Ashton: We'll Forge an Informal Link With Rhode Island
Tuesday, 28th Mar 2023 11:33

Blues CEO Mark Ashton, who recently returned from a trip to the US, says there will be an informal link with Rhode Island FC, the new USL Championship club where one of Town’s Three Lions, Brett Johnson, is chairman and co-founder.

Ashton travelled to the US earlier this month and spent time at Rhode Island, which is set to debut in the USL Championship, the level below the MLS, in the 2024 campaign, with the US season running through the summer.

“The trip to the US was good,” Ashton reflected. “It had been planned for a while. My God, we did some miles and some plane hops.

“I was Heathrow - Phoenix, Phoenix - Boston, Boston - Rhode Island, Rhode Island - Boston, Boston - Cleveland, Cleveland - New York, New York and back in seven days, hence why I look like I’m 95!

“I got to meet lots of different people. Rhode Island was good. Went and spent some time with Brett and looked at the project.

“There’s no formal link, it’s the same with Phoenix Rising [in which the Three Lions - Johnson, Berke Bakay and Mark Detmer - are co-owners], we help each other but that’s Brett’s specific project.

“A great location, a great example of how a football club can regenerate an area and to say Brett’s done a good job there is an understatement.

“Initially there’ll be a sharing of knowledge and information around recruitment, players, coaching, sports science, medical, we’ll probably have some of his staff here, some of my staff might go there.

“What we’re also talking about from a US perspective is, and I keep pushing the USL on this all the time, they need to change their calendar. They need to fall in line with the European calendar, Brett knows my thoughts on this, he feels exactly the same.

“Because if the USL change their calendar to a European calendar, then it becomes interesting for loans.

“If Rhode Island had been up and running and we knew their coaches there, their medical and sports science staff, and the calendars were matching, this January, we might have made the decision to send one or two of our players coming back to fitness there with people we know and trust ready for the summer. But if the calendars don’t match, it’s very difficult to get the right time periods.

Delighted to welcome Mark Ashton and Ed Schwartz from @IpswichTown to see the progress at Tidewater Landing last week with RIFC Co-Founder @bmjcrew28.
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Wishing the Tractor Boys all the best as they continue their League One campaign and look forward to continued collaboration! pic.twitter.com/DbW3Ku3lTs

— Rhode Island FC (@RhodeIslandFC) March 11, 2023

“I think the other thing we’d like to look at with the US is potential exit strategies for the younger players who may not have had the careers in the UK that they would have wanted to, Ben Morris [who recently joined another USL side Detroit City] being a prime example.

“And it may give them an exit pathway, an exit strategy to part of our family, if you like, for the future.

“We’re discussing that on an ongoing basis. And the good thing is that Brett gets us, we get him, I’ve known him for a number of years, but I think it would be more of an informal relationship working for both sides, the same with Phoenix Rising.”

Ashton confirmed that the Three Lions will continue to invest money in the club along with PSPRS, the Arizona-based pension fund which owns by far the largest stake in the club.

Further investments have been made in the two years since the takeover, largely by the PSPR, reducing the percentage of Gamechanger 20 Ltd owned by former owner Marcus Evans.

The stake in the overall club held by the PLC, the club’s shareholding prior to Evans’s 2007 takeover, which was 12.5 per cent to Gamechanger’s 87.5 per cent, has also been reduced as a result of some of those investments.

“Dilution, and that will continue to happen unless they want to follow the money and put some money in.” Ashton said.

“The Three Lions’ [stake] fluctuates because their shareholding will go up and down a little bit depending on what time period they’ve put money in themselves. I can’t give you the details on that because I’ll be in a world of trouble.

“PSPRS/ORG are the powerhouse behind it, but the Three Lions, there’s a plan with the Three Lions so you’ll see their percentages probably fluctuate depending on when they put money in, but that’s the plan. It’s all relevant, but I’m absolutely sure they’ll [continue to] put money in.”