Former academy coach Alan Lee has lifted the lid on life working at Town during the latter years of the Marcus Evans era, branding it an “unprofessional environment” with “no accountability throughout the club”.

Former striker Lee returned to the Blues as an academy coach in 2013 but moved on in 2018 as his frustrations with life at Town grew to the extent where he hated working there.

“You just started to feel that working in the academy, I thought it was a very unprofessional environment,” he said in part two of his Blue Monday-TWTD podcast.

“There was so much going on, the behaviours, a lack of discipline, from coaches. Standards.

“Everyone was trying to go on every course to try and get as many qualifications as they could. Everyone was trying to show that tactically they can work with the first team and win games.

“Very few people would actually do a bit of work one-on-one with players. Every decision was short-term, no one was making long-term decisions for the good of the football club and I felt it had taken over the club.

“There was no support there. I started hating working there and I could see in [former manager] Mick [McCarthy] that the stress built because he didn’t deserve the treatment he was getting. And he wasn’t getting support from the club.

“Ultimately, I remember the day it was sorted out. He had the meeting with [former owner] Marcus [Evans] and his contract wasn’t renewed or whatever they said, it was mutual.

“He came in the next day and he looked five years younger and I realised actually that was the best thing for him. He just had this weight off his shoulders. He was carrying everything.

“It was a mad time to work at the club. You could see everything going, it was like a car crash in slow motion, like the Five-Point Plan and this idea that we’re going to stroke it around at the back.

“I can remember thinking, ‘I’ve got to get out of here’. I had very little respect for the people I was working with, or most of them certainly.

“In the space of two years we lost Mick, Terry Connor, Andy Liddell [fitness coach], Malcolm Webster [goalkeeper-coach], Simon Milton [director of academy sales/player liaison], Steve McGavin [head of academy recruitment], James Scowcroft, Titus Bramble, Steve Foley, Ben Pugh, Duncan Wheeler [who were all coaching in the academy], sorry if I’ve missed anyone.

“We’d lost so many people you could depend on to do their job for Ipswich Town. They didn’t want to go and work for the first team, they didn’t want to up their careers or think about the next job, you could depend on these guys to do good. And they all went.

“I thought ‘I’ve got to get out of here’. I can’t look sponsors in the eyes or do the end-of-season Player of the Year awards and think ‘oh, this great and we’re on the right track’ because I knew we weren’t.

“Decisions weren’t being made for the right of the football club. And the football club suffered badly because of it.”

He added: “With leadership, you have to have accountability. What I found was that there was no accountability throughout the club.

“Coaches, people didn’t have to do their jobs. Some people chose to do them, some didn’t know how to do them. No one had to do their jobs, no one was responsible for anything. Without that, it was just the wild west.

“I think the people that Marcus had in charge and the people he went to for leadership had no idea what you might have to do to be a successful professional footballer, to become a professional footballer, to run a team or where to invest or what to do.

“When the Five-Point Plan was going out, I was thinking, ‘what were we doing before?’. It’s a soundbite.

“I remember when we were saying we’re going to stroke it around at the back and everyone had this plan, and I remember going straight to Bryan Klug and saying ‘Bryan, we will get relegated. Do the people not realise why Mick had to play the way he did last year?’

“It was insane because we were saying we going to stroke it around at the back.

“I remember that that they were looking for a manager and I remember phoning Dave Bowman, saying ‘what about this manager, what about this? They’ve got some experience’.

“An old manager of mine phoned me up and said ‘Alan, can you get my CV in?’. And I phoned Dave Bowman and he said ‘they won’t even consider him’. ‘But he’s had two promotions to the Premier League!’. He said, ‘Yes, I know but they want somebody young and fresh’.

“You had this mad situation where you got the impression that the job was going to be given to somebody who was inexperienced enough to say ‘yes, I can work under those budget constraints and play it out from the back’. And you could see it coming.

“But again, no one was really responsible, no one knew who had come up with the plan. I certainly know that anyone that was experienced and honest at that football club was not consulted. Anyone qualified to put a plan together was not consulted.

“They might be good plans for Man City, they might sound good and everyone says ‘well, if you play the same formation throughout the club it’ll help’.

“Anyone who suggests that just hasn’t worked in youth development at our level, that is so far from the truth you don’t know what you’re talking about if you think that’s a helpful perspective. Knowing the challenges you have with youth, it’s just nonsense.”

Photo: TWTD

vanmunt added 13:35 - Jun 18 Phil, you should put some disclaimer at the top about being an horrific read.
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Cheshire_Blue added 13:38 - Jun 18 I have said all along that Mick McCarthy didn't get the support he deserved and we are where we are because he was hounded out by so called supporters and Marcus Evans. Now we have to live with it and hope Mr. Cook can put things right. As I said when Mick went, Time will tell.
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midastouch added 13:39 - Jun 18 Sounded like an unprofessional shambles, just as most of us suspected. It's hard to believe that a man who built up a successful business empire could be such a woefully incompetent owner. All the praise he continually got for supposedly bailing the club out each year, however, if he hadn't have run the place into the ground it wouldn't have needed so much bailing out each year in any case! If you keep doing things on the cheap sooner or later it will bite you on the bum, as we found out to our cost under Evans. I'm so glad Evans is no longer the majority owner. He's still got his 5% share or whatever, but regardless, thankfully he's no longer calling the shots! He sucked so much life out of this club. Let's hope the new owners can resuscitate the club as for all the positivity and excitement, it still feels a long way back from here. We were never going to get back under Evans. At least with the new owners we stand some chance. It's given us some long overdue hope. The only hope I had under Evans was that somebody would eventually buy him out and thank goodness they did!

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BlueBoots added 13:43 - Jun 18 “An old manager of mine phoned me up and said ‘Alan, can you get my CV in?'. And I phoned Dave Bowman and he said ‘they won't even consider him'. ‘But he's had two promotions to the Premier League!'. He said, ‘Yes, I know but they want somebody young and fresh' So...Neil Warnock wanted to manage us, but they preferred to give Hurst a chance to get us playing tiki taka...couldn't make it up...

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blues1 added 13:45 - Jun 18 Bluearmy81. Yer. I'll be honest. I was some1 who defended Evan's to an extent. Always said I'd like him to go but also knew that until he could find the right people to buy him out it was essential he was here or wed have no club. So people simply saying he should go was ridiculous. But hes gone now and we have the chance to rebuild, but it may take time. I have to say, the timing of Lee coming out with this is rather strange. Why has he waited until the new owners in place rather than saying so as soon as he left? And be good to know exactly who hes blaming. Doesnt actually appear to be Evans directly but certain staff working at the club. Have always thought that Evan's recruitment was probably his biggest issue. Maybe if hed taken a more hands on role earlier in his tenure things may have been different. But at the end of the day, hes gone now, and frankly I'd rather not see explayers or employees coming out with stuff like this. Its pointless and simply of no interest or relevance to the clubs future.

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vanmunt added 13:49 - Jun 18 There really isn't any doubt the only way we were heading under Evans was down even further.
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ringwoodblue added 13:52 - Jun 18 Monkey blue. I don't agree with your post as opinion is just that - an opinion. Its based on our own personal perception, interpretation and bias. The running of a football club is a complex thing and there's lots we don't know. We've heard Lee's opinion on the ME era but someone else might have a different viewpoint.
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wewerefamous added 14:06 - Jun 18 I had the pleasure of being introduced to Alan in his playing days at town by a mutual friend following a mid-week game. An absolute gent and clearly had/has a genuine love for the club. It's a shame he isn't part of the club anymore as he has a huge amount of experience and knowledge to pass into the younger squads. Most of us knew things weren't right at the club, so glad we're under a new regime. A great interview 👍

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wewerefamous added 14:08 - Jun 18 I had the pleasure of being introduced to Alan in his playing days at town by a mutual friend following a mid-week game. An absolute gent and clearly had/has a genuine love for the club. It's a shame he isn't part of the club anymore as he has a huge amount of experience and knowledge to pass into the younger squads. Most of us knew things weren't right at the club, so glad we're under a new regime. A great interview 👍

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TimmyH added 14:21 - Jun 18 Mick Mills said 'Evans was not a knowledgeable football owner'...lot of proof of the pudding in this read, glad his regime is over!
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BeattiesBackPocket added 14:21 - Jun 18 It amazes me how still a few on here saying it's only one persons opinion you clearly haven't listened to ex players and managers interviews. McGoldrick, McCarthy, Lambert, mills etc etc have come out and said a lot of the same thing especially in lamberts case that the structure was poor and that the five point plan wasn't there. Ex Players have said that people were coasting at the club and that it was too nice and comfortable for people there, Evans used to constantly lie every season about promotion pushes under mick when he admitted his only remit was to keep us up working with scraps. It's been going on far too long now let's give the new owners and manager their chance they deserve because they have the biggest job ever at Portman road.

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ButchersBrokenNose added 14:37 - Jun 18 The best part of this interview for me is, "and I remember going straight to Bryan Klug and saying ‘Bryan, we will get relegated. Do the people not realise why Mick had to play the way he did last year?'" There's a reason we're in the third division. The league table doesn't lie. I'm starting to see just how big a mess ME left the club in. It might take the new owners and manager longer than a season to fix it.

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Dissboyitfc added 14:58 - Jun 18 One thing is confusing here, why did he try to get an ex manager a job and why were new incoming managers not warned how bad it was by previous managers , didn't Paul cook speak to MM about Evan's? All very confusing to me. 1 thing is certain these are new times !
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Bluearmy_81 added 15:09 - Jun 18 Blues1 - all this "if he walks were finished" talk was what was ridiculous. It was never going to happen. "Evans out when we find a suitable buyer to replace him" doesn't have quite the same impact as "Evans out!" And as I say the former was always completely unnecessary
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Monkey_Blue added 15:25 - Jun 18 BeatiesBackPocket. Who said it should happen overnight other than apparently it's all out for promotion next season? Isn't there a disconnect between objective and strategy? Does no one think a decent goal scorer and someone to boss the defensive midfield role if we'd signed them was enough to get us those extra points? Norwood has not just been injured but when fit misses way too many chances as does Jackson. We needed a goal threat. My arguments are about not just the scale of changes on the playing squad, but the manner of it being done. We won't shift a large number of players Cook doesn't want, we also have no idea if his new coaches are any good as there is next to no experience. The structure? I'll take Alan Lee's word given he had first hand experience, in fact the nee owners/senior staff might be well served chatting to him in private. I'm not confident this approach will work as we can't break the wage cap… so we are either signing league one players or youngsters who might be better than league one. I wasn't a lambert lover but as with MM the financial restrictions didn't help and other than being able to sign in contract players we are shopping in the same aisle of the player supermarket.

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BromleyBloo added 15:31 - Jun 18 Let's hope this finally lays Evans ghost. Even the most deluded must now see that he all but destroyed our great club over his tenure. Just staggering that even after 14 years of abject incompetence and mismanagement as we spiralled down there were still people prepared to defend him..................!!!
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Kickingblock added 16:08 - Jun 18 Perhaps they have stockholm syndrome?
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blues1 added 16:11 - Jun 18 Bluearmy81. No the if he had walked away, we wouldnt have had a club is a fact. Think about it. Had he walked as many wanted him to do, the club would have owed him over £100,000( or whatever the debt at the time).. Bcse let's face it, he would have wanted that money back had he been forced out. Money the club didnt have. And thus would have gone into administration. And the club having already been in administration once before , would have led to liquidation. Therefore we would now be in a position where a new club:, the likes of afc wimbledon, bury and others, would have had to be started up. So the only way Evan's could leave was to find new owners. Which thankfully for us, he has done. But anyone who thinks wed be in this situation had he just walked away, is deluded. And that's the only reason I defended him to those who wanted to force him out. Not bcse they wanted new owners, bcse so did i. Just knew what the outcome would be if those fans got their way.

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atty added 16:20 - Jun 18 I can well believe a lot of this, but were we not told that Evans micro-managed the Club. How can that be right if a lot of the stuff Lee said was happening? Clearly Evans wasn't very good at mi to-managing. More like he gave up, undertook a damage limitation exercise which he delegated.Not very well it would seem. Anyway we now have committed owners, better funding, a proper senior management set up, and a manager with a good track record. There is hope, and some optimism after years of decline.

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blues1 added 16:24 - Jun 18 Blues1. Should read £100,000,000 not thousand
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BeattiesBackPocket added 16:26 - Jun 18 Monkey blue EXACTLY THAT you don't know you've just said it yourself! Lol. Most of your posts you don't even give them a chance before a balls been kicked for Christ sake! Tell me how YOU KNOW they aren't in for a striker?? How do YOU know they aren't in for exactly what we need? You don't so if you'd rather evans back then good luck the owners ARE doing everything right as is the manager so far but you want to constantly put a negative spin on it when YOU KNOW NOTHING! Fact

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blues1 added 16:28 - Jun 18 Monkeyblue. We are signing in the same market. Which is why weve already paid a fee for 1 player wanted by championship clubs. Are in the process of signing a player with pl experience(albeit limited). So how are we in the same market. It's only the wages that we are limited in. And theres ways round that.
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Bluearmy_81 added 16:34 - Jun 18 Blues1, what I'm saying is it was never going to end like that! Of course he'd want a buyer and some of his money back. Anyone not wanting to put any pressure on him in case he 'walked' was being both incredibly gutless and ridiculously fatalistic
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Bluearmy_81 added 16:39 - Jun 18 Sorry, not fatalistic, I meant calamitous
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therein61 added 16:45 - Jun 18 Very enlightening and powerful Mr Lee now that the biggest problems have been shoved out the truth is out.
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