The Office (UK): Ipswich Town edition

[Davefevs]

I got round to listening earlier.

I see he’s still pedalling the  “cash - net zero” bollox for all the ins and outs that includes next season.  It’s such horseshit it’s unbelievable.

And if SL really did text him, and I suspect he did, then again it’s only because doing anything else would be admittance that his son’s incompetence as Chairman let Ashton get away with it.

Ian King “is there scope to increase the capacity”.

Ashton “waffle, waffle” didn’t get close to answering the question.

They do have a bright, young squad, although I’m not sure 26 year old Conor Chaplin (a player I like) would ever be sold for a sum that would create enough transfer profit to offset the cost of players needed to be brought in.

Expect trading, expect lots of him, but watch the increasing wage bill and the increasing amortisation costs.

[Southend Blue]

Read (I read) some articles on the subject from EADT (The East Anglian Daily Times) website and can see where the dislike for Ashton stems from.    Still, he's part of our club set-up now so guess certain allowances have to be made.      I'll say this, if he can persuade or manage to keep Kieran McKenna from ever circling vultures during the summer and our manager is allowed to keep up his fine work for further seasons with us then I'll admit Ashton would have gone up in my estimation.    

Its been such a successful season here, amazing is one word to encapsulate it, that Ashton has often gone unnoticed.    Same goes for the Game Changer Yanks who took over from the devil-incarnate Marcus Evans.      It's been all about the players and manager but Ashton's part in the turnaround and personal involvement will always be somewhere near the surface. 

I don't expect him to return to Ashton Gate when we play you next season to quote an above post.      Only because it seems the sensible thing to do to stay away.       Can't wait for the Championship fixtures to be released in a few weeks, it'll be one of the first head-to-head meetings I'll be looking out for.     But ourselves and Norwich City have to come first naturally.    

[Davefevs]

Not an effing chance he won’t come to AG next season.  

[Loosey Boy]

18 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Not an effing chance he won’t come to AG next season.  

 Bring it on @Davefevs is all I will say - will be some atmosphere that day

[pongo88]

7 hours ago, Southend Blue said:

Read (I read) some articles on the subject from EADT (The East Anglian Daily Times) website and can see where the dislike for Ashton stems from.    Still, he's part of our club set-up now so guess certain allowances have to be made.      I'll say this, if he can persuade or manage to keep Kieran McKenna from ever circling vultures during the summer and our manager is allowed to keep up his fine work for further seasons with us then I'll admit Ashton would have gone up in my estimation.    

Its been such a successful season here, amazing is one word to encapsulate it, that Ashton has often gone unnoticed.    Same goes for the Game Changer Yanks who took over from the devil-incarnate Marcus Evans.      It's been all about the players and manager but Ashton's part in the turnaround and personal involvement will always be somewhere near the surface. 

I don't expect him to return to Ashton Gate when we play you next season to quote an above post.      Only because it seems the sensible thing to do to stay away.       Can't wait for the Championship fixtures to be released in a few weeks, it'll be one of the first head-to-head meetings I'll be looking out for.     But ourselves and Norwich City have to come first naturally.    

Of course he’s coming back. If he was allowed he’d do a lap of honour before the match and give a speech from the centre circle 

[1960maaan]

32 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Not an effing chance he won’t come to AG next season.  

His EGO wont allow him to stay away, the only way I see him not coming is if the Police insist . 

In fact, I imagine after being away for a while he expects a ticker tape Parade to welcome him back to Bristol. 

[Lanterne Rouge]

21 minutes ago, 1960maaan said:

His EGO wont allow him to stay away, the only way I see him not coming is if the Police insist . 

In fact, I imagine after being away for a while he expects a ticker tape Parade to welcome him back to Bristol. 

He`ll land in a hot air balloon in the centre circle and disembark to the cheers and adulation of his adoring Bristol public.

That`s what his own mind tells him will happen anyway.

[Lanterne Rouge]

1 minute ago, TomF said:

If they win at AG (god forbid) he’ll 100% be running down to the away end for high fives 

We`d need a pitch invasion from the Dolman if he did and someone ***** him in the confusion.

[1960maaan]

28 minutes ago, Lanterne Rouge said:

and someone ***** him in the confusion.

Jon Lansdown ? That would really boost his popularity 

[WinterstokeRoad]

31 minutes ago, Lanterne Rouge said:

We`d need a pitch invasion from the Dolman if he did and someone ***** him in the confusion.

Can’t work out if the stars are for “cuddle” or “congratulate”

[Crackers Corner]

11 hours ago, Lanterne Rouge said:

We`d need a pitch invasion from the Dolman if he did and someone ***** him in the confusion.

He would need to run to the away fans 15 mins before full time if you want anyone in the Dolman involved.

[Bristol Rob]

On 20/05/2023 at 08:26, 1960maaan said:

His EGO wont allow him to stay away, the only way I see him not coming is if the Police insist . 

In fact, I imagine after being away for a while he expects a ticker tape Parade to welcome him back to Bristol. 

Serious question, away from this forum, is the wider feeling amongst fans that Ashton is the devil responsible for all our woes?

Gotta be honest, never hear his name come up in the pubs or when chatting with fans in general. 

Obviously this forum (which isn't necessary the musings of the average) benefits from some detailed financial analysis and strong views, but I would guess a good 60 or 70% of fans have forgotten about him by now.

[Henry]

You’d think a man on his salary would be able to get both sides of his face botoxed.

[1960maaan]

2 hours ago, Bristol Rob said:

Serious question, away from this forum, is the wider feeling amongst fans that Ashton is the devil responsible for all our woes?

Gotta be honest, never hear his name come up in the pubs or when chatting with fans in general. 

Obviously this forum (which isn't necessary the musings of the average) benefits from some detailed financial analysis and strong views, but I would guess a good 60 or 70% of fans have forgotten about him by now.

If we were to meet in a Pub and discuss City, I doubt he would merit a mention. If the conversation got around to why we were in such a bad position, he might come up. Many fans , and I could include myself of years ago, only "see" the football, the rest is a sideshow. On here the discussions are focussed and deeper because it is a forum to dig into things. At least that's my take. The fact that his leaving was the Champagne moment says he was very disliked (understatement) , but he's gone and most focus is rightly on the here and now.

[Barrs Court Red]

2 hours ago, Bristol Rob said:

Serious question, away from this forum, is the wider feeling amongst fans that Ashton is the devil responsible for all our woes?

Gotta be honest, never hear his name come up in the pubs or when chatting with fans in general. 

Obviously this forum (which isn't necessary the musings of the average) benefits from some detailed financial analysis and strong views, but I would guess a good 60 or 70% of fans have forgotten about him by now.

Depends on the context of the convo, no? 
 

example 1) “Mark Ashton is the devil, responsible for all our woes” in isolation, a weird statement to make.

example 2). “I think Pearson’s done well to steady the ship after the mess Mark Ashton caused.  That guy really didn’t do us any favours long term.”  Perfectly reasonable. 

[Lanterne Rouge]

2 hours ago, Henry said:

You’d think a man on his salary would be able to get both sides of his face botoxed.

You have to remember how much he has to spend on Just For Men.

[spudski]

3 hours ago, Bristol Rob said:

Serious question, away from this forum, is the wider feeling amongst fans that Ashton is the devil responsible for all our woes?

Gotta be honest, never hear his name come up in the pubs or when chatting with fans in general. 

Obviously this forum (which isn't necessary the musings of the average) benefits from some detailed financial analysis and strong views, but I would guess a good 60 or 70% of fans have forgotten about him by now.

The amount of football fans you can speak to who haven't a clue about FFP is staggering. 

This forum is far from the ' average' football fan imo. 

So many still think owners can just spend regardless. 

 

[chinapig]

18 minutes ago, Barrs Court Red said:

Depends on the context of the convo, no? 
 

example 1) “Mark Ashton is the devil, responsible for all our woes” in isolation, a weird statement to make.

example 2). “I think Pearson’s done well to steady the ship after the mess Mark Ashton caused.  That guy really didn’t do us any favours long term.”  Perfectly reasonable. 

I broadly agree but I think you are overstating 1) making it a bit of a straw man argument.

Of course Steve is the man ultimately responsible but as he owns the club he's not accountable to anyone, as he has made clear with his "it's my club" line.

But let's not forget that in the club's own words Ashton was given control over all day to day football activities.

Leaving aside the question as to why you would give a CEO that much power over both football and financial matters then leave him unchecked by appointing a weak Chairman, as the man with all that power he should be the one held most accountable.

Though Steve won't and can't because that would be to admit he screwed up. So it was convenient for Steve to allow him to work on the Ipswich takeover so he wouldn't have to sack him.

Nigel and Richard Gould have gone some way towards fixing the damage but our next accounts will show that we are not out of the woods yet I expect.

So, to coin a phrase, I will boo!

[Bazooka Joe]

12 minutes ago, Lanterne Rouge said:

You have to remember how much he has to spend on Just For Men.

Probably somewhere around Grecian 2,000.

But it's a very grey area.

[Bazooka Joe]

3 hours ago, Henry said:

You’d think a man on his salary would be able to get both sides of his face botoxed.

Are you suggesting he's two faced?

Also. with a head as big as his, he would require at least five litres of botox.

[Ronnie Sinclair]

30 minutes ago, Lanterne Rouge said:

You have to remember how much he has to spend on Just For Men.

Edited May 21, 2023 by Ronnie Sinclair

[Davefevs]

26 minutes ago, chinapig said:

Nigel and Richard Gould have gone some way towards fixing the damage but our next accounts will show that we are not out of the woods yet I expect.

Next set of accounts (for season 22/23) will look much better, partly because there will be a £10m credit in the “transfer profit” section.  But it’s fair to say that squad building only really starts this summer and even then it’s starting from a worse position than it ought to have.  You could argue it started in January with Mehmeti and Cornick I guess.

I still can’t believe the accountant couldn’t see the damage being done.

And I still hear (just this week on Sky) the snake oil salesman talking about being cash zero over a period of time yet to have happened.  And people lap it up, least of all think to question the validity.

Just applying common sense….his current squad wage bill is gonna go up due to promotion bonuses / contract clauses, he’s gonna have to pay more to add to a squad which is not ready to compete at this level across the demands of a Championship season, let alone the fees and wages he will need to add on top.  Yep, they’ll get some more tv money, yep, they’ll get more commercial revenue, but they are already maxing out Portman Road.  If you look back at the revenues of a attendance restricted AG when he was here and the revenue growth after it returned to full capacity…and he still overspent, how is he gonna make the numbers work at Ipswich?

The recent interview by SL with the naming of Mark Robins, followed by the congratulatory text to Ashton, shows to me that SL didn’t really think Ashton did any wrong.

[Glen hump]

4 hours ago, Bristol Rob said:

Serious question, away from this forum, is the wider feeling amongst fans that Ashton is the devil responsible for all our woes?

Gotta be honest, never hear his name come up in the pubs or when chatting with fans in general. 

Obviously this forum (which isn't necessary the musings of the average) benefits from some detailed financial analysis and strong views, but I would guess a good 60 or 70% of fans have forgotten about him by now.

I meet alot of city fans through work and I’m constantly amazed how many of them don’t have a clue about what has gone on at the club over the last few years, it’s got to the stage where I don’t even bother to explain about ffp and the state we were in.

[chinapig]

26 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Next set of accounts (for season 22/23) will look much better, partly because there will be a £10m credit in the “transfer profit” section.  But it’s fair to say that squad building only really starts this summer and even then it’s starting from a worse position than it ought to have.  You could argue it started in January with Mehmeti and Cornick I guess.

I still can’t believe the accountant couldn’t see the damage being done.

And I still hear (just this week on Sky) the snake oil salesman talking about being cash zero over a period of time yet to have happened.  And people lap it up, least of all think to question the validity.

Just applying common sense….his current squad wage bill is gonna go up due to promotion bonuses / contract clauses, he’s gonna have to pay more to add to a squad which is not ready to compete at this level across the demands of a Championship season, let alone the fees and wages he will need to add on top.  Yep, they’ll get some more tv money, yep, they’ll get more commercial revenue, but they are already maxing out Portman Road.  If you look back at the revenues of a attendance restricted AG when he was here and the revenue growth after it returned to full capacity…and he still overspent, how is he gonna make the numbers work at Ipswich?

The recent interview by SL with the naming of Mark Robins, followed by the congratulatory text to Ashton, shows to me that SL didn’t really think Ashton did any wrong.

The transfer profit is helpful of course, and this time we are not going to blow it on escalating the wage bill, but we still need to look at our underlying losses with a view to continuing to reduce our costs. No more assuming there will be a never ending supply of players to sell at a profit.

As to Ipswich, I think they will gamble on going straight up. I assume the owners' long game is to sell at a profit otherwise they are taking money out of a pension fund with no benefit to its members. So they need to get to the PL before their spending comes back to bite them. Ashton is going to have a lot of fun "trading" this summer.  They could end up with an even more bloated squad than he left us with!

[chinapig]

9 minutes ago, Glen hump said:

I meet alot of city fans through work and I’m constantly amazed how many of them don’t have a clue about what has gone on at the club over the last few years, it’s got to the stage where I don’t even bother to explain about ffp and the state we were in.

Fans aren't obliged to take an interest in FFP and other off field matters of course but it's hard to see how you can form an informed opinion on what happens on the field if you don't know the context.

[Davefevs]

26 minutes ago, chinapig said:

The transfer profit is helpful of course, and this time we are not going to blow it on escalating the wage bill, but we still need to look at our underlying losses with a view to continuing to reduce our costs. No more assuming there will be a never ending supply of players to sell at a profit.

As to Ipswich, I think they will gamble on going straight up. I assume the owners' long game is to sell at a profit otherwise they are taking money out of a pension fund with no benefit to its members. So they need to get to the PL before their spending comes back to bite them. Ashton is going to have a lot of fun "trading" this summer.  They could end up with an even more bloated squad than he left us with!

Yep, underlying costs needs a good look at.  At its simplest look, the pure football side has done its bit, how about the rest.  The Bristol Sport model is not achieving the economies of scale the football / holdings side needs it too.

[Calculus]

6 hours ago, Davefevs said:

The recent interview by SL with the naming of Mark Robins, followed by the congratulatory text to Ashton, shows to me that SL didn’t really think Ashton did any wrong.

100% true. If SL thought Ashton had done anything wrong then he himself would have to admit fault in letting it happen. Add in the mealy mouthed references to NP in the same interview and there you have it. Can't see much cause for optimism as I think we're heading for yet another lap of the old, familiar circle.

[Davefevs]

15 minutes ago, Calculus said:

100% true. If SL thought Ashton had done anything wrong then he himself would have to admit fault in letting it happen. Add in the mealy mouthed references to NP in the same interview and there you have it. Can't see much cause for optimism as I think we're heading for yet another lap of the old, familiar circle.

The hope is he’s scared of Nige!

[Davefevs]

TWTD - some posters are on a different planet.

• Tom Cannon
• Zian Fleming
• Jerry Yates but no more than £650k

[M.D]

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

TWTD - some posters are on a different planet.

• Tom Cannon
• Zian Fleming
• Jerry Yates but no more than £650k

Also saying they will be in the top 8 or 6 for spending money this transfer window..