Midlands Robin

So ultimately we've several options. 1) The breach of rules option which we'll discount as it could involve legal ramifications. 2) Ashton was not involved in any of the big work but was aware of the goings on, perhaps acted as a point of contact and was offered the role at Ipswich prior to SL being aware. 3) Ashton informed SL that he was working with investors to buy into Ipswich town on behalf of a former colleague and SL was happy for him to do so as long as it didn't effect his City work, ultimately Ashton decided to put his notice in and leave at the end of the season. 4) Ashton woke up one morning to find a group of investors involving a long time friend and work mate of his had purchased Ipswich and quite out of the blue they called him up and offered him the CEO job. Personally, I'd say the least likely of all of those would be option 3. I just can't see SL being happy with his CEO working for someone else when he should be concentrating 100 percent on Bristol City. From what I recall when the initial threads appeared on OTIB, there was no suggestion that any impropriety had taken place. The poster simply pointed out that a company with a link to one of Ashton's friends had popped up in relation to football investment. There was nothing more concrete than that. It was that scrap of info that sent the hot line at OTIB towers off. Either way, I'm sure enough rocks will eventually get kicked over to reveal more light on the subject.

I'm not so sure. We'd need to work out a timeline of events but the big questions such as who said what and when I doubt we'll ever fully know. I can guarantee though that when I'm not in work at my desk, my boss would have no idea what I'm doing. It's not all that absurd to believe Ashton was devoting some time prior to the announcement of his departure working on non City related projects.

Steve Lansdown must have felt pretty pissed off if Ashton hadn't been up front with him. City fans had been quite vitriolic about the Smarmy One for a long time prior to the Holden debacle forcing SL to come out and defend his man publicly on several occasions both in print and interviews. To then be proven to have backed the wrong horse would have been a smidge embarrassing for a man well regarded in business circles. I'd love to know the full story regarding Ashton and OTIB (and by extension the supporters club?) But understand and respect that it's unlikely to be written about. I would guess though that Ashton's initial involvement in the US was probably focused on investment opportunities in Bristol Sport and maybe, when this didn't come to fruition, Ashton saw opportunities elsewhere.

The charge against the Mem is still there unless Wally lifts it or the Mem is sold and the Wally family haven't had their loans paid off so the balance is taken out of the charge. That's how I see it?

Which breaks down as follows: £899,000 on a giant electronic score board. £1000 - 3 plastic chairs, a wooden and plastic cover over the disabled by supporters viewing area, a TV with Freeview to watch babe station, a plastic cover over the restaurant entrance, 2 pitch side sprinklers and a new carpet.

While the wife took my daughter to a birthday party today, I decided to take my lad out for a bite to eat. I took him to a pub that does great food and he calls it his favourite cafe. Unfortunately a group of rowdy Mansfield fans were using it as a pre match boozer before their game against Walsall. There wasn't any trouble but they were singing the usual footy songs and bantering with a few Walsall fans in the same pub I was annoyed and my 9 year old son wasn't massively impressed. Then I cant my mind back to certain match on May 3rd 2014 where Sir Colin Daniel scored the only goal of the game. Like that moment when your puppy takes a piss and a shit on your carpet but then looks at you with those beautiful puppy dog eyes, I looked at the Mansfield Town fans who'd spoiled some quality father / son time and I thought to myself "Nah, I can't stay angry at you for long" ???

The final score team have got the tissues out to wipe up after their excitement about Ronaldo scoring. Clean up on aisle 4 ?

Around the grounds, Tommy Rowe has scored for Donny and Mark Ashton's Ipswich Town are now 4-2 down.

@Davefevsthese are the type of people who seemingly walk through the rain without ever getting wet.

Regarding the relationship with agents thing. When it comes to Ashton there's always this nagging feeling in the back of your mind that there's something dodgy or inappropriate going on when of course there's absolutely no suggestion there is. When my mum and dad have replaced their car, on the last two occasions they've gone to the same garage and dealt with the same salesman. In all likelihood they'll go there again as a first choice when it comes to replacing their current one. Why? They tell the chap what they want and he finds the right car and gives them a competitive price. All parties are happy. At face value, that would explain why Ashton uses the same agent / agencies on a regular basis. Here's the thing however, Ashton is not buying a complete outfit but parts of one. So, instead of replacing a Ford Fiesta for a Ford Focus, he's buying new tyres, then a new body kit, then a new fuel filter and so on. The way he does his upgrades is by going to the same parts shop every time and by buying parts that look great but may not even fit the car he's buying it for. Of course, he doesn't bother talking to his mechanic about this but relies on Google for his research. He may have a Ford Fiesta but he'll buy a sports exhaust for a Mondeo because Google says its brilliant, then ask his mechanic (Paul Cook) to make the thing fit and get it working. The parts shop (agents( aren't going to question what Ashton's doing because why on earth would you want to stop someone from spending a fortune with you and, after all, it's none of your business why he needs those parts or where they are going to be used. When you find out you can't fit the part or its not working properly it wil just sit in the garage and rust unless you can persuade someone to buy it off you. Sometimes you can't and end up giving them away. Sounds familiar. A Mark Ashton assembled squad:

Not shocked by the responses to it it though. Ranging from "it won't happen here", "we don't believe you", "no fan knows what goes on inside the club", "well it was your fault as a club for not controlling him" and so on and so on. There are so many counter responses that could be made to their points but I sadly feel it would be a waste of breath. I get the fact that they haven't been where they would hope to be due to their ownership issues over the last decade or so but the drowning man will always grasp at anything that floats by. Who knows. It may well all work out for them but the odds are they'll be stuck in the same rabbit hole we were. Ah well, time to move on.

I've had a family connection to the Ipswich area on my mums side and my Great Uncle was a season ticket holder at Portman Road for over 50 years until ill heath prevented him from going anymore. He saw them through the 50's all the way to the turn of the millenium so had seen the good and the bad. It's dissapointing to read their forum and see some of the responses. Things like calling us knuckle draggers and the constant accusations that this whole thing is born out of spite or the fact we are jelous of them. Nothing could be further from the truth. We need to remind ourselves, we are talking about a CEO here. Football staff always move on and around the industry and there's abolutely nothing strange about that. If this had been about anyone else other than Ashton then it would hardly raise more than a few pages on the forum, mostly posts wishing the new person good luck and thanking the old one. The fact that we are still having conversations about Mark Ashton shows what a negative effect he had on our club. SL rarely talks about the internal running of the club and frequently defended Ashton while he was here in interviews but it was very evident through some of comments he made about the positive impact of Gould's arrival and the improvements he'd seen compared to what had gone before that even our owner may have finally lifted the wool from his eyes and seen the situation for himself. When people change in high profile roles they occasionally take a member of staff with them. Look at Brian Clough and Peter Taylor for example. If this has been a successful partnership then it makes sense. When Ashton moves however, he seems to take the same people with him. This isn't about keeping a winning team together but more about one man shielding himself from any external factors. The same with sacking many of the current staff at his clubs. A new person in role isn't going to challenge the effectivness of his decisions as easily as one who has been in post for a while. Ipswich's new owners have created a similar situation to that which Ashton had at City. He's in sole charge with what appears to be very little oversight. We've all seen what can happen with that. Ipswich may well see short term improvements but they won't last. Much like when Pulis walked out on us for Portsmouth, Ashton walking out for Ipswich was one of the best things that could have happened to us as a club in the last few decades. Like Pulis, if he had stayed, by the time Ashton had been found out by the board it would have been far too late. As a result of all of this, our club has been set back at least 5 years in it's progress. It feels like we are back at the start of the 16/17 season but this time without the bulk of a promotion winning team within our squad. Time will tell how we progress and how quickly but Ipswich need to realise that they have a rotten apple at the heart of their fruit basket They may not see it at first because of all the ripe, good looking stuff at the top but eventually, all of that will have been eaten or sold and all you're left with then is a pile of stinking mush at the bottom and no way of getting rid of it.

Ah yes, the traditional follow up interview while things appear to be going well. In three months when the situation still looks dicey it will be Cooks face in the interviews.

Abolutely, and of those 13 look how many are in what's supposed to be their prime years 25 to 29. If they don't make the grade they're going to be expensive to replace and if they're not replaced the squad takes on an even higher average age. The January transfer window could see as much activity as this one. Crazy.

we posted the same thing within seconds. Great minds and all that....

Got it. That's not their new signings that's the other 3 members of Joey Barton's last police line up.

The effects of the tranquiliser dart wore off too soon. He woke up and legged it.

Unless I miss counted (maybe one out either way) this is Leon Clarke's 19th club in 18 years. (including loans)

You think that's bad, this is their latest 16 year old youth signing: a

The last three head clowns at the Cirque Du Shoddy Garner P33 W6 D8 L19 - 18.18% Tisdale P19 W5 D3 L11 - 26.3% Barton P24 W4 D3 L17 - 16.7%

Before Barton, could anyone honestly imagine any manager at any club saying "I'm only here to put myself in the shop window for a bigger club"? I can think of a list of managers who had top flight playing career's and went on to cut their teeth managing lower league clubs and can't think of any of them as being as arrogant and deluded as Barton.

A good mate of mine is a life long Gills fan and they loved Cundy last season. Once fit he needs a chance to show NP what he can do and force his way in to contention but I'd have no problems with Moore going permanently if Cundy steps up.

I have to say this quite quietly as it makes me feel slightly nauseous to praise an ex Sag manager and Swindle however Garner has done a good job there so far. Let's be honest, he got the job because the club was an absolute wreck and based on his previous form with the methane snorters he wasn't likely to get too many offers of employment. Since he's signed on he's assembled an entirely new squad out of thin air and won 2 and drawn 1 of his first 4 games. Meanwhile, at delusion central Barton can't win a coin toss with a two headed coin Oh dear, how sad, never mind.

Wrote an entry in my diary tonight, it simply reads "Bugger"