Chairman Mike O’Leary says Marcus Evans was a demanding seller in the long negotiation which led to the Gamechanger 20 Ltd takeover of the Blues and director Ed Schwartz believes the Blues' former owner deserves some credit for making sure the club was put into good hands when he sold up earlier this year after just over 13 years at Portman Road.

Evans retained a stake in Gamechanger, which owns 87.5 per cent of the club, which O’Leary says is not at a fixed level, and also retained some land at Bent Lane.

“There [have been] a number of moves in the way the funding has happened over the period since the acquisition was made,” the chairman said at last night’s fans’ forum.

“Marcus’s shareholding in GC20 has fluctuated between five per cent and probably three per cent. It’s currently probably at the lower end of that range. It does change month-on-month depending on how the funding is handled.

“I don’t actually think Marcus has been to a game since the deal closed. I certainly haven’t seen him. He still has a box which he is at liberty to use but I don’t think he’s used it.

“He’s a very busy chap, he’s all over the world running his other businesses, so in some ways I’m not surprised by that. He doesn’t have to be here to do anything now.

“But I think pretty much, he still feels he’s a fan and wanted that minority stake and he still has it. So, that’s where we are.”

Schwartz, who was at Portman Road for the first time yesterday, was asked whether he and the other current owners would take similar care when the time finally comes for them to move the club on to someone else.

“It’s a great question and something I started thinking about today as we were going through some of our detailed plans,” he reflected.

“Our goal is to build something, I’m sure you’re sick of me saying it already, that has long-term sustainable success.

“And part of that plan is to make sure that we have a good succession plan and that however long we own this team for, is it going to be 10 years, 15 years, however long it is, that we position it so someone could take over and continue with those plans.

“Our objective, our hope, our goal is to do what I think Marcus Evans did. I know he might not have been as popular an owner at the end, but I hope at least he gets some credit for, and maybe I’m biased in saying this, but in selecting us to acquire the team as opposed to someone else.

“Because he did say, and the negotiations too many, many months, it was a very tough negotiation, but he really did, and Mike can speak to this better than me, he really did care about the club and he wanted it in good hands.”

O’Leary concurred: “I can absolutely vouch for that. He made it very clear that coming up with the purchase price alone simply didn’t cut it.

“We had to provide him with evidence that we had resource that would allow us not only to buy the club from him for whatever valuation we agreed, but we had sufficient working capital available to us to take the club forward and we had a managerial group that had experience and was able to manage the club successfully and would be able to equally take it forward.

“He was a pretty demanding seller and Ed is quite right, the negotiation was lengthy, it was sometimes very tough, but he drove a hard bargain, but you would wouldn’t you?

“But at the end of it all, everyone came out of it feeling that it was OK. We all got the deal we wanted. He got the deal he wanted and we’re very, very comfortable with where we are.”

Photos: TWTD/Matchday Images

BobbyBell added 13:15 - Nov 9 Was ME ever a true fan? Did he ever show the excitement that these new owners do? Who wants Marcus back??????
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midastouch added 13:35 - Nov 9 As much as I criticised Marcus Evans during his ownership, at least he didn't sell out to the first buyer without caring whether they had the proper means and will to take us forwards. He could have simply cut and run at the first opportunity.
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ghostofescobar added 13:54 - Nov 9 Of course, Evan's is such a "fan" and "really did care about the club" to such a massive extent that he turned us into an established 3rd tier team operating on a semi professional basis, with every single aspect of the club being left to rot, die and wither away. Imagine the mess he would have left us in if he wasn't such a fan and didn't care so much. In my opinion, he was not/is not a fan, nor cared deeply. Everything he did screams the complete opposite.

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Monkey_Blue added 14:19 - Nov 9 The difference between Evans and the new guys is it was Marcus's money he put in and mainly wrote off, where as the new owners are spending other people's money. It's easy to be generous at the bar when it's “on expenses”.
5

blu_dru added 14:31 - Nov 9 ME didn't know how to run a football club, didn't make the right appointments to run it for him, was not hands on enough but also not hands off enough as they said there was a vacuum where no one could make decisions in his absence. In short, he was a fan playing owner who didn't get it right. But he did make sure we weren't sold to another Venkys or Mike Ashley at least

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December1963 added 14:36 - Nov 9 The problem with Evans was he didn't understand that although football clubs these days are businesses they are also living breathing parts of the local community, you only have to read the part of Roy Keane,s autobiography (I only paid £1.50 at a charity shop for it)that covers his time at town to realise his appointment of Simon Clegg had nothing to do with football but was a business appointment.The shame is the only two (Keane and Hurst) of his managerial appointments who got any money to spend were possibly the two worst managers in our history. But thankfully we are now moving forward with owners who understand when Sir Bobby said “what is a club anyway” it's not just a business.

4

Bluearmy_81 added 14:40 - Nov 9 Dec, the only reason Hurst had 6m to spend was because Evans flogged 12m worth of our best players first!
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Monkey_Blue added 14:47 - Nov 9 Evans was still putting in around £7m of his own cash every season even when he was t seen to be. Supporting the club. He did this knowing he'd u likely see that cash back. There are way too many examples of rich men grandstanding on buying a club, throwing cash at it and leaving clubs in the lurch when their ego wasn't fed by glory. Fans are so myopic. It's not monopoly, it's real money.

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Bluearmy_81 added 16:30 - Nov 9 I dream of the day when fans on twtd stop gushing over everything Evans 'did for us.' He damaged the club massively during his tenure and turned us into an absolute embarrassment, a laughing stock. You blow my mind!! 🤯🤯
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ghostofescobar added 17:15 - Nov 9 ME lost a lot of money because of his own decisions and incompetence. Every single penny was down to him, no one else. He "may" have lost cash, we had our football club dismantled. He "wrote off" money, as he had painted himself into a corner where he had no other option. I wonder what would have happened if some dodgy Far Eastern, faceless syndicate had come in and offered him £100mill cash, do you think he would have turned it down, because he's such a fan and he cares so much?

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tractorintheloft added 17:49 - Nov 9 Can't believe our new owners have dragged up the ME debate again. He had good intentions but they were very poorly executed, dug a hole for himself and kept digging. Fortunately he found a way out for the club and for that I'm thankful. We can at last move forward again.
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istanblue added 18:14 - Nov 9 “I don't actually think Marcus has been to a game since the deal closed. I certainly haven't seen him. He still has a box which he is at liberty to use but I don't think he's used it. Says it all really.
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Bazza8564 added 18:30 - Nov 9 well credit him for buying the club at the beginning to save it and selling it to someone good at the end. This bit in the middle, the bit that mattered over 14 years, disaster. Businessmen who dont know football should never be involved. Football men who understand business, yes absolutely. History is littered with successful people who tried to dabble unsuccessfully. Simple facts are, you get football people to run football clubs. ME, i think, does corporate hospitality ? Enough said.

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trncbluearmy added 07:58 - Nov 10 Monkey blue you seriously believe it was his own money? It was company money After destroying the club he has come out of it quite nicely,still ownes shares and grabbed some land The fact he has not been to a game since selling shows how much interest he had/has in Town
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cat added 10:21 - Nov 10 History, facts and stats will tell you the Marcus Evans period was a massive disaster, there is no debate here.
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