The Office (UK): Ipswich Town edition

[Davefevs]

16 minutes ago, Selred said:

Haven't you sold or loaned out half the players Ashton brought in?

Yeah, they all seem to gloss over the ones that they paid hiked wages for who they can’t move on, because nobody will take them / loans at subsidised wages.

[Sleepy1968]

37 minutes ago, Son of Fred said:

If he were in bed with my wife, within half hour she'd have him mowing the lawn -

And no, that's not a euphemism.

Would it be worth it? How big is the lawn?

[Rebounder]

2 hours ago, IpswichFanInPeace said:

Hi there all,

Firstly, ignore the ridiculous piece in The Sun! That should be a default position anyway, but the club knew Schumacher had won before, McKenna didn't attend, the club congratulated Schumacher and nobody stormed out. Our contingent left the ceremony at the end, but as this was close to this award being handed out, a Norwich fan who writes for The Sun has made this nonsense up.

I'd love to know what the issues you had with Ashton are. Since Day 1 at our club he's been incredible.

He reunited the fan base, got players out into the community, oversaw the recruitment of an amazing manager (a gamble), convinced disillusioned fans to return, oversaw phenomenal recruitment, including convincing many players with top Championship offers to buy into our project, has stayed out of the managers way, kept fans updated, delivered record gates, record season tickets (all in League One!), record shirt sales with massive international appear through a link  up with a global superstar, driven the further investment and redevelopment of large parts of the stadium and even on Tuesday night he got on the supporters coaches and thanked everyone personally.

We are almost ready to build a statue of the guy. He couldn't have been better at his job.

So forgive us if we aren't bothered about what he did at Ashton Gate which may have been either a) being made a scapegoat for the owner / directors or b) he genuinely made mistakes at your club which he learned from to our significant benefit.

If I found him in bed with my wife I'd tuck him in and bring him some cheese and biscuits.

COYB.

Quite like Ipswich and glad to see you hopefully coming back up even with Ashton in charge. 

Ultimately you're a massively underachieving team that have had a lot of money to spend the last two years so really he's done what would be expected I guess? I can understand why you're happy after so many years of Evans and his cost cutting. 

It's a bit like if City somehow found ourselves in League Two. We'd be delighted if we came back up, but it would be the least that's expected and the proper work to be judged on will come later and that's where Ashton came unstuck with City. Not to mention that when times are not going well he hides and when he does speak it massively winds people up the wrong way. Maybe he's learnt from his time at City. 

[phantom]

Do I sense a certain tongue in cheek piss take here?

Maybe a browsing Norwich supporter?

[Southend Blue]

7 minutes ago, phantom said:

Do I sense a certain tongue in cheek piss take here?

Maybe a browsing Norwich supporter?

I read the post and thought 'putting up a stature of the man' was slightly bizarre.     Didn't set off alarm bells or nothing but first reaction was one of being incredulous when reading that exact bit.       I won't berate one of our own and given the benefit of any doubt  I put it down to the time of season and tangible exuberance we're experiencing what with being hours away from a promotion back to second league level.

Thought he gave Mr Ashton a few too many plaudits though.     In bed with a wife and cheese and all that.      I know he's something of a rodent but all those acknowledgements and fanfare, seemed a bit unsavoury or unwarranted.       I read nothing but bad reviews from mostly OTIB when he came on board with us but like it or not, he has been part of a standout success with us.        It's not just down to one individual though.

If Ashton can have cheese in bed with a wife or whatever, then McKenna and Game Changer Group can have the best accommodation money can buy with a clone of Pamela Anderson's in a platinum Hollywood hotel suite.     Caviar and World's most exclusive Champagne.      Talk another time.    

 

 

[bcfc01]

On 25/04/2023 at 22:08, Loosey Boy said:

Probably end up getting them on the opening day of next season!

Us getting a promoted side first game seems to happen a lot so wouldn't be surprised.

It would be a sell out for both home and away supporters.

[REDOXO]

4 hours ago, IpswichFanInPeace said:

Hi there all,

Firstly, ignore the ridiculous piece in The Sun! That should be a default position anyway, but the club knew Schumacher had won before, McKenna didn't attend, the club congratulated Schumacher and nobody stormed out. Our contingent left the ceremony at the end, but as this was close to this award being handed out, a Norwich fan who writes for The Sun has made this nonsense up.

I'd love to know what the issues you had with Ashton are. Since Day 1 at our club he's been incredible.

He reunited the fan base, got players out into the community, oversaw the recruitment of an amazing manager (a gamble), convinced disillusioned fans to return, oversaw phenomenal recruitment, including convincing many players with top Championship offers to buy into our project, has stayed out of the managers way, kept fans updated, delivered record gates, record season tickets (all in League One!), record shirt sales with massive international appear through a link  up with a global superstar, driven the further investment and redevelopment of large parts of the stadium and even on Tuesday night he got on the supporters coaches and thanked everyone personally.

We are almost ready to build a statue of the guy. He couldn't have been better at his job.

So forgive us if we aren't bothered about what he did at Ashton Gate which may have been either a) being made a scapegoat for the owner / directors or b) he genuinely made mistakes at your club which he learned from to our significant benefit.

If I found him in bed with my wife I'd tuck him in and bring him some cheese and biscuits.

COYB.

Mark Ashton is not fully responsible for his abject failure, pushing us to the very brink of FFP infractions with a bloated squad on huge wages that the Club could not afford. He was ably assisted by Lee Johnson and over saw by Mr Lansdown! 

You put a manager with insignificant experience and aN inflated view of his own ability (he predicted Europa League in five years that haunted his consistent failure) an owner/majority shareholder that would openly state my money my choice (this is only partially true, the club had to generate money to stay within the rules, thus this is a choice made that would allow the club to get aboard the fast track to failure) and a bloke who would happily negotiate ridiculous contracts at enormous cost to placate the former  

However in his case what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and Ipswich have benefited by his experience, particularly as he was not enslaved by limitless money and a child who wanted a new toy every week. 
 

Ipswich town is a completely different kettle of fish financially, its division, its owners resources and in view of its personnel, which is an obvious better fit for him now than he was here then. 
 

 

 

Edited April 28, 2023 by REDOXO

[Numero Uno]

42 minutes ago, Southend Blue said:

I read the post and thought 'putting up a stature of the man' was slightly bizarre.     Didn't set off alarm bells or nothing but first reaction was one of being incredulous when reading that exact bit.       I won't berate one of our own and given the benefit of any doubt  I put it down to the time of season and tangible exuberance we're experiencing what with being hours away from a promotion back to second league level.

Thought he gave Mr Ashton a few too many plaudits though.     In bed with a wife and cheese and all that.      I know he's something of a rodent but all those acknowledgements and fanfare, seemed a bit unsavoury or unwarranted.       I read nothing but bad reviews from mostly OTIB when he came on board with us but like it or not, he has been part of a standout success with us.        It's not just down to one individual though.

If Ashton can have cheese in bed with a wife or whatever, then McKenna and Game Changer Group can have the best accommodation money can buy with a clone of Pamela Anderson's in a platinum Hollywood hotel suite.     Caviar and World's most exclusive Champagne.      Talk another time.    

 

 

The easiest way of putting it is that if Ashton leaves you in the state he left us, of course aided and abetted by an owner who gave him his total trust, you will have a vastly different opinion of him, probably a very similar opinion we have of him.

The only positive to arise from how he left us is very luckily we appointed a Manager who had the balls to throw a number of Academy lads to the sharks (we couldn’t afford to do anything else in our FFFP situation) and have coped admirably at Championship level. With £10m from Semenyo and an expected £20m plus for Scott we SHOULD be in a position to look the right way next season instead of over our shoulders.To get to this point we have had to endure two seasons of some of the most turgid football imaginable and only now are supporters watching football worth paying for.

Other than that Swiss is a top bloke

[Merrick's Marvels]

5 hours ago, IpswichFanInPeace said:

I'd love to know what the issues you had with Ashton are. Since Day 1 at our club he's been incredible.

Since Day 1, he's been ******* you over - you just don't know it yet. Then - like us - you'll wake up one day and realise you're losing money hand over fist, costs out of control, expenditure irresponsibly outstripping income and you're hurtling towards an FFP breach and a points deduction. You'll look for the CEO to stand up and be counted, only to catch sight of his sorry ass scarpering over the horizon to another job, leaving devastation in his wake. 

So give it time, yeah. He's been with you 5 minutes but it takes a while for the shit to hit the fan with this arrogant, vainglorious pr 1 ck. It just takes a while for someone else to read the whirlwind. It won't be him, for sure. 

Edited April 28, 2023 by Merrick's Marvels

[RedM]

In short he got fortunate with turning around a couple of players into good deals for the club. He got the owner's trust who took his eye off the ball and Ashton seemed to have free reign. He believed his own hype and thought he could flip any player into a profit, so pretty much bought as many as he could no matter what. The squad was bloated and costly, both financially and how we lacked progress. it was a relief when he left but his unwanted legacy lived on.

[Merrick's Marvels]

* reap the whirlwind.

Darn ignorant autocorrect. 

[GrahamC]

1 hour ago, Merrick's Marvels said:

Since Day 1, he's been ******* you over - you just don't know it yet. Then - like us - you'll wake up one day and realise you're losing money hand over fist, costs out of control, expenditure irresponsibly outstripping income and you're hurtling towards an FFP breach and a points deduction. You'll look for the CEO to stand up and be counted, only to catch sight of his sorry ass scarpering over the horizon to another job, leaving devastation in his wake. 

So give it time, yeah. He's been with you 5 minutes but it takes a while for the shit to hit the fan with this arrogant, vainglorious pr 1 ck. It just takes a while for someone else to read the whirlwind. It won't be him, for sure. 

We had the success bit under LJ, Man U win etc, but you’re spot on, as soon as results start to dip then he’ll soon go missing.

“I’d love to come back on the show, Geoff”…

Let’s face it getting out of L1 spending money like water is no achievement at all. Cotts is supposed to have done that but he sold Sam Baldock for £2m & balanced the books, no £1m full backs in his side.

As his recruitment being “amazing”, several of his initial signings there like Pigott & Harper are already out on loan elsewhere.

Bloke’s a *** & will get slaughtered in BS3 when we play them next season.

Edited April 28, 2023 by GrahamC

[Merrick's Marvels]

8 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

Bloke’s a *** & will get slaughtered in BS3 when we play them next season.

I'll be disappointed if he makes it from the car park into the ground. I'm sharpening my pitchfork already. 

[exAtyeoMax]

On 26/04/2023 at 09:03, 1960maaan said:

"May the Fleas of a Thousand Camels infest the crotch of Mark Ashton.... And may his arms be too short to scratch"

[GrahamC]

5 minutes ago, Merrick's Marvels said:

I'll be disappointed if he makes it from the car park into the ground. I'm sharpening my pitchfork already. 

Reckon he might bottle it?

[Gazred]

1 minute ago, GrahamC said:

Reckon he might bottle it?

Talking of bottles, he still needs to collect his 'Champagne Moment of the season' award.

[phantom]

48 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

Reckon he might bottle it?

His ego wouldn't let him 

He'll be parading around the front of the Atyeo like a show pony 

[GrahamC]

1 minute ago, phantom said:

His ego wouldn't let him 

He'll be parading around the front of the Atyeo like a show pony 

It’s going to be Pulis on his return with Stoke levels of abuse, then..

[Davefevs]

58 minutes ago, Merrick's Marvels said:

I'll be disappointed if he makes it from the car park into the ground. I'm sharpening my pitchfork already. 

The prickerman

[GrahamC]

11 hours ago, Merrick's Marvels said:

I'll be disappointed if he makes it from the car park into the ground. I'm sharpening my pitchfork already. 

“Running towards adversity”?

[exAtyeoMax]

Even if he’s not in the ground, I’m sure the fans can show our appreciation !

Edited April 29, 2023 by exAtyeoMax

[The Humble Realist]

Won promotion. 

Fair play to them regardless of some of our feelings about Ashton.

They've had a great last 10 to 15 games. 

Be interesting to see how they do next year. 

[Silvio Dante]

My mate, who is an ITFC season ticket holder, reliably informs me that Ashton was crying post final whistle today.

Whether that was emotion or the realisation of having to work within FFP, who knows….

[Lanterne Rouge]

I did look to see if he was being carried shoulder-high around the pitch at the end but couldn`t spot him I imagine he`ll be front and centre of their open-top bus tour though.

[Lrrr]

On 28/04/2023 at 13:57, IpswichFanInPeace said:

Hi there all,

Firstly, ignore the ridiculous piece in The Sun! That should be a default position anyway, but the club knew Schumacher had won before, McKenna didn't attend, the club congratulated Schumacher and nobody stormed out. Our contingent left the ceremony at the end, but as this was close to this award being handed out, a Norwich fan who writes for The Sun has made this nonsense up.

I'd love to know what the issues you had with Ashton are. Since Day 1 at our club he's been incredible.

He reunited the fan base, got players out into the community, oversaw the recruitment of an amazing manager (a gamble), convinced disillusioned fans to return, oversaw phenomenal recruitment, including convincing many players with top Championship offers to buy into our project, has stayed out of the managers way, kept fans updated, delivered record gates, record season tickets (all in League One!), record shirt sales with massive international appear through a link  up with a global superstar, driven the further investment and redevelopment of large parts of the stadium and even on Tuesday night he got on the supporters coaches and thanked everyone personally.

We are almost ready to build a statue of the guy. He couldn't have been better at his job.

So forgive us if we aren't bothered about what he did at Ashton Gate which may have been either a) being made a scapegoat for the owner / directors or b) he genuinely made mistakes at your club which he learned from to our significant benefit.

If I found him in bed with my wife I'd tuck him in and bring him some cheese and biscuits.

COYB.

Know for a fact if you hadn’t gone up this season you were in some shit financially, first team departments like sport science, analysis, medical would have been facing a 50% budget cut if you didn’t go up 

[Davefevs]

24 minutes ago, Silvio Dante said:

My mate, who is an ITFC season ticket holder, reliably informs me that Ashton was crying post final whistle today.

Whether that was emotion or the realisation of having to work within FFP, who knows….

Crying out of relief.  Was preparing himself to run from adversity as the Alabama Pension Fund boss lined him up to make him squeal like a hog!!

8 minutes ago, Lrrr said:

Know for a fact if you hadn’t gone up this season you were in some shit financially, first team departments like sport science, analysis, medical would have been facing a 50% budget cut if you didn’t go up 

…Suffolk’s ITK

[Silvio Dante]

This thread has now reached the self actualisation stage

[Bernard Lerring]

One can only assume that Ashtons mirror is going to see a lot of action this bank holiday, both snorting and w*nking action 

[cidercity1987]

How are 'the best team in this league, EVER' getting on with trying to be the best team in the league this season? 

[M.D]

I like Ippo, a good friend of mine is an Ippo fan so that sways me a bit. I have no problem with them and the Ashton thing has been done to death on here. I told him that Ashton was given far too much control  here and that was part of the problem and watch him if he has a free run with financial control.

He is talking about play offs next year already, just promoted so give him his dreams, but its a massive gulf now between league 1 and the championship, saying that, I wish them (except MA) well next season.