Owner Marcus Evans has outlined his reasons for giving boss Paul Lambert a new long-term deal in an an article written for Saturday’s match programme with a footballing philosophy at the heart of it.

Lambert, 50, signed a new four-year extension to his contract on New Year’s Day, taking his deal to the summer of 2025.

“I believe we will have a really exciting footballing team over the next five years,” Evans writes. “I mention the term ‘footballing team’ as I indicated 18 months ago that to get to where we all eventually want to be, we need to be a footballing team.

“In my first years as an owner, I believed a more physical, direct approach was the way to move forward. Football has changed though. Clubs in the Championship and definitely in the Premier League are playing a much more technical game now.

“I feel there is also a duty to the supporters that we play in an entertaining manner. I want to enjoy watching the team play. I’m sure the fans do.

“I have spoken to Paul and Lee O’Neill, our general manager football operations, in great length about this over the last year. They know it’s the way I want us to play and we all agree this is the right way forward for the club. It’s a philosophy that we have right through from the first-team down to the academy levels.

“The stakes are highest at first-team level of course and there will always be a plan B, plan C on how to win a football match but the foundations of how Ipswich Town will play - while I’m owner - will be around the technical approach - and that desire to play a brand of football that entertains supporters.

“I think we have played that way for much of the time Paul has been here. Perhaps we have dropped off a bit over the last month or so and this league is more physical in style than the Championship but having been party to the different approaches I can see that a more technical playing style is more complex than developing a direct approach. It needs more time for everyone in the squad to feed off each other.

“Time becomes an even more important requirement when there is a deep squad with many challenging for first-team places and therefore less games when the same group play together.

“Much has been said of our rotation policy and I want to address this point. A key part of our strategy is to develop 22 players all challenging for every position on the pitch — no comfort zones.

“Yes, this means the squad takes longer to evolve into a cohesive unit where everyone just slots into place but that doesn’t mean it isn’t the right long term plan.

“When it all clicks, a more technical approach with a deep squad will take us to higher places as opposed to a direct style which will only take us so far.

“If we give it time and support the process through the inevitable ups and downs and understand why we are working towards perfecting a style which is difficult to attain - and the fans are behind the approach, which is vital — I firmly believe we will have a club which gets to where we want to be in the long term.

“Some will ask why I entered into a long-term contract with the management team when we are experiencing a difficult run and I hope the above explains my reasoning as I believe Paul and his team have all of the attributes needed to take us forward.

“We have a fantastic manager and group of coaches who are passionate about the club, its fans and the prospects ahead. They, like anyone, need the security of knowing they will be given the time to effect a plan which is both complex and always evolving.

“If I had wanted for the next phase of the club to follow a plan for a more direct footballing approach, there would have been many other options but for the reasons I have stated above I am following a strategy which is aimed at the long term.

“It has a higher degree of difficulty and we started afresh not long ago but if we are to be anything other than an also-ran in the new football world, we have to take the time to evolve in the way I have described.

“It’s quicker and easier to build a basic engine than a complex one but in the long term the complex one, if perfected, will achieve higher degrees of success.”

The article in full will address further investment in the academy, what’s described as a makeover for Portman Road, transfer speculation and “the four factors in building this season’s squad”.

Photo: TWTD

BurleysGloryDays added 12:49 - Jan 10 Excellent piece, and massively reassuring. There are many ITFC fans who simply do not know how lucky we are. There are, however, many more, I believe, that do. Superb to see our club have a vision like this, and the talent in place to achieve it. It'll take time, but with an owner that bankrolls us, it's his time. ITFC fans are patient, and most have their heads screwed on. It's an emotional sport, I want us to win every week and i'm gutted when we get beaten, have a bad run, and so on. But I also appeal to fans to get behind this project, stay on board, stay united, and play OUR role in this project, which is to turn up, support like wild, and enjoy the ride. Press must get on board too, we're all part of the same team. COYB! Come on Lambo! And thank you to a good owner, Mr Evans

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JimInGreensboro added 13:07 - Jan 10 Oh. That's what we need to be. Put away the basketballs, lads!
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r2d2 added 13:31 - Jan 10 Marcus Evans take a bow. The most clueless man in football.
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Bluearmy_81 added 13:35 - Jan 10 A good owner?!! We're league one and sinking like a stone. I need some of what you guys are on...
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midastouch added 13:39 - Jan 10 League finishing positions since Evans took over: 2007-2008 8th 2008-2009 9th 2009-2010 15th 20010-2011 13th 2011-2012 15th 2012-2013 14th 2013-2014 9th 2014-2015 6th 2015-2016 7th 2016-2017 16th 2017-2018 12th 2018-2019 24th The numbers above don't lie. They show over ten years of steady decline under his watch. Where will be in another 10 years from now?
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dirtydingusmagee added 13:41 - Jan 10 he has more cunning plans than Baldrick , and they are just about as useful. ''The fans are getting restless again , i know i'll bury them all in another load of bullsh#t. '' He will need plenty next season if we miss out this year , he let a chance slip before , fans wont be so easily fooled,once bitten twice shy .
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midastouch added 13:46 - Jan 10 The average finishing position from the above was 12.33, so from 24 teams we finished on average in 12.33 place. Talk about mid-table obscurity, it doesn't get much more boring than that! It has been a lost decade and some under Evans. And just to cap it all off he finally fulfilled his promise to get us out of the Championship after 10+ years, just not in the direction envisioned!

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blueboy1981 added 14:35 - Jan 10 All well and good then ? - so when do we see less in the way of sideways and backward passing of the ball ? - the penny surely has to drop soon that to win games forward passing is a requirement, hopeful leading to some shots on target - which (in theory) could lead to goals - and guess what ? - we could WIN some games. As Bill Shankly said :- ‘Football is a simple game - complicated by words and idiots'.

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blueboy1981 added 14:57 - Jan 10 I don't sling verbal abuse at Evans because it is easy to criticise anyone if your own money isn't at stake - however, it has to be said that other than the name, proud history, some legendary ex players, and fantastic supporters, the past decade has been one of serious decline of status for our beloved Ipswich Town FC. We are a big Club compared with many we now find ourselves playing against - this fact alone should be an awakening for everyone as to where we really are. I for one do not understand the thinking behind Evans giving Lambert the contract and security that he now has. Had Lambert come to us with an unquestionable success record, then that could have been seen as a stability reason and justified - but Lambert simply hasn't done anything of note since leaving Carrot Road (absolute fact) - and why is that ? - every Club he has been at since cannot be blamed for his failure surely, it has to rest with him. He has the best chance now to prove himself that any Manager could ever wish for - personally, I don't think he has what it takes, but genuinely hope I'm proved wrong. To justify my opinion of Lambert - where is the justification to think otherwise ? - being at, and playing for big Clubs (as we've heard often) doesn't produce results as a Manager. Time as always will tell.

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Gcon added 15:03 - Jan 10 Evans is the problem with this club. Has been for many years and yet, in general, you still refuse to hear it and thereby enable the issue to keep deteriorating to the point I just despair and give up with you all. Anyway, here's an interesting article about McGoldrick: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/jan/10/david-mcgoldrick-beloved-blades
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TBT added 15:14 - Jan 10 A clueless self absorbed tyrant who has totally destroyed one of my loves in life. Anybody that believes anything this hapless fool says is a succour for “business BS” and somebody who blindly wants to believe there is a plan. Will League 2 convince you? National League? I have so much contempt for this idiot, he is killing one of the best supported institutions in English football and some of us are cheering him on!!! Once a year he produces a pithy meaningless statement and we're supposed to lap it up as we go down another division. Oh well, see you tomorrow as we play Accrington Stanley and we're not even likely to win!!! Accrington Stanley!!! I was there in Amsterdam, in Moscow, at Wembley, Marcus Evans is making sure those days never return.

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DifferentGravy added 15:34 - Jan 10 Bluewakaboy - Pot Calling........ Dear oh dear
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istanblue added 15:35 - Jan 10 Wanting to implement a technical style of football is all well and good, but how is it going to be paid for? It's true that we probably have some of the most technically gifted players in League One, but this will be far from the case in the Championship (assuming we actually get back there). This means that Evans is going to have to invest a pretty substantial amount of money into improving the squad. Recent history tells us that no such thing will happen as ITFC is now run on a sell-to-buy policy. Therefore, all this amounts to is spin in a vain attempt to fool fans into thinking the man at the top (Evans) actually has a plan. Moreover, if we fail to get promoted this season then the clamour to have PL sacked may become too great to ignore, making Evans look, yet again, very foolish.

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tractorboybig added 15:36 - Jan 10 dirtydingusmagee unfortuantly some supporters are so easily led he will pull the wool over their eyes forever. Is it only the real supporters who see him for what he really is?
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TBT added 16:00 - Jan 10 Burleysglorydays you won't be seeing any of those under Evans. One of his hoses is worth £16m, he has a private jet, the losses incurred by ITFC to his £400m business are negligible and he gets the chance to show off in front of his Chelsea supporting mate twice a season that he owns a football club. He supports Chelsea, watches Chelsea and believes it is an essential status symbol to show off about ITFC. He knows nothing about football and doesn't care one jot how we are doing and people like you are backing him all of the way out of the league. Please wake up!!!

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braveblue added 16:17 - Jan 10 Confused ramblings. Really poor. How can we evolve a playing system when he sells anyone with talent as soon as possible. One shot on target per match over recent weeks - in what way is that more entertaining. He really does not have a clue.
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Wonky added 16:51 - Jan 10 A welcome and overdue return to a core philosophy of good football. Hard to achieve though, wasn't that long ago that we used put 'pretty' sides to the sword with our physicality, expect this will happen to us.
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jas0999 added 17:13 - Jan 10 Good to hear from Marcus and understanding his logic in giving PL a five year deal. Also good to know that he wants us to be a technical footballing team. The problem with that is you need technically gifted footballers who tend to cost money - money Evans is unlikely to fund. I still can't see the sense of giving a manager with eighteen months of his current deal remaining a new long term extension to his contract. Certainly when looking at results. It's bizarre. Stability would still be offering a deal at the end of this season, depending upon where we finish in the league. We've heard all this five point plan before. Now we are talking another five years. It's very difficult to take what Evans says seriously.

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happybeingblue added 18:06 - Jan 10 lets start with not rotating our goalkeeper and let him and the defence get used to each other rather than the strangers they currently look like,just looking at the wycombe goal says a helluva lot to me.i cannot think of any club at any level that rotates their goalkeeper apart from the obviouos prem cup games etc,ludicrous decision i think. holy was signed by lambert so put your faith in him and play him regularly!!

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Carberry added 18:08 - Jan 10 Thanks Gcon, v good article.
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bbg added 18:17 - Jan 10 It is very obvious from the comments above that after a fairly settled spell there is a mob forming searching for another scapegoat. It is ironic that the owner is criticised for seeking to implement a better style of play. That process started last season and was not the brainchild of the owner but the very people now frantically searching for someone else blame. If there was a potential owner interested in investing (which there si not), I expect they might wonder what thanks they would get for their millions further down the line. As a result of the current "disastrous" run (5 league defeats out of 23), what was an inspirational manager a couple of months ago, might now need replacing in the eyes of many. In the search for scapegoats (owner, MM, PL and the manager who follows him) there is one stakeholder who is ignored, the ITFC supporter. A genuine supporter does just that, while all will have opinions they wont publicly attack their own players or manager. In truth, the party most responsible for relegation last season was a large section of the supporters. They demanded that we win games in a certain style even though we were competing with more than half a division of clubs with multi-millions in parachute payments. Neither I the owner or any intelligent supporter would throw further millions at trying to financially compete with such clubs. Dont employ a rotation policy in League 1? Are people crazy? Have any of you played the game, play saturday, wednesday, saturday? A keeper, CH and CM all in their twenties might, but most of the rest wont. Some may do so physically but they wont mentally. My message to supporters is to stay with PL and his team. He is the best manager you will see at the club for the foreseeable future. He is a last throw of the dice, the alternative may be League 2 or worse.

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happybeingblue added 18:54 - Jan 10 rotherham goalie 23 lge games pboro goalie 24 coventry goalie 23 wycombe goalie 24 oxford every game 17 until injured,settled back line all doing well,they play the same amount of games as us,even mick mills agrees and he played the game :) a bit
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BeattiesBackPocket added 20:41 - Jan 10 @burleysglorydays I really wish you was my boss at work I'd get away with doing b@gger all but just turn up and still get praised!
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BeattiesBackPocket added 20:52 - Jan 10 Trying to work out why I got down votes by making an actual fact that we have now restarted our five year plan every year the past 5 years!? That's as true a fact as you'll get but you still get Evans supporters not liking that or any other fact against him this is exactly why these supporters are helping with the decline of the club! They support him so he thinks he does no wrong! Just because some fans have settled for league one or two or conference at this rate doesn't mean the rest of us have to he SHOULD know it's not good enough. We let managers know when it's not good enough but he is the common denominator in our decline how can people not see we've been lied to every season. Under McCarthy my season ticket pack talked about promotion pushes yet McCarthy leaves and says his remit was to keep us up, he talks about 5 year plans of getting the kids through but wake up any real talent we have we sell cheaply 4 kids sold past 3 years from our youth and we cannot do anything about that because we're not cat 1 status the those who come through get sold if any good! So more lies and some fans lap it up! We're the most tolerant fans imo in any league as most fans would have kicked off way before now and are! We sell players for pittance because every club knows we're easy pickings recent example Webster we sell for 5 mill one season later he goes for over 20 mill and why because city can say no we can't and every club knows this! Wake up before you're clapping Evans in the conference!

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blueboy1981 added 21:12 - Jan 10 Speaking of Mick Mills (Legend) - it must be extremely difficult for him to give an honest opinion on Radio Suffolk, as well as other ex players to give their opinions as / when asked for their views of the current situation of winless run, and squad rotation. The fear is there of being ‘not wanted' at Portman Road as has been voiced before, equally so for Reporters / Journalists of local media. Full marks to Mick for his honesty, knowledge, and opinions - always a credit to Radio Suffolk, our Club, and the game.

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