Over the last few days, several Town fans (and journalists) have been asking why, at this time of general despair, nobody has heard directly from the club's owner. We thought it would be a good time to re-print an interview, first published in issue 15 of Turnstile Blues (August 2017), with some former employees of the club, who were kind enough to speak to us about the reality of life under Marcus Evans. At a time when people are rightly asking what is going on at our club, we think these insights are quite revealing....

Many Turnstile Blues readers will be aware that a number of staff have left Ipswich Town over the past eighteen months. Some of those staff had already been in touch with TB to raise concerns about the way the club was being run. We spoke to a number of those former employees, who painted the picture described below.

How we got here: the pre-Marcus Evans days

Like any football club, Ipswich has always had its characters and egos and people who have used the club for their own advantage, but pre-Marcus Evans virtually everyone you encountered had the football club’s best interests at heart and there was a good atmosphere where people felt together. It was a club where every single person was proud to work, and every person’s contribution was valued. So we were all happy to do that little bit extra to make it work.

We knew that under David Sheepshanks the club was over-spending. When we finished 5th in the Premier League and got in to Europe, he thought, and most of us did, that we would be there for a long time. So there was a lack of contingency planning. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and maybe we should have seen it coming.

Other stuff out of control also made things worse, such as the collapse of ITV Digital. Championship football was never going to sustain the wages, size of stadium and commercial activities we'd built up. There was going to need to be a really quick return to the Premier League to sort things out, so all of a sudden we – the club staff – started to feel a lot of pressure, and that pressure got to all of us.

When we found out there was a new buyer and investor, we felt happy. Everyone was pretty positive, thinking this was a new start and not just the club being saved, but it was being spun as much more additional investment coming our way. It was in the era when Abramovich had taken over at Chelsea, so we were naïve enough to think “this is our golden ticket”. None of us really knew anything about Marcus Evans, other than he was really wealthy, and sadly still to this day that's pretty much all we know.

The takeover: Marcus Evans arrives

He did come in and meet some people at the club quite quickly, but let's just say he was certainly interested in some departments more than others. Someone tried to talk to him about the Academy, and he said he wasn't interested and didn't want to go down and visit.

From that point, that feeling was gone that everyone from the stewards on the gate to the owner was connected and had something in common and was valued. Some of us felt invisible, and it was hard to watch people who had been the backbone of the club disregarded.

It's hard to quantify as some of it was subtle, but people were treated badly or ignored. We used to have a real connection and identity with the local community, and that was just eroded. Even when we were doing well in the Premier League and in Europe we still tried really hard to keep that local connection and family feel, and not get carried away with it all.

After Evans took over there was no real structure in place. He didn't really know what he was doing in terms of running a football club - it's really not like running other businesses – so he chucked loads of money at things that didn't need it, and neglected important aspects. He wasted loads of money, then just said suddenly “there's no more money”, whereas if he'd just invested half the money he spent in to the infrastructure of the club, we'd be a lot further forward. A lot of money was squandered because he didn't have ‘football people’ in key positions; people with experience, good ideas and sound advice were sidelined.

The really big question for some of us though, was whether he really wanted to be successful. Some of his decisions were just baffling from a business and football point of view.

Atmosphere: what it was like to work under Marcus Evans

That feeling of being “our” club, one that we had a connection with, disappeared pretty quickly. Even under Jim Magilton. A lot of money appeared, people thought it was great but things were beginning to destabilise.

But the really big change came when Roy Keane came in. All of a sudden you had a cold and distant person running the club, and cold and distant person managing the club: a bad combination. That took everybody by surprise.

Roy with some people was absolutely fine, but not with others so he really divided people and caused divisions, and we had an owner who was cold, ruthless and apparently getting rid of people arbitrarily that had been there a long, long time that we felt were part of our family. If he wanted to make changes, fair enough, but there were better ways of going about it.

You just don't treat people like that. Pat Godbold had been there for years and years, and was irreplaceable. The way she was treated was disgraceful and upset a lot of people. David Rose, Trevor Kirton… people who should have been treated with more respect. These were the people who upheld the values of the club and were well-known and respected throughout the football community. Maybe it was time for some of the “old guard” to move on, but it was done from this faceless distance.

The management: Marcus Evans’s people

All of a sudden we had Simon Clegg in, and had to report to him. I always remember going in to his office and on his desk there was a tiny pile of papers relating to Ipswich Town, maybe 10 or 12 pages, and on the other side of the desk there was a massive stack of paperwork relating to the Olympic Games. It just spoke volumes to me about where his priories were. I do think he tried to do his best, but football is a very hard game to come in to when it's not your background.

After Ian Milne came in, things really started to be micro-managed. People couldn't sign-off on their own budgets as they had done before. The small stuff that he wanted micro-managed was ridiculous, especially as he wasn't there that often. Invoices didn't get paid on time and understandably suppliers refused to deliver until they were paid.

The production line: the Academy under Marcus Evans

I do think that first year they did try and get Category 1 status, but so much of it was done half-heartedly and on the cheap, I just don't think the FA trusted those running the club that it was being done properly. Things started getting neglected even more, you'd see people in the same kit as last year, but these are fast-growing lads. The footballs used for Academy training sessions had started to perish.

Everything was just worse and getting shabby, and that care and pride seemed to have gone. It was all about margins and how little they could get away with doing. Things that needed upgrading weren't, where previously they would have been without question. Repairs like replacing bulbs in floodlights took ages: weeks or months. Staff were always moaning that they couldn't get anything done, we couldn't get thing that should have been simple over the line and I mean that was everything from washing powder to floodlights.

There was a ridiculous situation where we'd run out of white paint and the supplier wouldn't deliver as they hadn't been paid, so we had to mark out an Academy game in blue paint. That’s just embarrassing when you've got other clubs turning up for a game.

There was also a problem with sand, so sand that we knew was contaminated still got used at the training ground as there was a delay in getting new orders signed off. Such a false economy as it was causing damage. Like the damage caused when the leak from the laundry room didn't get repaired for ages so contaminated water was flooding on to the grass.

All of the corners cut were a false economy. It was infuriating, as the fans were being spun this line about investment and being asked to dig deep for the Academy, but behind the scenes we just weren't seeing it. It wasn't an honest dialogue with the fans.

I don't know if it's usual practice, at other clubs, to tell fans you’re investing X amount in certain things when really it's a much lower amount. But if felt uncomfortable, and we didn't recognise what was being reported as anything like the reality behind the scenes day to day. Cover-up is too strong a word, because you'd have to be certain of intent, but it didn't feel like an honest conversation with supporters.

Decline and fall: the effects of Marcus Evans’s approach

After a couple of years fans were still being told that there was investment, but behind the scenes things were really slipping and corners being cut. While there was still investment in the top (first team playing staff) the structure and foundations were being cut and mismanaged, like the Academy and other more ‘behind the scenes’ stuff that the club can't function without. If you neglect the infrastructure and foundations it's only a matter of time before it impacts on the top. They neglected everything that previously had held the club together. A house can't stand without its foundations.

After Roy Keane went and Paul Jewell came in things really deteriorated further. Cut backs happened and it was like Evans turned off the switch over night…. We had money then suddenly there was none. Cuts were made in the Academy, the playing staff, the support staff.

I don't think there's any truth in the rumour that Mick McCarthy isn't interested in the academy. He's encouraging and always looking for new players. He doesn't get involved in the resources though, so maybe that's what people mean. I think he's focussed on his own job, and keeps his head down and has no interest in rocking the boat. That's not a criticism. He's probably wise to pick his battles with Marcus Evans. I just think the saddest thing for those of us that have been at the club for a long time is that players are leaving early before they get a chance to step up or establish themselves in the first team, so we're not really seeing the best of what we nurture to the same extent we did in the past.

What is to be done?: raising concerns from inside the club

Who could we take our concerns to? I'd say Marcus Evans always listened. But there's listening and doing. He'd listen, placate us but then nothing changed. He still divides people in the club, some people think he means well and it's all just a bit unlucky, and others think he knows exactly what he's doing and it's no accident we're in the mess we are. But I guess as he's so distant none of us really know.

People are loyal and discreet and don't go running to the media, but there was growing frustration that the club wasn't portrayed in an accurate light. When things aren't going do well supporters are more likely to look a bit deeper and question.

Some of us were aware of some of the questions Turnstile Blues was asking, and we thought they were the right questions to ask. There was a sense of unease higher up in the club and it was made clear to staff they shouldn't be speaking with fanzines.

Talking to the media or fanzines was always frowned down upon, but now the gap between reality and image is so much wider, it feels as if the club are hyper-sensitive about it.

Media has changed as well. Previously, local media would have had good open access, but it's all tightly controlled. Local media struggles to remain relevant so they really rely on their relationship with the club, so it makes it hard for the local media to question or delve. So where does the scrutiny come from? The club control the local media really well, they keep a few key influential people on-side, and give a little bit of access to certain people which makes them feel special so it's all got a bit too close and unhealthy.

Where do we go from here?: the future under Marcus Evans

There just seems no genuine commitment to improve the club, and restore pride. Because every department is working on a very tight budget it means you get a lot of turnover of staff, and new staff in maybe with less experience or qualifications so that impacts on quality throughout the club. That stability and long-term thinking has gone.

It just doesn't feel like there is genuine intent to develop and improve the whole club, and over the past few years the gap between the picture painted by those who speak on behalf of the club, and what staff see, has widened beyond all recognition. I think that's why a lot of staff have decided to walk away over the past eighteen months.

I wasn't surprised by how poor season ticket sales were. I can totally understand why lots of people are choosing not to pay money to watch Ipswich right now. We are at risk of having half the crowd sizes we used to get, and that is big-time alarming. I don't know how we rebuild from that.

At the moment, they've got an extra £1 million from the Murphy sale, because of Newcastle getting promoted. So he's said the money can be spent on a couple of players, but that doesn't do anything to address the fact that the infrastructure isn't in place. It's all short-term papering over the cracks, literally, which is what they always do hoping the fans won't notice. They drip-feed bits of “good news” in the hope that the bigger picture never gets scrutinised.

A lot of our former colleagues are really miserable, and just think it's all going to implode at any minute. Mick McCarthy is out of contract at the end of this year, and the feeling among some people who’ve reluctantly felt they’ve had to walk away from the club, is that's all going to get a bit messy.

Many thanks to the ex-club employees who spoke to us for this article. Out of respect for their former colleagues who remain at the club, they have asked to remain anonymous.