bit waiting for you to come up with the solution , in your own time,we realise you are very busy scrutinising M E,s accounts and working out your own financial masterplan . EVERYONE ,even ''us lot'' who are ''Simple want ITFC to do well ,but realistically ,we are a small fish in a huge lake .,

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JewellintheTown added 11:12 - Dec 18 OK, we've blamed Sky, the FA, our owners, our managers, our physios, backroom staff, scouts and even the catering team. They're all at fault for our current woes, aren't they? Some seem to forget that there are 11 highly paid "players" on the field at one time and an army of backups on the sidelines that might have something to do with our woes too. Some get paid more in a week than some of us get paid in a year. They're professionals, its their job, their only job and its about time we held them accountable for it. Doesn't matter who picks them when we all think better, plays them out of what we feel is their position, doesn't get them back to training from injury as quick as we'd like or doesn't spend big money on the best players we think will win us the title. Those 11 on the field are all that counts. They know their job, they know how to play the position they've been put into, they know only they matter on the field that day. Those players and subs are the shop floor staff. They are the winners or losers, they are the ones that hold the keys to success or failure. They are ultimately accountable. They are not "kids", "doing their best", doing us a favour, someone to sympathise or feel sorry for or leave out of blame or praise. They get paid to do this and they are ultimately the ones who bring happiness or sadness to us. We have choices. We can ignore them, slate them, blame them, or boo them. Or, we can praise them, cheer them, clap them, make noise for them and realise they're only human, no matter how much they get paid from our pockets. Doesn't matter who is at blame now, what matters is player performance right now and the rest of the season, so even if you hate or hold a grudge to any of the above, the fact still remains, they and us fans working together is the only way we're going to get out of this nightmare. Turning the minds and hearts of the players is the only thing that matters, and we do that through our positive support. We're in a decent position and there's plenty of games left to turn this back around. Don't turn into the "told you so" blame brigade as "being right" means this hasn't ended well. We all don't want that, no matter how smug some of you might feel.

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ITFCsince73 added 11:21 - Dec 18 Interesting to see Scunthorpe and current form. Played 5, won 5. Especially after everyone and there dog called for Paul Hurst be sacked in October. I wont be surprised to see promotion for scunthorpe this season. Paul Hurst needed time and got that time to get his ideas across. Expect to see Scunthorpe in the divisions top 3 soon.
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ITFCsince73 added 11:36 - Dec 18 Jewellinthetown. Agree. But your saying there is a catering team?? I only ever see a few kids tripping over each other with the pre programmed, sorry we've run out phrase. Your actually saying there is someone higher up organising the chaos we see at every home game....makes you wonder how the rest of the club is run. When the powers that be, don't give a monkey's about the paying customer and his overall matchday experience.

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martin587 added 11:48 - Dec 18 Whatever you think of Mr.Evans he has kept this club afloat.As many have said IF he were to walk away our club could well disappear. He runs this club like a business and although we all wish he would invest more into the playing staff we should be grateful for what we have.I think the squad we have is good enough to get promotion.The test will then come if the owner has the desire to improve the playing staff and move on.Patience is needed at this time and remember we are a very big scalp for small clubs.

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Northstandveteran added 11:52 - Dec 18 Great post Ipswicbusiness. I have previously posted pretty much the same regarding the appointments of managers under Evans ownership. Always thought, at the time, they were the right men for the job. But, as in life, things don't always go to plan. And let's remember, Evans threw a hell of a lot of money at the team in his early days. And congratulations Bluearmy81 for sticking to you're beliefs. Certainly makes for a more entertaining read.

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Bluearmy_81 added 13:08 - Dec 18 Dirty, I have followed town for around 30 years (first game 87.) I have been to around 50 away grounds with Town including in Europe. When I go I sing as loud as anyone. So don't tell me I don't contribute. We may be a small club relatively but to just accept our lot and never have aspirations of being a great side once again, one day is shocking apathy.
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itfckenty added 13:16 - Dec 18 I couldn't agree more with Blue, I think more people are focused on Evans "Saving us" when in reality he isn't, were dropping like a fly.. if we get promoted this year - IF, then we will more than likely be floating near the bottom or get relegate again, unfortunately our card is marked and it's a matter of time before we are in league 2. I knew from day 1 that he wasn't right for the club, my old man used to be a coach at Ipswich and he said as soon as he started cutting back on the Academy it would be the death of us. hopefully I'm wrong!

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Dozzells_Bobblehat added 13:53 - Dec 18 Bluearmy get back in your hole . As you can see from the marks most people disagree with you , and for about the tenth time ,please stop saying I love ME . I don't ,and I suspect lots of others don't , we just think you are totally over the top and blame him for everything and turn every news thread into a rant .
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ITFCsince73 added 14:06 - Dec 18 I think the minus Mark's for 81 are more to do with the passion and frustration he shows getting points across. I think the majority agree with his views. When they find a moment to get their fingers out there ears, and head out the sand, that is.
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Jollyblue added 14:28 - Dec 18 Anyone else on here agree that we have some pretty good players, a pretty strong squad, strikers who have scored lots of goals for other clubs, some good players coming back, lots of emerging quality youngsters, a couple of decent loan signings and not too bad a league position. I hope so. FWIW I don't agree about lots of spending in January. Let's do even better with what we've got. The best managers would know how to do that.

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dirtydingusmagee added 14:33 - Dec 18 Ba81 apologies if you do go to those matches, however you are wrong in thinking ''us lot'' have no aspirations. Everyone wants to see the club do well, and whatever you think of the owner until there is a buyer with the wedge you dream of we must accept that we are no longer the ''big'' club we were years ago, dipping into the Dutch pool of players, and the likes. We are the same as many clubs on the streets cap in hand .When Evans bought the club , he was obviously the best option at the time, best of a poor bunch if you like, Nobody seems to be interested in relieving him of his commitments . As has been said many times , on paper /theory we have a decent squad, we need them to perform,and Paul Lambert to see that is done. Teams with less money, and arguably less talented players are giving us problems and will be leaving us in there wake, the greatest need for improvement at present is from those on the pitch.

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BeattiesBackPocket added 14:51 - Dec 18 Sad reading indeed however much he has saved us it still doesn't mean fans cannot criticise what Evans has done. Fans are ok getting on a managers back and letting him know it's not good enough because he's responsible for the team so why shouldn't fans let the owner know as he's ultimately responsible for the whole club not just the state of the first team so to say people can't air their views on the man ‘unless you have a suggestion' is ridiculous. He's backed the manager so far this season to a point but a million for a couple of one quality signing in January could make all the difference to going up. That million is short change if as he reported were losing 9 million by being in league one this season compared to being in the championship!? Common sense yeah you can't throw millions at teams it doesn't always work look at derby but he's made us competitive this season and we need to get back to the championship then we'll see what happens. Again we don't have to spend millions but the wage budget needs to be bigger than last time 18th out of 24 teams is why we finished where we did. Saying we need more strikers is a waste Norwood and Jackson aren't the problem and with sears coming back it's like a new signing what we need is creativity in the middle that's what we lack that magilton type player as the strikers are starved for the most part

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Bert added 14:55 - Dec 18 I didn't think it would be long before the knockers get going again. Evans and Lambert are not perfect but the latter in particular has turned our club round from what it was under the last four managers. Yes, we are not convincing even when we win but this squad is more than capable of promotion. League One is physical and we have not yet found a way to deal with it but for goodness sake it is work in progress from a very low base. Get Norwood firing, Sears back, Keane in form and Jackson working his socks off we will score goals. I'm not satisfied with League One football and the players need to up their game but blaming Evans or Lambert obscures the reality of what has been achieved in a year. Balance please.

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Walk_the_Wark added 16:16 - Dec 18 Start by getting some it our cr@p players off the wage bill. There's plenty of 5hem
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