Manager Paul Cook says he had great support from the club’s owners, who he says couldn’t be more different from those who were in charge during his time at Wigan Athletic, and has no problem with them getting excited or that excitement overspilling every now and then.

The US-based Three Lions, Brett Johnson, Berke Bakay and Mark Detmer won’t be at Saturday’s game as travel restrictions from the States were relaxed too late for them to make the arrangements for this weekend.

However, they have sent messages ahead of the game via social media along with Ed Schwartz, who represents ORG, the investment firm which manages funds on behalf of Arizona's Public Safety Personnel Retirement System (PSPRS), on the Gamechanger 20 board.

Cook says he’s had great backing from the trio: “We get great support from the board, unbelievable support, absolutely unbelievable. The guys are so energised by the club, they are so passionate about the club, and they really are committed to Ipswich Town Football Club, and it’s great to see.

“Obviously, from my experience at my last club where we never ever met the owners, we didn’t know them. They were obviously in it for not the right reasons.

“I think our owners are the total opposite of that and I’m sure at the minute they’re that excited that they might overspill now and again.

“And why can’t they be excited? They want to see the fruits of their labour going into a good project and a good club.

“Basically, everything that Ipswich Town has been and is and my job as the manager now is to play my part and try to deliver that success for them.”

Asked whether tomorrow is the real start of the Paul Cook era at Town, he said: “If you look back at the six months I’ve been here, the amount of turnover in players, the ownership change — this club has been a massively changing club.

“I look back on my time here, and I was devastated I couldn’t do better with the games [at the end of last season], I’ve got to tell our supporters that I was absolutely devastated I couldn’t have more of an impact on the team, but that’s life.

“We had a lot of disillusioned players, we had a lot of unhappiness and we had a lot of different emotions going on in one building.

“All the emotions that weren’t driving the club towards success, all emotions that in my world now will leave the building or have left the building or must leave the building.

“For us now going forward, there is one common theme, we are together as a football club, we’re together as a group of people, and if people don’t want to be a part of that, then there’s no problem.”

Saturday will be the first competitive game in his time at Portman Road with a crowd with around 20,000 expected.

“Again, as I say to our supporters, I’ll always go out and clap them before the game, especially away from home. I’ll go to the visiting end and clap them just to thank them for the support and travelling to watch us,” he said.

“At home, I’ll clap them as I come out. At the end of the game, I think it’s always the time for the players and the rest of the staff to acknowledge the support and we just want to continue a cycle this season, a continuous cycle of everybody at the club playing their part.

“People don’t realise how important the little things are, the guys on the gate who welcome you, supporters asking for autographs, the people who clean our dressing rooms, right through the card, the people selling the tickets, all the office staff, the commercial staff — everybody at our club is working towards one goal, and that one goal is seeing a successful Ipswich Town football team.

“And our job is to play our part and be thankful for the support we’re getting from everywhere.

“We’ve got to make sure that on Saturday and Tuesday night that we are making people proud and that’s something that I’ve always wanted as a manager, and it’s something I pride myself on.

“People look back on my career and at all the clubs I’ve managed to turn whatever was going wrong right, and that’s something that I’ve got to do at Ipswich Town for our supporters and my bosses.”

Photo: Matchday Images

ruds added 12:20 - Aug 6 Owners excited, fans are getting that feeling back, the grounds getting a re-spray & the players spotted having a few beers together in a pub during the week. The club is slowly falling back to a club I once knew. Three points tomorrow & I'm even more happier!!
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sir_george_burley added 12:37 - Aug 6 Without doubt, ITFC needed a reset. Marcus Evans really did try hard to bring on success but it seemed clear, quite a long time ago now, that it wasn't going to happen. He sold up, as he pledged us, only to people he believed could and would invest both money and football-passion into the club (and thanks, ME, for shouldering those huge losses to leave the new owners with something like a greenfield site). Like many, I'm sorry about the mass exodus - and particularly sorry about certain young and old players - but I fully understand the new brooms' feeling that they needed such a gigantic overhaul. All the fans surely have their fingers crossed for a new era - one that may take a bit of time to come good but will have a sense of direction. As all three of these videos (rather nicely) end: Come on You Blues!

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Oldboy added 12:47 - Aug 6 Massive season ahead. Looking forward to this one like no other for a long time.
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BlueandTruesince82 added 12:52 - Aug 6 Lol Gotta love Berke "excited to see the city of Ipswich" errrr we're Ipswich Town it's in the name. Actually find that rather endearing personally
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spanishblue added 12:53 - Aug 6 Think the wine has been put back in the boardroom,Sorry I cannot be there but it should be on my tele tomorrow
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itsonlyme added 13:01 - Aug 6 All is n safe hands! We are going up up up.
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dirtydingusmagee added 13:09 - Aug 6 Very big day tomorrow, COYB.
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Blocker123 added 13:15 - Aug 6 Sir George Burley…. ‘ shouldering those huge losses'….. it's actually David Sheepshanks that you have to thank for that!!! When he sold the club to Evans, a stipulation was that he was not allowed to leave any debt on the club once he sells it! But other than that, totally agree with you. Big clean sweep was needed, and that's what we got! Up The Towen!!!⚽️🚜⚽️🚜

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PhilTWTD added 13:18 - Aug 6 Blocker123 I don't think that's true about the stipulation re debt. Indeed, there is still around £400,000 of debt to loan note holders.
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rabbit added 13:22 - Aug 6 Blocker123 that's a really interesting point about Sheepshanks, I certainly did not know that where did you get the info from please? Also I agree with you, the whole business obviously needed a complete re-set, it is such a shame that it got so toxic.
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Blocker123 added 14:13 - Aug 6 PhilTWTD and Rabbit… I am very sure it was on the podcast.. The Price of Football.👍🏻 They covered it when the takeover happened. But I have heard this mentioned a few times that Sheepshanks should also be thanked for the foresight of doing this. Now I'm not suggesting that Evans wouldn't of done it anyway… but thought it was a good point to make people aware. Up The Towen!!!⚽️🚜⚽️🚜

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ImAbeliever added 14:35 - Aug 6 24 hours to go…..knees a trembling
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ArnieM added 14:56 - Aug 6 If Sheepshanks hadn't have sold the club to Evans, ITFC would have gone under. Simple as that. He did what he could, for the best, as it was seen at the time, . Sheepshanks bleeds Blue, and he only had this Club's survival in his mind when the club was sold to Evans. To my knowledge there was no other credible buyer. Town were in some ways victims of their own success, “ qualifying” for Europe via the Fair Play League, in our second ( often more difficult) season in the Premier League. We struggled with the squad to cope with European travel and PL fixtures 3 days later. Often having no time for training / preparation for the next PL fixture. I distinctly recall some of the players saying they seemed to spend most of the week travelling. We were in a relegation dog fight…got relegated, and as if that wasn't enough the digital tv money support disappeared as it went bust. Leaving this club with expensive contracts to fund and relegation. Administration was the only possible outcome. We've been hampered by that outfall ever since……until The Three Lions ! Let's put these recriminations behind us now please, and get behind this new team, new era, new owners, new manager 100%…..there's absolutely NO guarantee we will be promoted this season , but oh boy , are we in one helluva better place now than just 3-4 months ago. COYBsss

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dirtydingusmagee added 15:00 - Aug 6 No time for that ImAbeliever,
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pennblue added 16:18 - Aug 6 These American guys are top class, all of them. They all come across so well. You can just see them all having a pint of Adnam's down the pub before the game.
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Monkey_Blue added 16:25 - Aug 6 The 3 lions own 5% and Marcus owns 5% alone. The owners are a bunch of pension fund managers not these guys. That's just fact. The money they are spending isn't theirs. I'd love to be called owner of something that I have such a small percentage of and get loads of praise for spending other people's money.
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Skip73 added 19:06 - Aug 6 So what Monkey! As long as they turn the club around I don't care if its their money or not.
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Runner added 09:54 - Aug 7 Blue&true: Yes, Berke got the city bit wrong plus Ed said city too as well as Portland Road. I am sure they will get it right next time after they have been round mine for tea next time.
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