Boss Paul Lambert says he can’t repeat his Aston Villa experience where he feels he protected owner Randy Lerner at Town, adding that he believes the Blue Action members who took part in Monday’s training ground demonstration weren’t “true Ipswich fans”.

Under-fire Lambert spoke on talkSPORT regarding Monday’s protest which saw training suspended for 10 minutes after a flare led to some signage catching fire.

“It was what you can imagine, if you don’t get results, the pressure comes and it comes and it’s normal,” he said.

“The scenes at the training ground the other day, I don’t think it was true Ipswich fans, I think that’s one thing to say. I don’t think that’s the way it should have been dealt with or anything like that.

“We had a young team out last night, we were actually training against a younger team and it’s probably the first time they’ve probably seen things like that and were wondering what’s actually going on, what football is about.

“In a way it can be a good thing for them because they can see the pitfalls of football if things don’t go right for their own careers, they can see a lot of stuff there. But morally it was wrong what they did, but, as I say, I don’t class them as real Ipswich fans.”

Explaining further, he added: “We were training and we were doing shape work the day before the game. It was behind the goal and I didn’t really know about it until I could smell smoke and I thought somebody must be burning something here.

“And I turned around and I’ve seen the flags and the flares and these sorts of thing. It’s never nice, it doesn’t matter how old you are, but we had a lot of young players playing and it might have been their first time experiencing that.

“But, as I said before, I don’t class them as Ipswich fans. I thought it was wrong, what actually happened.”

Reflecting on how the season has progressed and having to use a lot of young players before Christmas, he said: “At one stage of the season we had 10 lads out injured and we were playing academy kids in there. I think that gets swept under the carpet because there were a lot of injuries to bigger players for us, and we found that tough.

“We came through that little period and we got them all back and then the pandemic, we had a few games missing [due to positive Covid tests] so we had to play catch-up.

“You have to adjust to it, I think that’s every manager’s challenge, you have to adjust to things like that. I don’t mind that, if a kid is good enough, you play them, but it’s such a big club that you need a bit of help.”

Asked what’s behind the disharmony at the club which goes back beyond his time as manager, he said: “I think there’s a lot of frustration. The great era with Terry Butcher, who works at the club, who has been great, John Wark, who has been great, Paul Mariner, who has been great. I met Thijssen and Muhren, guys like that. Alan Brazil I’ve spoken to. Great players, what they did for that club has been incredible.

“That was 40 years ago and they’ve got to move on with respect to the history of the club and you have to live up to it. You can’t get away from them because what those lads all achieved.

“But as a football club you have to have a clear plan where you’re going and what you’re doing and structure-wise.

“Marcus Evans has put an incredible amount of money into the football club. I understand that, it’s a hard, hard gig running a football club because of the amount of money they must put in is incredible.

“But you need an infrastructure where everybody at Ipswich Town has to get round a table and say ‘Where are we going here? What are we doing? What’s the infrastructure here?’. Because this needs to stop, this needs to stop.”

Quizzed on whether Evans is open to that, he added: “We have to have dialogue, we have to have a discussion. I’m not going to come here [and criticise him] because he’s always been good with me, he tells me how it is, we have dialogue. But the football club needs him to say what’s going to happen with the structure. I think that’s the way it should be.

“The big thing for me is I did the same at Aston Villa, protected Randy Lerner for a long, long time. It was like a lamb to a slaughter what was happening there.

“I can’t do that again, I can’t go through that again. There’s got to be a structure where everybody gets around a table.

“Everybody’s to blame, everybody, not one person where you can turn around and say you’re blaming that one or that one. Everybody has to look at themselves, look in the mirror and say where it went wrong. And I think that’s the big thing for Ipswich.”

He added: “I’ve not shied away from anything, even the clubs I played with, they were huge clubs with massive success, and the players I’ve played against, the countries I’ve played in and all those sorts of thing.

“I’ve seen what it’s like at the top, I’ve seen how those structures work in football clubs. I’ve taken people from Ipswich over to Dortmund to have a look at it to see how their story went, so it’s not as if I don’t know exactly where it’s fell from. You’re trying to put everything in place but you can only do it so far.”

Photo: Matchday Images

atty added 17:52 - Feb 17 Spot on TimmyH. Evans a majority shareholder running the club from a distance, self confessed lack of football knowledge, dumps all the experience and knowledge of the board two days after coming in, and appoints Clegg as his man inside and goofer, then Milne and now O'Neill. No board just two Directors Mark Andrews and Maarten Van Os, who never see or hear from.Doomed from the start. At the very least he could have appointed a Director of Football, but no he wants total control and unquestioned authority. Truly woeful. If you are staying Evans the appoint a new manager and a DoF. as a matter of urgency. Otherwise we'll be in relegation battle on current form.

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oldegold added 18:03 - Feb 17 Make a public statement Evans..on what you intend to do.The silence is deafening..have some respect for the supporters. The time is now...
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runningout added 18:12 - Feb 17 Dread to think of atmosphere if fans were back in the ground
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Help added 18:55 - Feb 17 So the 5 year plan is not a plan. The owner has no idea. Nor does anyone he appoints to manage the club on his behalf on a daily basis. The manager has no idea, and continues to make the same mistakes again and again even if they did not work before. So it is now factual and in the open. What the fans have known for years, or since ME takeover and the unnecessary sacking of Jim Magilton. This club is rudderless, directionless and will continue drifting down the tables and leagues until the owner sells up. PL will not go until promotion is mathematically impossible so the fans are stuck with this until the bitter end.

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hossblue added 19:00 - Feb 17 I think Evans and Lambert are both waiting for the other to make first move hopefully soon.
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Bluearmy_81 added 19:00 - Feb 17 Oldefold, what so we can hang off his every word and take the latest dollop of spin in to buy him another 6 months with the fans?! No thanks, I wouldn't even read it/listen...
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dirtydingusmagee added 19:05 - Feb 17 nothing has changed , LAMBERT OUT, EVANS OUT, two complete failures in their own right as far as the club is concerned. Evans wont change his ways, anyone who thinks he will need a reality check. Lambert has nothing to offer,he is bereft of ideas, and has absolutely no motivational skills . The whole club is a mess and everyone in media talking about it, Evans is being exposed nationally now, as is Lambert's performance the sad thing is the club dosnt deserve this ,it is being dragged and mauled about and it needs to be sorted out NOW.

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dirtydingusmagee added 19:10 - Feb 17 Good to see Dolphin has had his backing of Lambert and Evans surgically removed, and is seeing the real picture now, Best regards to you Flipper,
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RobITFC added 19:14 - Feb 17 Almost 24 hrs has gone and still nothing from the owner - unbelievable considering what has gone on this week and the obvious problems building up to boiling point at the club, on the pitch, management and the fans! WHERE ARE YOU EVANS ?
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ThaiBlue added 19:25 - Feb 17 I really think lambert has lost the plot,i really do.
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Eireannach_gorm added 19:46 - Feb 17 PFOPRP
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brittaniaman added 19:56 - Feb 17 3 CHEERS FOR SIMON JORDAN Who told the truth on our situation ??? Can he be our spokes person for a meeting with MARCUS EVANS !!!!!!!!!!
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62WasBest added 20:45 - Feb 17 Is there anyone at Ipswich Town who is up to the job, bar the back office staff?
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shakytown added 20:48 - Feb 17 There needs to me a massive clear out and it needs to happen this season. Whoever takes over needs to be a lot more direct particularly with the players about what is a professional footballer. As for our vaunted youth and youth program where are they and what have they actually done other than get injured or sent off regularly. The whole place is a mess and there needs to be some serious butt kicking and some decent recruitment for the future.

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dieselmorris added 21:13 - Feb 17 im not on here to defend the manager in any way, but since jewel got the push and neck ache came in how much investment has actually gone into the first team, not one manager has been able to build a team just players at the end of careers or working their way back to fitness loans galore five in the starting line up last night alone.since lambert has been here our esteemed owner has given half a million for him to spend on the squad, all he has recruited are old or what no one else wants, players sold lower quality to replace them. the one thing that does not change is evans you can get another manager it will be same result just maybe lower down the next league, can't keep changing managers you get same result.

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Billericay12 added 21:38 - Feb 17 Surely PL knew what the structure was at the club when he accepted the Job ? He must also have known the the level of financial support he would or wouldn't get ? Marcus Evans has always been a near invisible owner. Did he expect anything different ? Sit round the table to work out where we are going ? Didn't we have a 5 point plan ? Wasn't the plan to develop our home grown talent and blood them in to the first team ? Well we have 7 or 8 of them in and around the first team and none of them are standout League One performers. We must have the largest squad in League One and have just added some loan additions but I see no improvement or change. We keep on doing what we've always done and we keep on getting what we've always got ! PL seems like he has no new ideas and there is no money to spend which equals no hope. Do us as ll a favour. Call it a day and let someone else have a go. Whoever that might be will have their work cut out but we are going nowhere with current regime.

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moggasnotebook added 21:44 - Feb 17 Still think the players are getting away scot free here......but don't they always. Imagine being a manager watching those players huffing and puffing but not actually doing much - but that's been the case for what, four years or more?
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moggasnotebook added 21:51 - Feb 17 Would ARROW UP billericay12 as agree with just about everything - but I'm really not sure what manager we would get next that could take us forward for two years..... heart says Kieron Dyer and Terry Butcher but I think there would need to be a few other personnel changes to let them flourish
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blue86 added 21:58 - Feb 17 Ok here goes...... first I will start with Lambert. The fact is he hasn't done well enough with the squad available to him and deserves the sack, FULL STOP. I really cant be bothered to go into the obvious details why because we all know. And now Marcus Evan's..... the man is a fu(king disaster for our club! When he took over it went to sh!te near enough overnight really. Jim was sacked after beating Norwich 😂 I mean think where we are now? Marcus Evan's is not a football man, and it shows in his decisions. We go from one disaster to another and I dont see it changing, we as fans who love our club deserve more. We need to protest and apply pressure for Evans to sell, obviously its certainly made nearly impossible because of the current world we live In. But the thing is EVANS is the problem, the overall problem. I'm sick of the false dawns, non existent cup runs, crap results, dodgy managerial appointments, under funding and so on. Yes Lambert has been nowhere near up to it, and needs to go 100%. But the bigger picture is its Evans that is our biggest problem. We as fans who love our club need to do what we can to get our point across, we dont want a man who doesn't know what the feck he is doing running our club!!! Its not right, what other club would put up with it? I don't pretend to have the all the answers to force Evans out because I dont. There will be people who disagree with me, and fair enough. But ask yourself, how many good times compared to bad times have we had since Evan's took over......

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shakytown added 22:17 - Feb 17 Billericay. Totally agree about the so called home grown talent. They are nothing more than average league 1-2 players and are for the most lazy arrogant spoilt brats who need a good old fashioned boot up the backside.
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istanblue added 22:24 - Feb 17 On the contrary Paul, Blue Action and those supporting them are the real fans of this club as opposed to the old fu*k boomers who will do and say nothing. Good to see their efforts are cutting through.
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Jollyblue added 22:45 - Feb 17 Evans doesn't pick the team or choose the formation. Not many of the teams above us have spent more money so it can't be that either. Maybe just maybe the management team led by Lambert just isn't getting it right. We can blame all sorts of things but it really is a simple game..
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eddiespearitt03 added 01:49 - Feb 18 Lambert has the luxury of an extended contract. Seems like Lambert is seeking a way out and hoping Evans pays him up.Easy money for achieving nothing.
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bobble added 07:24 - Feb 18 theres a very bad whiff around the club now.....
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Northstandveteran added 09:20 - Feb 18 Just looked at the league table...... for some reason.... Both Burton and Swindon have scored more goals than us so far this season....
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