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Ashton: If the Stars Line Up Jackson Will Stay
Friday, 1st Apr 2022 10:16

Town CEO Mark Ashton says striker Kayden Jackson will be staying with the Blues “if the stars align”, skipper Sam Morsy having said earlier in the week that he is “led to believe” that the 28-year-old will sign a new deal at Portman Road.

Jackson is out of contract in the summer but manager Kieran McKenna said recently that the 2018 £1.6 million signing from Accrington was someone he saw as part of the club’s future, the frontman having impressed him since he took over in December.

Speaking in a podcast with TWTD and Blue Monday, which can be watched in full below, Ashton was asked about Morsy’s comments.

“Sam must be the new head of recruitment!” he joked. “I think Kieran has made it clear that Kayden is someone he foresees being here so we’ll step through that process and as ever that takes a little bit of time and if all those stars line up then he’ll be here.

“I think it’s unfortunate that he got the injury that he did when he did but we’ll step through that.

“It’s difficult for me to talk about individuals specifically because it’s unfair to them but Kieran’s very clear on what he wants and we’ll do our very best to support him.”

Have talks started more generally with the club’s out of contract players? “No, not generally. We’ve got six games left and Kieran wants to keep things very focused on those six games, and that’s what we’ll do, and then we’ll pick those discussions up as and when we get to the point where we know where we’re going to be.”


Looking ahead to the club’s summer recruitment, Ashton says the Blues will be looking to recruit the same players whether they’re in the League One or the Championship rather than having two lists of potential targets.

“I can understand why you would say that, but I don’t think there is much difference,” he said.

“Kieran’s spent a lot of time with us, as have [assistant manager] Martyn Pert and [goalkeeper-coach] Rene Gilmartin and [head of analysis] Charlie Turnbull, talking about the physical attributes and the technical attributes of the players that he would like to see join this football club.

“One of the things that they’ve said is that they want to be consistent in their approach, so they want to recruit players into the football club that can go on the journey with them, that they can develop and take right the way through.

“It’s difficult, you can’t do that with every single player that you bring in but their philosophy is very sensible, very well presented and for us is a delight because when you’ve got a recruitment team they need absolute clarity on what they are trying to recruit.

“Alignment is absolutely key. Alignment from the ownership to Mike O’Leary to me and Kieran right at the top of the tree is absolutely vital.

“But that alignment right throughout the organisation to the players and the recruitment team is vital and I think one of the things you’ve seen with Kieran is that his communication doesn’t alter whether we win, lose or draw. He’s very consistent in his approach and that consistency makes our job to support him that much easier.”

League One clubs are restricted in what they can pay in wages by the division’s Salary Cap Management Protocol (SCMP) rules, however, Ashton says they won’t have an impact on Town in the summer ahead.

“No. I could spend an hour explaining in the intricacies of SCMP to you. It’s not a problem to us.”

Owner cash injections as opposed to loans are a way that clubs can increase what they’re able to pay out in wages, is that something that’s been utilised?

“There are a number of methods that have been used,” Ashton continued. “Someone said to me at an early Fans’ Forum that we don’t want to get a points deduction etc.

“There’s a fundamental difference between SCMP in League One and League Two and P&S [profit and sustainability] which is in the Championship and you’ve got to be very careful that you are planning for P&S when you’re at the top of League One because you’ve got to move between the two divisions.

“We wouldn’t be able to sign players if there an SCMP breach, that dialogue is ongoing with the EFL and there’s no issues. We know what our headroom is, we know the mechanisms that we would need to put money into the football club to make sure we have the headroom.

“And what people tend to forget about, go and look at the money we brought in this summer for the players we traded out. People forget that.

“We’re in a good place, we know what the financial plans are for next season and we’re stepping through that recruitment process for next season and it’s well under way now.

“It doesn’t suddenly start at the end of the season. We’ve been on that for a while and we’ll move forward swiftly.”


Photo: Matchday Images



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ImAbeliever added 10:41 - Apr 1
All under control then. Bring it on 💪
2

Lightningboy added 11:07 - Apr 1
If we're to get out of this league next season (assuming we don't this season) we are going to need a striker who can knock in 20+ goals...I don't see any of the current crop being capable of doing that,they're struggling to get 20 between the 4 of them this season.

I hope KM's got a new striker lined up during the summer.
8

Suffolkboy added 11:10 - Apr 1
Objectivity and unity of purpose and action : it's all together now at ITFC !
COYB
2

Bazza8564 added 11:29 - Apr 1
Lightningboy, great comment but i think the word "hope" can safely be replaced with "damned sure" in the last line :)
4

Portman_Pie added 11:31 - Apr 1
Personally - for me, this is completely underwhelming. I'd have no issue with Jackson moving on close season. Since he was signed - it's glaringly obvious that he isn't capable of playing up front independently. If the likely formation for next season is the same as this season - then I see no place for him.

3 games of ‘looking alright' doesn't negate 3 seasons of being under par.
1

Barty added 11:34 - Apr 1
Shame about Jacksons injury - just at the time he hit form again. Jackson , Norwood , Bonne & Piggott all have potential but I don't think they will all be here next season. We definitely need to add a proven striker during the summer.
2

Bazza8564 added 11:40 - Apr 1
Portmanpie, im not going to be churlish mark you down because its opinion and we are all "right", but on this one I actually do think we should keep him.

My challenge would be to say that under McKenna he's looked a completely different player, really decent at MK, played Burton on his own at times he was so on fire and looked good in other games until the injury.
I would prefer to view him like Donacien and Wolfenden (Also going nowhere before)who looked woeful not long ago and masterful now.
I see the forwards being very interchangeable and whilst I dont see Kayden as the first name on the team sheet every week, I do see him in certain games and off the bench with pace as a high impact substitute being very useful.
Its a shame neither Mr Cook nor Mr Lambert had the ability to get the best out of him, and although Cook did play JD, Wolfy was nowhere to be seen for months.
3

Ipswichbusiness added 12:10 - Apr 1
I prefer to see signings as early as possible in the summer window, so that they have a proper pre-season with us. By contrast, last summer we were still signing players after the season had started which May explains the poor start.
3

Flamencaman added 12:41 - Apr 1
Bazaa your right in my opinion, it's obvious now that Cook was out of his depth without his right arm man and Lambert Who's this new Wolfie him and Jackson were totally disinterested JD well once Mr I played for big pants clubs, JD been exceptional hardly put a foot wrong, isn't it lovely to think we're going to see a team trying every game, lets hope Kierans magic keeps flowing and our American friends get some return so they carry the journey through
2

Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 16:30 - Apr 1
While I am over the moon about our new manager's appointment, it is only fair to remember that none of the the pre-Cook incumbents (no names, no pack drills) had the same financial backing as we have now. Lambert, for example, often pointed out that much was wrong in the State of Ipswich, but he wasn't given the means to change things radically. Now we have someone in place who most of us believe is doing that, and without any of the communication problems that most of our other managers seem to have suffered from.
0

have_a_word_with_him added 17:36 - Apr 1
Good for Jackson, he seems to have a new lease of life under McKenna who rates him, and that's absolutely good enough for me. Fingers crossed he signs on the dotted line!
2

BlueRuin69 added 18:08 - Apr 1
Jackson has something you cannot teach.....Pace.....
1

peewee added 10:43 - Apr 2
I think we need 2 starting 11 strikers, With Jackson and Simpson on the bench/tactical change starts. No matter what happens the front 2 need to be scoring and the group we have just don't seem to be able to score
0

brassy added 07:00 - Apr 7
in kieran we trust coybs
0


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