TWTD Questionnaire 2020/21

Little surprise that Marcus Evans's 13 years as club owner aren't rated particularly highly by Blues supporters.

Looking back, Evans missed his chance to be a success with Town in his early days. When he first came in towards the end of 2007, his wealth was enough to make the Blues one of the Championship's richer clubs.

But after Jim Magilton was unable to reach the play-offs, his reckless if ambitious appointment of Roy Keane was to prove his biggest mistake.

By the time Paul Jewell took over, Evans didn't have as much cash to spend as he had earlier in his time at Portman Road as the division got richer around Town. And then richer and richer.

For all his faults, Mick McCarthy kept Town in the Championship - despite a wage bill which around the 18th highest in the division and about a third of the top paying sides - and for one season even saw them into the play-offs.

Inevitably, another poor management appointment and a disastrous summer of transfer business and Town were in League One.

Another bad appointment had already been made by the time the Blues found themselves in League One, while the club was becoming increasingly directionless and rudderless off the field.

In the last couple of years the way the Blues were being run seemed to deteriorate with Evans never having put a properly functioning structure in place, even after it had been clear things hadn't been working for a number of years.

Evans, who has a five per cent stake in the new ownership but seems very much a sleeping partner, seemed to take the same approach as running his other businesses, with him running the show surrounded by a trusted coterie assisting him.

The lack of leadership became more and more evident as the club's situation worsened and relationships with fans and media became increasingly fractious.

The takeover when it came was well overdue with Town stagnating under Evans's ownership.

Whether Paul Cook could have turned the club around under Evans is something we'll never know but it's difficult to see how the Blues would have been able to challenge at the top end of the Championship even if they'd won promotion at some stage given Evans's financial limitations.

On the plus side, Evans did have the financial wherewithal to protect the club from the worst effects of the pandemic and at the time he took over Town were on their way towards a second period of administration. He also has seemingly passed the club on to safe hands.

But overall the Evans years were a great failure. The boat was missed in the early days and he should have sold the club at least halfway into his tenure as it became clear he couldn't compete with the ever deeper pockets elsewhere in the Championship.