Ipswich Town: Mark Ashton and Kieran McKenna provide club update.

Ipswich Town’s unexpected ascension from League One to the Premier League has necessitated a lot of hard work behind the scenes.

It is not merely a great fairytale with a happy conclusion. Without meticulous preparation and tremendous investment, the Blues would not have gotten this far. It’s even more difficult at the top level of English football.

According to Transfermarkt, Town is now ranked 11th in Europe for net transfer fee spending since last summer. After their elevation, they spent more than £100 million and needed to strengthen in January. CEO Mark Ashton has long acknowledged that it would be “absolutely vital.”

“We’re behind the curve,” he told Town TV. “We’re a club that hasn’t played in the top division in almost 20 years. Even the clubs that were promoted with us were receiving parachute payments and had just competed in the Premier League.

“They had half-built Premier League squads; we needed to spend.

“I believe we invested wisely, sticking to the model and investing in some very good, young talent.” While we have made significant investments in transfer fees, I believe it is important to remember that the pay base will be one of, if not the lowest in the Premier League.

“We are where we are, and we understand the difficulty of joining the world’s best league. It’s the issue of having two tremendous seasons but failing to establish infrastructure and squad depth to support them.

“If we had waited in the Championship for two or three years before being promoted to the Premier League, the squad would have been more mature, and we would not have needed to buy as many players, but we needed to believe in what the manager and players were doing.

“I believe we have acted sensibly. The board and investors have been terrific. They have helped us at every chance. We’ve made significant investments in really promising people.

The Blues recruited four new players during the January transfer window.(Image: PA.)

The January transfer window was always going to be crucial. With Ipswich in the relegation zone, greater depth and quality were always needed. The acquisitions of Ben Godfrey, Jaden Philogene, Julio Enciso, and Alex Palmer surely do that.

Maybe they needed more. Despite a lack of depth up front and on the right side, Kieran McKenna is satisfied with his current roster and recognizes the challenge of recruiting the proper players midway through the season.

“We worked really hard and really well,” the manager said. “You cannot take everything because that is not how the world or football works. With only a week remaining in the transfer window, it is impossible to forecast a Wes Burns injury.

“You can’t always forecast everything, but there was a crucial balance to strike between improving the team throughout each window and opportunity. The transfer window is the sole opportunity to do so. There has been phenomenal growth.

“We’ve tried to approach the season in the proper manner, maintaining our commitment to the group and the players who have been with us while also recruiting to improve for this season and the future.

“It is critical that we strive to achieve it in January, regardless of where we are. I believe that Jaden Philogene joining the club is another example of a young, eager talent who we believe will develop and progress at the football club and become a significant player for us in the future.

“It’s also about addressing parts of the team that we believe may be improved or addressed. Julio Enciso’s arrival provides us with a genuine talent at the top of the pitch who, despite his youth, has an impressive background. Everyone has watched his first home performance, and I believe there will be many more to follow.

McKenna feels that Jaden Philogene is a fantastic illustration of the club’s recruitment model (Image: Ross Halls)

“Jaden, I spoke about as someone who hasn’t played a lot this season, so it’s not going to happen overnight, but we believe he’s a really big talent who can help us for the rest of the season and beyond.

“Ben Godfrey is a player who has good Premier League experience, is a strong man, a strong character and has been in the league before. To bring in someone like him on loan provides us strong cover in defensive areas. He’s flexible enough to cover multiple roles as well to boost the team.

“Christian [Walton] getting an injury is another one you can’t predict, so Alex coming in strengthens the goalkeeping department. We saw what he can bring to the team on Saturday, he makes the department stronger.

“We’ve improved in every transfer window, there’s no doubt in my mind about that. This transfer window, I think we have improved.

“Of course, we’ve lost Wes, Chieo [Ogbene] and a few others over the course of the season, but I think the squad is in a better place than it was at the end of January. That will help us over the next three months.”

Off the pitch, Town are undoubtedly on the right track.

Ashton has delivered an encouraging report on the new training ground, which has been a hot topic of discussion for quite some time. The ambitions should soon become a reality, something the chairman is justifiably delighted about.

“I’d like to think that we’re a couple of weeks away from a positive planning application,” he confessed. “Then we’re out to tender and the work will start imminently.

Town hopes to begin construction on their new training facility shortly (Image: KKA/ITFC).

“The drawings are finished, and we’re in a terrific spot because it not only offers the first team a new home and very elite, world-class facilities, but it also completely redevelops the existing facilities for our academy, women’s teams, and development squad.

“The whole football element of the club is getting a new home and facilities, which we’ve cried out for.”

McKenna went on to say, “We’ve grown so quickly that matching that rate of growth is impossible from an infrastructure standpoint.”

“The club has made the best of its facilities and infrastructure, but it needs to expand and develop right now. Top-tier training facilities are an important component of that; they aid in day-to-day operations, player recruiting, and retention of our finest players, all of which we strive for.

“I think it will be a huge boost. It’s always wonderful to see what’s going on behind the scenes. When the first digger and shovel arrive, it will give the players a lift and remind everyone that there is a large future beyond the next week or game, and that the club is moving in the right path.

“It’s exciting to hear that the work isn’t far away from commencing and we’re looking forward to seeing it in progress.”

Building the stadium will also be critical. The club frequently sells out games, with a great demand for tickets to see the Blues in action.

The renovation of the Cobbold Stand is ‘not imminent’, according to Ashton.(Image: PA.)

Ashton has stated that expanded capacity is in the works, but there are other projects that will come before the reconstruction of the Cobbold Stand, both on Portman Road and elsewhere.

He explained: “Stuart Hayton, the club secretary who’s been here for almost a century, remarked to me a couple of weeks ago: ‘I remember being in a pretty early meeting with you when we were in League One before Kieran arrived and you said you were going to make this the hottest ticket in town’.

“I believe we’ve made this the hottest ticket in town. It is without a doubt the hottest ticket in the county, and tickets are in high demand. The fans have been amazing.

“Whether it’s us selling nearly 100,000 jerseys this year, tickets, community-based events, or commercial backing for the football club, the fanbase and stakeholders have been just wonderful.

“We still have a lot of work to do. Two additional lounges, which we have been creating under the executive boxes, will open in the West Stand in the coming weeks.

“There are many ongoing initiatives within the stadium, including a planning proposal for car parking behind the stadium in the South Stand.

“Ultimately, we are working on redeveloping the Cobbold Stand, but as I have stated several times, it is not near. This is a long-term project.

“We still have a number of infrastructural projects to finish, as well as the training ground. Delivering Cat 1 status in the academy is no easy job.

“We have so much going on, so don’t be fooled; this club is prospering.

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