He cared only about himself and was desperate to get out.
He eventually found a buyer who has been pretty generous.
He still has 5% and land options unfortunately

AND DITCH THE LOGO'S !

KernewekBlue when he bought us we were in danger of going in to administartion. You don't need a crystal ball for that. Since he bought, he has been awful but we still had a club. I've no doubt he bought us for his gain and not the clubs interest. Unfortunately not many billionaires wanted to buy Ipswich. He saved us and ruined us at the same time. I've never seen him as a messiah and I'm glad he's gone but sadly the demise/rot started before he bailed out.

>Monkey_Blue

Exactly how much of "his own money" did Evans plough into the club out of the goodness of his heart?

Whatever debt he waived was of his own making (owed to him and his other businesses), in order to make it a more attractive prospect to Gamechanger20.

Let me explain...

This was the headline in The Guardian when Evans took control in 2007, acquiring 87.5% of the shares...

"Marcus Evans is set for a large profit if the club gets into the Premier League - a sign of football's new era"

&...

"At Ipswich, Evans's takeover is designed to deliver him a bonanza if his £12m investment in the club and a transfer kitty, with more promised if necessary, enables Magilton to drive the Tractor Boys up."

The takeover in 2007 was apparently funded by Marcus Evans Investments (MEI), registered in Bermuda (for preferential tax reasons, no doubt).

The Guardian article went on to say...

"That company is the vehicle for the takeover of Ipswich, which is shrewd, based on financing a promotion push, with huge potential profits for Evans lying in the detail. His £12m investment is split: £3.9m to buy the club (87.5% of the shares), £8.1m put in as "preference shares," which will function like a loan. They will pay Evans an annual return of 7%, £564,000, but the club does not have to repay the £8.1m until it has been in the Premier League for five years."

"Evans's MEI has also bought the major lenders' debts, which had risen to £32m. Barclays are understood to have settled for just a fifth of the money owed to them and Norwich Union are reported to have accepted a similarly reduced sum although this has not been confirmed. Certainly Evans has paid the institutions substantially less than the full £32m, but the club nevertheless still owes it all, now to MEI, with interest at over 7%, £2.24m a year. If his £12m investment is spent wisely by Magilton and Ipswich have the wherewithal, pluck and luck to win promotion, Evans could be paid £32m, plus the regular return on his preference shares, and own a Premier League club worth a great deal more than he paid for it."

The full article can be read here: -

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2008/jan/09/ipswichtown.championship

So, there you have it, a gamble he saw as an easy ride to make a very substantial amount of money on a quick turnaround. Only his inflated sense of his own business acumen, his lack of real footballing knowledge and a combination of very poor decisions allied with a cheapskate approach to investing properly when and where needed could scupper his hopes... and we all know how that turned out!

Whilst I agree, the initial £12million would be considered an extremely substantial amount to most individuals, it was a gamble he was willing to take in order to make a good deal of profit when the club got promoted to the Prem.

Therefore, Evans "walked away" from the £100million+ of debt he himself built up, that the club owed to him and his businesses, a lot of which was interest he charged the club each year on the debt he bought on the cheap, in order to sell out to Gamechanger20, where he now apparently owns a 5% stake. He also still owns land that belonged to the club which will net him a tidy profit down the line.

So please don't feel sorry for Marcus Evans and please don't laud and applaud his contribution to our ultimate relegation, the state he left the club in where virtually the whole playing staff were out of contract at the same time and anyone, through the Evans years, with genuine talent, was sold off for a handful of magic beans to help balance the operating costs, leaving us with a team of has-beens and lower-league no-hopers.

I rest my case, M'lud!

>Thegeniusofmuhren

"when he bought us we were in danger of going in to administartion (sic)"

No, we weren't.

We HAD been in "administartion", as you put it, a few seasons before Evans took over, but the club came back out of administration during the 2003—04 season.

It's as well to get your facts straight before you post them here. Surely, YOU don't need a crystal ball to tell you that!

KernewekBlue.

Everything you say is spot on but I wouldn't waste anymore time on some on here. As the old saying goes there are none so blind as those who will not see!

Evans was a disaster for the club, anyone can see that, but some people spent so much time defending him they don't seem able to admit they were wrong.

KernewekBlue apologies. I bow down to your superior knowledge. We weren't in administration but £30+ million in debt and going nowhere fast. I think we both agree that Evans only had his own interest at heart. We're all fans of the same team here but all have differing opinions. When he first bought us I thought his intentions were good. Lets all get behind Cook and the new/remaining team and fingers crossed for a brighter future.