About the club's Ed Sheeran factor, the chairman of Ipswich said...

The chairman and chief executive of Ipswich, a Suffolk club, stated that the club’s reach had exceeded even that of

Manchester United thanks to Ed Sheeran’s support.

The singer-songwriter, who has sponsored shirts for the club since 2021, purchased a 1.4% share in Augustus, the

club he has supported since he was a young child.

Sheeran’s backing, according to Town Chairman and CEO Mark Ashton, allowed the team to perform much above

their stature.

“He is incredible,” Ashton told The Summit at Leaders Week London.

We have a reach that even Chelsea and Manchester United would want to have when we introduce a shirt and he

performs live on stage in Vegas because he is a global celebrity who genuinely loves about our football team. When

nobody else truly wanted to, he provided club sponsorship.”

Ipswich had successfully qualified for the Premier League with back-to-back promotions, but Ashton acknowledged

that the team’s debut in the top division had been “brutal” following a summer of rumours surrounding manager

Kieran McKenna.

It is the biggest and most challenging league in the world. We got promoted. That was great – then the biggest clubs

wanted to take our manager from us, which was difficult. I like to say we handled it with integrity.

“I spent a lot of time with Kieran, not trying to persuade him to stay, but talking about Ipswich. We talked about the

pros and cons of the other clubs, what our analysis is, what we can do and all I could do was give him the facts and he

is a young, intelligent man who makes his own decisions. He came back and said ‘no, this is home and where I want

to be’.”

Ashton called on the Premier League and the EFL to strike a new deal over television revenue. Talks have been on

hold since March, and are complicated by Manchester City’s legal challenge to top-flight financial rules on one hand

and the imminent creation of an independent regulator on the other.

Within that, Ashton maintains the position he has held since long before Ipswich were promoted – that parachute

payments to relegated clubs should stay, a view not shared by EFL chairman Rick Parry.

“I am a capitalist at heart and was on the EFL board. They know my view, I am in favour of parachute payments,” he

said.

But given that the costs of competing at the highest level have changed and the Financial Fair Play [profitability and

sustainability] laws are, in my opinion, out of date, I believe we should revisit them.

“You can see that Financial Fair Play prevented the Premier League clubs from spending as much this summer. I

believe that UEFA regulations should apply to their competitions, but there must be a flow between the

Championship and Premier League. I believe that a new financial agreement, in whatever form it takes, between the

PL and the EFL needs to be examined.”

At the end of the current season, squad cost rules (SCR), which resemble UEFA regulations in that they cap

expenditure on transfers, wages, and agent fees at a proportion of a club’s revenue, are expected to replace the

profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) of the top division. In the end, clubs participating in UEFA competitions

will only be allowed to have a 70% ratio; in the Premier League, this might reach 85%.

The SCR are being trialled in shadow form this season

‘We have a reach that even Man United and Chelsea would love to have’ – Ipswich chairman on the club’s Ed Sheeran factor