Please log in or register. Registered visitors get fewer ads.
Lambert: Clubs Could Find Themselves in Real Trouble
Monday, 15th Jun 2020 12:05

Blues boss Paul Lambert says he fears for the future of some clubs if they are forced to play games behind closed doors for a significant period.

While a September start for 2020/21 has been mooted, probably behind closed doors or perhaps in front of a limited number of fans, it has also been suggested that some League One and Two clubs might not be able to get back to action until it’s safe for crowds to return due to the financial implications.

“We are fortunate, we have a good owner in Marcus [Evans] and with the money he puts into the club,” Lambert told the club website.

“It could easily be a big problem if he wasn’t here and I do fear for other clubs.

“The game needs the fans. It’s not the same game without supporters in the stadium and the longer that goes on, the more clubs less fortunate than ourselves will find themselves in real trouble.

“If we go back and start playing again without supporters then we will get on with it like everyone else, but the most important thing is that it’s safe for the players and staff to return and then when fans do come back, they feel safe and secure coming back into stadiums.”


Photo: TWTD



Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.



Gilesy added 18:16 - Jun 15
Ok Bluearmy - and I know I'm wasting my time with you because your mind is made up and incapable of looking at the bigger picture but...Hurst was given 6m to spend from sales of £12m. Add in the £6-7m the club costs Evans each year and what do you have?

I'd say you're populist, but I imagine you'd have to be popular for that to be the case and judging by your Facebook campaign, I'd say that's not the case.
-1

Michael101 added 18:43 - Jun 15
Can scruge Evans keep putting money into Ipswich town when his ticket tout business is not making any money at the moment.
1

Shawsey added 18:46 - Jun 15
Probably the only way we will get promoted with this muppet in charge.
0

Carberry added 20:01 - Jun 15
ShallIgo, Only in the mad world of football can an organisation have greater expenditure than income every year, debts of £100m and be called a going concern. Is that viable in the medium to long term? I think you will find the £100m isn't owed to him personally but one of his companies, if he was putting his own money in to balance the books each year then there would be no debt. So what happens when he pulls the plug?
0

Saxonblue74 added 21:07 - Jun 15
Took a while to hear from you 81, was getting worried about you! Now we know you're ok you can go again if you like?!😂
2

Lathers added 22:31 - Jun 15
@Monkey Blue and your 24 likes (when posting this) Marcus Evans may be £100m in the hole as you put it, but he took over this club like any one of us would do if we were playing Championship Manager. Initially he threw money at it and hired big name managers, but he soon realised this is the real world and he actually doesn't have a clue about running a football club. He's done nothing as an owner that we should be thanking him for. His tenure has been a disaster and the only people that have suffered whilst he played his game of Champ Manager is us, the paying, loyal supporters who now have a club in terminal decline thanks to Marcus Evans. And I may as well respond to the actual article... “Clubs could find themselves in real trouble”... if Marcus Evans is the owner and Paul Lambert is the manager.
5

shouldistayorcounago added 23:12 - Jun 15
Carberry, that's life outside of the Premier League - football doesn't function in the same way as other business, don't pretend you're naive enough to think it does. As I have said, I'm not his biggest fan by any stretch - but what do you propose as a solution? Spend our way out of it, amassing more debt? Go looking for a new owner when we're hardly a desirable prospect?
The fact is, we're where we are because of his poor decision making, not because of a lack of investment - things aren't always black and white.
Likewise, I've said nothing about who the debt is owed to directly so can only assume the last part of your comment is aimed at someone else.
I don't know what you think should happen to miraculously revive us so I'd be genuinely interested to find out. As I say, Evans has presided over an absolute shambles in our fortunes on the pitch which as the ultimate decision maker, he should bear responsibility for. But surely you have to be pragmatic at this point and recognise that we can't do anything about the hand we're dealt but try to play it.
0

StavangerBlue added 07:10 - Jun 16
My understanding is that ME gets paid a fixed fee per £ for covering the debt. The bigger the debt the bigger the fee. It's not in his interest to reduce the debt. My problem is the way the club is ran as we are now one of the worse ran clubs in the country. The fact that ME hasn't learnt from mistakes such as the necessity to strengthen in January, having a good strike force (selling Murphy and Waghorn with no replacement) and general maintenance (the ground has pealing paint, broken windows, looks dirty and forgotten). It speaks volumes of having no pride in the club so why should the players! Just a general apathy of meh while those clubs around us fight and win. That's why we're dropping into League 2.
0

Michael101 added 08:50 - Jun 16
Football is shooting itself in the foot big time.when teams like man Utd can have depts of 750 million yet the owners still pay the.self 1 million each pay theplayers 100 million plus a week . pay 80 -90millions for a average player something is wrong big time.sky bt are not going to keep this madness up.
3

Razor added 10:21 - Jun 16
Does not matter how much money you pump in if you dont understand football or how it works then it is never going to work.

I am also not so naeive to think he does not get something out of ITFC----I am no accountant but there must be something we give him that makes him stay.

Big game tonite for S C Freiburg----the Ipswich of Germany, come on!!
1

Carberry added 13:00 - Jun 16
ShouldIstay, no the whole of my post was directed at you. Surely you aren't naive enough to think we are in no imminent danger of folding and therefore his stewardship of the club financially has been acceptable, or 'run well enough' as you say. My point is the £100m debt is not a personal one, it exists, so his organisation can pull the plug at any point, we're here this week maybe not next. Also, he is an owner who has amassed one of the biggest debts in British football while, for the last 7 or 8 years, not making a net spend on transfers and having a wage bill that was in the bottom half of the Championship, that's some trick to pull off with attendances as healthy as ours. Why do you think he has allowed that to happen? Any ideas? And you've joined the group of apologists who say give us a solution or shut up. If you like shopping in Debenhams do you feel like you can't criticize the way its run without coming up with a solution, of course not. Evans has taken us to the brink, there is no reassurance in still existing because the future is bleak, we will have no bearing on the way he runs the club, that's all to do with himself and his accountancy team. So please don't talk about some vague notion of 'playing the hand we've been dealt' - we're not at the table. We are just bystanders.
1

shouldistayorcounago added 14:07 - Jun 16
Carberry, I suspect harder times like ahead for us yes, but nobody else is going to come along to save us and as bad as things are, they could be a whole lot worse. Again, I take your point but that's football - it wouldn't matter who was in charge save for a very small minority of owners who are predominantly in it for the love of the club. Our situation is precarious, but when compared to many of our peers, it's pretty healthy. No doubt Mr Evans' business portfolio has been battered by the pandemic, I don't think anybody doubts that, but thank goodness we didn't go stupid with fees ike Sunderland with Grigg for example. I hear what you're saying but let's not pretend our attendances are always so healthy, we've had more than a handful of 13,000 games in the last few seasons.
Just because I can see that this is a nuanced situation that isn't as black and white as you're making out to be, doesn't make me an apologist. It means I've been able to reassess my thoughts based on the current situation, rather than continue to beat a drum that is no longer relevant.
Frankly the fact that you've got nothing constructive to add says everything about your argument, it's purely based on emotion. I don't like Evan's, long before this season, at the start of this season, and during this season I have been vocal on his shortcomings. What I' suggesting is that those arguments no longer hold up. Nobody is coming to save us, and whilst I feel Evans has been inept at times, I don't think you can throw him onto the same list as the likes of Ashley, Duchâtelet, Oyston etc.
The future is bleak and we're here because of poor decisions, not lack of investment. We're not in a position to spend our way out, we're not in a position to attract someone who can, and we're not in a position to think we deserve to be back in the Championship just by virtue of being Ipswich Town. With that in mind, the only thing we can do is be hopeful that lessons have been learnt, and if you're still not happy then the only meaningful thing you can do to express that is stay away from games and protest outside the ground.
All I'm suggesting is that you add a bit of balance and reason to your argument, I think we all feel the same frustrations as you but what you're doing is divisive more than anything. I agree with you that things aren't good enough but Evans is unfortunately our only means of turning that around.
0

rabbit added 14:52 - Jun 16
Carberry, whilst no one can, or I am sure even would, argue that since the ME takeover of the business things have improved, quite clearly, they have not.
However, we do all have to add a dose of realism into the argument, for example you suggest that if ME had put the money in personally the debt would not exist! That is quite ridiculous of course there would be a debt, it is quite normal, and indeed not uncommon, for directors to loan money to their Companies.
You also make the point that only in the mad world of football that loss making is the norm and whilst you may be right, without serious due diligence HMRC do not allow it, therefore ME could not simply pull the plug but he could quite easily stop funding the business which no doubt would ultimately have the same effect, certainly in my opinion, it would cause the termination of the Academy.
With regard to the playing side net spend, this is also quite normal from teams below the premiership, both Norwich and S. Utd had net spends in their promotion season, as did the majority of other teams including Derby County. The only team from memory to go the other way was A. Villa, there could be another one that has slipped my mind so I could stand corrected on that point.
-1

BettyBlue added 15:06 - Jun 16
Playing behind closed doors is the best place for Paul and his under-achievers.
1

Carberry added 16:19 - Jun 16
ShouldIstay, my response isn't based on emotion, just an objective, realistic view of the situation. Unfortunately you put forward the argument that he has done an acceptable job running the club from a financial point of view, which is an astonishing assumption and try to back it up by suggesting there's some kind of balance to be had with his disastrous managerial appointments and recruitment policy. That's poor decision making and a lack of intelligent investment. I am applying balance and reason to my argument, unfortunately you can't see it, I'm sorry you don't.
Rabbit, a negative net spend and one of the smallest wage bills in the Championship, with reasonably high gates shows why Evans' tenure has been disastrous, taking us to our worst position since the 1950s. Look at how the stadium is falling to pieces and the matchday service is well below par, then connect it with the fact we don't employ a Chief Executive, it tells you everything you need to know. The owner has amassed a huge debt, with no sign of a change of fortunes - why? The Premier league is a speck in the distance, the only place he will get his money back, so the fall will continue because he doesn't have the will or the ability to reverse this downward spiral.
1

cat added 17:13 - Jun 16
There's definitely some middle ground to be had with the Evans debate and that's pretty much where I'm at. Yes there is the luxury of financial stability, more so through these tougher times but let's not forget here that in his 11 years with us there has definitely been somewhat of a downward trend. Best to try and take the positive out of a bad situation.
1

Bluearmy_81 added 17:56 - Jun 16
Somewhat?! Unless you're over 70 you won't remember when we were this low. "Somewhat of a downtrend?!" 😂🤣😂🤣
1

rabbit added 18:33 - Jun 16
Thanks for your answer Carberry, the ground certainly could be improved but in my opinion is not falling to pieces, but I agree the match-day service is abysmal, the catering is done by a concession a company by the name Centerplate. I was astounded to find out that this company are used at some other top venues, it without doubt needs review.
The fact that ITFC does not employ a CEO doesn't actually tell me much because unless I was able to work within the business it is very difficult to assess exactly what the problem actually is.
With regard to your point on a negative net spend and low wage budget are you saying that we need to now expect even higher borrowings coming through, because you are critical of the high borrowings already?
0

cat added 19:18 - Jun 16
Bluearmy - I must have had my diplomatic head on, take your pick from Titanic, free fall or lead balloon to name bit a few!
2

Nobbysnuts added 08:34 - Jun 17
For once I agree with you paul. With you in charge we are absolutely f##ked!!!!
0

trncbluearmy added 16:17 - Jun 17
ME has been a disaster,he has put money in and we are in the worst position the club has ever been, he is not our saviour.
There is some hope, the debt is his not the clubs, we have some decent youngsters,stupidly loyal fanbase (me included) and the land (Portman Road) belongs to the council after that I am struggling.
The proposed salary gap will make things worse,the one advantage we had in the 3rd div. was money but the incompetent management at all levels still screwed that up.
ME got in for a fast buck and blow it,ITFC have paid the price ever since
1


You need to login in order to post your comments

Blogs 295 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls

About Us Contact Us Terms & Conditions Privacy Cookies Advertising
© TWTD 1995-2024