Town CEO Mark Ashton has paid tribute to the Blues’ “really smart owners” and they way they have allowed him and his management team to run the club without interference.

Ashton was appointed to run Town by the club’s US owners Gamechanger 20 Ltd in June 2021, shortly after the takeover.

Quizzed on how that relationship works in a wide-ranging interview with The Price of Football podcast, Ashton says they haven’t made the mistakes many other owners have in the past.

“Firstly, we’re really fortunate here because they’re very bright people, who have come into football and where for me they’ve been different to most is that they understand business, they understand sport, but when they entered this it was a new business to them,” he said.

“So, rather than try and run this business themselves, they appointed me and a management team to write a business team and deliver against that business plan. And where I’m so fortunate is that they’ve given me the oxygen to deliver the plan.

“They don’t actively get involved in the selection of a manager or player recruitment etc, they let us write the plan, they sign the plan off, they sign the money off that needs to be put into the business to deliver that plan and then they challenge against key performance indicators on the way through. They’re fantastic.

“Where we as an industry have seen challenges at times is, and I say this very simply. I’ve been doing this a long time and let’s be really clear. I learn every single day, 30 to 40 years I’ve been in this industry, you don’t stop learning.

“If I jumped into an aeroplane tomorrow and tried to fly that plane, the one thing I can promise you that I’m going to do is crash it because I haven’t got the expertise to fly it.

“And yet people come from outside football into our industry, emotionally led at times and then wonder why they can’t straight away run the football clubs because these are very unique organisations.

“We’ve seen that happen time and time again, so I’m really fortunate to have really smart owners, who back the management team, challenge the management team, support the management team, but don’t interfere in the nuances of running the business.

“And I think that’s a real advantage for us because if you look at this football club compared with a lot of football clubs in the pyramid at the moment, we have stability.

“We’re not going to chop and change our manager every five minutes, we’re going to grow, we have a plan to move forward and we’ll stick to the plan.

“There is not erratic decision-making, it’s calm, it’s considered, it’s focused and it’s progressive. So we’re really, really fortunate with regard to that.”

And Ashton says sticking to the plan is the key to avoiding coming a cropper in the Championship.

“The problem with the Championship is really simple,” he added. “It’s emotion. You’re in a division which is one step away from the golden ticket, one step away from the Premier League where everyone wants to be, and it’s one step away from that huge financial gain of getting across the line and into the Premier League.

“And what happens is, you have a plan and a lot of clubs don’t stick to the plan in the Championship because they start to get close to either the play-offs or automatic promotion.

“And then the model changes because they overstretch and overreach, and I can understand that and I’ve been guilty of that in the past.

“But you’ve got to stick to your plan. That obsession with trying to get to the Premier League causes logical, sensible people with a lot of money in their own businesses in their own right, to make emotionally led decisions, which can be very dangerous. It’s a tough place to be.”

Photo: Matchday Images

LegendofthePhoenix added 18:53 - Jun 30 I'm no ME fan. But PhuketPete makes some good points - there weren't buyers queueing up to buy us when he did. And I believe he has said that he received around 30 offers to buy ITFC towards the end of his ownership, but held out to find the right owner. I guess it is impossible for us fans to know what offers he had and whether he could have got a better financial deal elsewhere. What we do know is that he sold to GC20 who have shown themselves to be brilliant owners. Brilliant because they have appointed Mark Ashton as CEO, and they are letting Ashton make the decisions that affect the club and its operations. And Mark Ashton is, imho, the key to the success we are seeing on and off the pitch. I have no doubt that he has made mistakes in his career, but what we have now is someone who has a fantastic understanding of football management. He is driving so much of the fan engagement, the community engagement, he selected Kieran, he built the backroom staff, the stadium development, the training pitch development....the list goes on. And he lets Kieran deal with all the football side of things without interfering. I think we are going to become a real force in English football over the coming years, because we are well managed - by a brilliant manager, a brilliant CEO and a brilliant ownership team. I'm loving it.

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Bluearmy_81 added 19:00 - Jun 30 Lickspittals. There were other potential buyers. No one made him buy us. I don't think they'd be any other club in the land where fans were so patient and accommodating and even now apologists for his chronic dismal failure. Just admit you got completely duped and taken in by is pointless five-point plan and the rest of the rubbish he trotted out to buy more time.
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sauren added 07:46 - Jul 1 I wonder if what Ashton talks about is part of what hapened in front ot the 2001/02 season. As the club (and we, the fans...) where very emotional. We did some untypical Ipswich stuff back then, I guess, as we bought some high profile and expensive players... Perhaps that was partially a reason why we lost some of the rhythm from the previous high-flying 00/01 season...?

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BurleysGloryDays added 09:35 - Jul 1 Blue81 - speaking with quite a toxic entitlement? Words are easy, criticisms are easy, promises are easy. Hard cash and real decisions are tough. The only way I agree with you is ‘if you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen'. But both for his money committed, and then for getting out of the kitchen in the right way, ME deserves some respect. Plenty of clubs go bust. We're a wonderful club but like most we haven't been profitable for donkeys.

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dazza added 10:57 - Jul 1 Whilst gamechanger has been great for the club, fans need to remember that they are ultimately looking for a return on their investment. How will they do this, most likely get us to the premiership, stabilise for a season or two and then sell the club. As a pension fund the returns from football are not great, given the costs. I like all others will enjoy the ride, but the bigger challenge will be who the next owners are and hopefully gamechanger will do us right when this time comes. Until then come on you blues 😀

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Bluearmy_81 added 11:24 - Jul 1 BGD, could be worse could be Bury!! Thank you Marcus for paying the bills?! Dear God 🙄 Pity so many fans including it sounds you, didn't set the bar a bit higher for their club then maybe we wouldn't have had to put up with such chronic failure for so long!
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