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Five Point Protest Aims to Focus Frustrations
Tuesday, 10th Mar 2020 09:43

Supporters on Twitter will have seen tweets from a new fans' group called The Five Point Protest in recent days, organiser Mark Beck told TWTD what it’s all about.

The Marcus Evans tenure as Ipswich Town owner started with much expectation and promise, saving the club from the brink of administration, the injection of initial investment and the high profile appointment of manager Roy Keane brought a sense of optimism to Portman Road.

Sadly, apart from one brief season as promotion contenders, the bubble burst seemingly very quickly. A catalogue of failures both on and off the field saw our club stagnate whilst those around us improved and progressed.

The same reoccurring failures has left the club slumped in its lowest position since the 1950s. The Ipswich fanbase has been very tolerant of this plight, although with underlying frustrations throughout, but we cannot accept this situation we are facing any longer. Together, as a united fanbase, we need to offer some resistance and challenge to those responsible for running our great football club.

This is the birth of The Five Point Protest. A name derived in retaliation to our owner's former Five Point Plan launched in January 2017 during the Mick McCarthy era. A plan which seemingly feels like what we have now become accustomed to, a PR stunt aimed to appease our frustrations.

The aim of The Five Point Protest is to focus our frustrations as a fanbase and demand answers from those at the very top overseeing our sleepwalk into the unknown. There are a wide range of views and opinions as to where we feel our football club has faltered in recent years but we, as fans, should not be the ones asking these questions.

Ultimately, this is the responsibility of the owner of our football club and the many people who represent him. We have broken down some of the key frustrations to formulate the five points of our protest: Mentality, Ambition, Investment and Sustainability, Transfer Policy and Transparency.


We appreciate that this doesn't cover every frustration that we feel as a fanbase but the key thing to note is that the vast majority are frustrated, angry and heartbroken at the club's fall from grace. We are not expecting a return to the glory days of the late 70s and 80s. We are expecting a football club that we can be proud of, one that is run correctly with the best interests of its fans both present and future at heart.

We would like to point out that this is NOT a ‘Marcus Evans Out' protest. Most of us will be grateful for the club being saved by the intervention of Marcus Evans over a decade ago. Asking for our owner to leave without a buyer in hand leaves the club in considerable danger and simply isn't realistic at this time. However, as fans and paying customers we have every right to question when we feel that the club is heading in the wrong direction.

We have the right to challenge his commitment to our football club. I feel this is an important step that we need to take as a fanbase, one many clubs could learn from, in not feeling afraid to challenge our ownership in times of consistent and reoccurring failure. It is a common theme in countries on the continent and across the world, albeit different footballing cultures, but something we can take inspiration from.

A number of people have mentioned the absence of the current manager and his playing staff within our protest. Any action that we choose to take going forward will strive to have minimal impact on any match proceedings. We accept that the on-field staff, the past two seasons in particular, are a huge frustration and have contributed heavily to the failings of this football club.

At time of writing, the managerial position is very much hanging in the balance so we do not feel that it is appropriate to base a protest purely on this issue. Moreover, I feel that it is important to target the frustrations at those responsible for selecting, questioning and managing our current manager and his staff. Ultimately, the failings we have seen in previous managerial reigns are still plaguing our current manager and will continue to hamper managers in the future.

As a protest movement, we aim to respect and hear the views of all supporters regarding the issues we have pointed out as well as hear frustrations we may have missed. This is our football club and to launch a successful and constructive protest we must gather the most accurate viewpoint from our fanbase.

I ask all supporters to view this movement, whether on the TWTD site, social media or YouTube with an open mind. I appreciate and understand that this kind of movement won't be to everyone's taste and I cannot guarantee that our protest will work. However, we will strive to provide a well constructed and significant protest which aims to include as many fans as possible. We are aiming to deliver a protest, either static or a march, before one of our final home games this season.

The end goal for the protest would be to have an interview with Mr Evans in a neutral environment, answering questions from us as fans. I cannot promise or guarantee that we will get anywhere close to this and I have to admit that this protest movement will take time, patience and dedication in order for this to grow effectively. I am not prepared to make any promises at this date.

This fanbase has suffered far too many instances of overpromising and under-delivering in recent times. However, I and many others will work hard alongside our normal working lives to try and deliver a protest with the best intentions of bringing about positive change.

For those who don't know me. I am just a 25-year-old man who adores this football club and can't sit by any longer without trying to provoke some change by challenging those responsible for running our club.

I have featured heavily on the YouTube channel Ipswich Fanzone, who have been fundamental in the early stages of this campaign. Once again, I ask you to view this protest with an open mind and judge it on your own principles and feelings towards the football club that we love. I cannot do this without you.

I would like to thank all those who have registered their support to The Five Point Protest in its infancy. I would also like to thank TWTD and the other media platforms for sharing and for giving us the opportunity to further explain our protest. We will continue to provide updates to TWTD regarding any updates and progress. If you would like to join our mailing list then please email IpswichFanzone@gmail.com.

We are holding our Open Forum on Thursday 12th March at 7.30pm at Wiff Waff on the Ipswich Quayside. This is an open event for anyone interested, concerned or has any questions regarding The Five Point Protest. Anyone interested but unable to attend need not worry, an update will be provided to all issues raised.

In the meantime, for any updates or queries you can contact The Five Point Protest via email at IpswichFanzone@gmail.com or our dedicated Twitter account @FPP_ITFC.


Photos: TWTD/Contributed



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Wooly74 added 20:21 - Mar 10
Opinions are like ar*eholes, everyone has one.

The fact that I don't agree with this is my opinion and one formed over 42 years of watching my equally beloved club. Protesting against the owner will get us absolutely no where, will show division when we least need it. It's not our historic way and I doubt an otherwise very successful business man will even give this lot the time of day (I know I wouldn't and I've been in business for many years and equally happen to be successful in my chosen field). I too have witnessed some of the behaviour at away games and I'm as embarrassed as I have been for all of those 42 years of following all over the place.

This season is over, those teams that will continue to visit PR for the rest of the season with players who are at a level to perform well in this league and might be coming to the end of their contracts are hardly going to be interested in a move to a toxic environment of a club who are protesting against the higher echelons who continue to pump money into the club just to keep it from going into administration. Still, I suppose they will look for their five minutes of local fame whilst the budgies yo the road laugh at how disjointed we have become. I'll look forward to the friends and keyboard warriors who are no doubt glued to updates on this thread marking it down. I hope there's not too many before I turn in tonight otherwise how will one cope and manage to sleep.

Very little of interest to see here and I doubt there will be at any remaining home game if the attempt before the Oxford home match was anything to go by.

Still, if it makes you happy 😂😂😂
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DifferentGravy added 20:50 - Mar 10
Seen this chap before and admire the fact he is trying to something.

However, Evan is in the driving seat and any 'dialogue' is simply going to end up in words of appeasement that leads to little or no change. I completely understand that there isnt a prospective buyer in the offering at this moment in time.....but the only message that Evans will finally act upon is to hit him where it hurts.....in his pocket. If fans boycott games, he will have absolutely no choice to change his approach or sell up.

Unfortunately its simply not the time for looking for a new investor. The scare mongering of Corona virus will inevitably deter anyone from potentially purchasing a football club.

Whilst a serious issue and of concern to infirm and elderly......bulk buying.....honestly....utterly ridiculous
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monkeymagic added 20:53 - Mar 10
I applaud this action, thank goodness we have people who care enough to give up their own time. That said, maybe the aim ought to be Evans being ousted. If no buyer materialised and we went into administration, would that actually be worse in the medium to long term than our current ongoing decline? Yes, they'd be a massive points deduction and possible resultant relegation but the slate would be wiped clean and we could effectively start again. Is that really any worse than the ‘death by a thousand cuts' scenario that's been going on for many years now? Bolton's current plight is awful but I think they have a sense of optimism about the future. I could previously have been justifiably labelled as a happy clapper but the whole club stinks under the current regime and it's time we had a sense of identity (and pride) again. The choice we face is to stay docile and tick along as a mid table league one club : or make a stand and see where it takes us.
2

DoseOfReality added 21:19 - Mar 10
Could be the start of something great and deserves the full backing from fans.

This type of movement coupled with empty seats will be a start if nothing else.

We better off starting again from non-league as FC Ipswich without Evans and without debt than continuing this slow but sure boring death that is Evans ownership.
2

Kikapu added 22:20 - Mar 10
After recruiting a number of managers, with varying degrees of success, you do have to wonder about Evans' ability as an owner. As a successful businessman you would think that his ability to choose the right personnel would be highly honed but when it comes to our football club his decisions over the managers he hires is quite suspect.
And then he's quite inconsistent. McCarthy, as a manager, was a catch for Evans, but he didn't support his choice by allowing him to spend on players, yet then his replacement was given a lot more freedom to decimate the team and replace them with also-rans.
Of course we must respect Evans for rescuing our club, but now serious thought must be given by Evans as to whether he is the right man to take us forward.
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blueboy1981 added 00:40 - Mar 11
Something needs doing - Fleetwood on an Average 3100 home crowd are tonight 8 points ahead of us with a game in hand.
Reality check if ever there was one.
Main difference being, they have a Manager who knows what he's doing, and knows his earhole from his elbow.
1

TractorClarke added 12:18 - Mar 11
I think the thought process around this is solid, and i appreciate it is not being sold as some boycott everything to be heard as i think it causes further damage.

Also why does he need to be of a certain age to know what we have accomplished as a football club over the years in order to take action against the rot that has set in at our club? Did you need to be around during Sir Bobby in order to have any say in whats happening at the club? Rubbish comment, at least he is standing up to it and trying to take action in the right way.

Also i dont agree with some view points that we need to boycott games and just not turn up. Last i looked the club was in some serious, very serious, debt. But stopping the cash flow to the club with tickets, how is that going to have any positive impact?

I say fight the good fight and i hope you achieve what we all want, and that is positive change and done in the right way, im backing you all the way.
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jabberjackson added 12:50 - Mar 11
Good luck with it, but try and regulate your language.
Effing and blinding on camera doesn't really help your cause
1

Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 13:13 - Mar 11
I think this is a well-meaning, if somewhat naïve, attempt at trying to initiate change; and for that, I give 25-year-old Mr ? some credit. Constant moaning without engagement is pointless. It is also quite right not to shape this movement as anti-Evans because that would simply be counter-productive. If a meeting with our Great Leader ever came about, the protesters would have to be damn well prepared with their arguments because they would almost certainly get a paraphrased and articulate version of the latest 5-year plan in return. I think the way forward would have to be to try to find a mechanism to work WITH Evans towards a common goal (no pun intended). But in order to shake the barrel a bit, some kind of concerted, organised protest wouldn't be a bad thing as long as it didn't get personal. I'm not sure what form this could take. Maybe that is one of the first questions participants can discuss at the Wiff Waff tomorrow. I won't be there, but I wish you success.
1

eddiespearitt03 added 21:25 - Mar 11
The protest should be a one game boycott for a home match. Just to show EVANS what it is like to destroy a football club and what a club is without the supporters .!!!

The real culprits are the players who are just not capable of performing 2 games in a row. These are the players Evans should of got rid of but he is blind to seeing this failure because too many are blowing smoke up his A**E.
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