Next year, it will be ten years since Marcus Evans took over as the owner of Ipswich Town Football Club. We still don't feel that we know very much about the man, his reasons for acquiring the club or his plans for our future. Here are fifty questions that we would like to hear the answers to. We're sure that many other supporters have questions to add to this list.
1. What did you see in Ipswich Town Football Club which made you want to become the club's owner?
2. More specifically, what are your objectives in owning the club?
3. Have those objectives changed since 2007 or are they broadly the same?
4. Why don't you communicate directly with supporters?
5. Have you enjoyed owning ITFC?
6. If you always wanted to be anonymous why did you play golf on Sky Sports?
7. What was the last Ipswich Town match that you attended?
8. How important is ITFC to the Marcus Evans Group as a whole?
9. What is your strategy for achieving promotion to the Premier League?
10. Do you really believe it's possible for a club like ITFC to be promoted from the Championship to the Premier League without making a substantial financial investment in the transfer market?
11. What are your plans for keeping ITFC in the Premier League should we ever be promoted?
12. We all hope that ITFC will never be relegated, but what are your plans for recovery should that happen?
13. Why did the club end its relationship with the ITFC Charitable Trust?
14. How does the club decide what charitable work to undertake?
15. What is the club's social responsibility strategy?
16. Do you see season ticket holders as fans or customers?
17. How do you think fans feel when they know that their club has become significantly less successful than Norwich on your watch?
18. How do you propose bringing capacity crowds back to Portman Road?
19. What can you do to improve the poor atmosphere at Portman Road?
20. Would you consider using your expertise in events management to improve the facilities for all fans (not just for corporate visitors or academy sponsors), so that supporters might want to spend more time at PR?
21. The atmosphere among our away supporters is considerably better than it is at home games. Why do you think that is?
22. Will you ever appoint someone to the board with experience of running a top-level football club?
23. You have been in lengthy and costly disputes with key partners in the Police and Borough Council. Is this indicative of your approach to negotiating?
24. At how many away games over the past five years has there been no member of ITFC board of directors representing the club?
25. Can you please provide a list of which board member has attended which away match?
26. Where no board member has attended an away game, can you provide details of any non-board member who was asked to represent the club and whether they hold any official position within the club?
27. Given your three choices of Keane, Jewell and McCarthy to date, what is your main rationale, if any, when it comes to picking a manager?
28. What do you consider to be the most important attributes for an ITFC manager to have?
29. You have spoken of your faith in Mick McCarthy as a manager, so why have you not backed him up in terms of spending money on players?
30. What exactly did you think was going to happen when you sold our main striker to another team's reserves without having a replacement lined up?
31. Given that Newcastle United had paid a substantial figure [for Murphy] and at the eleventh hour, did it not occur to the club that it would have to pay over the odds to bring in a replacement?
32. Why is there no proper scouting infrastructure at the club?
33. Would you ever move ITFC from Portman Road?
34. There seem to be real signs, and there have been for some time, that Portman Road is not being kept in a good state of repair and is, in fact, deteriorating. How much money is being spent on repairs and the upkeep of your assets at the ground? Is there a planned programme of maintenance works for Portman Road?
35. Why do you add £2.50 to a ticket on match day?
36. How crucial has requiring season ticket holders to opt out of season ticket renewal rather than opt in been to maintaining season ticket numbers?
37. Why are the concourse catering operations so poor?
38. Ipswich were recently named as one of the most expensive teams to watch. Why is this?
39. The financial position of the club keeps getting worse but you don't seem concerned about this. Is that because it's of overall benefit to MEG in some way?
40. In what way did selling the Playford Road training ground to yourself benefit the football club?
41. Have you abandoned plans to seek Category 1 status for the Ipswich Town Academy?
42. How much of the club's current debt is the result of interest that was charged to the club by Marcus Evans Group in the past?
43. The club's debt has almost trebled on your watch, and is virtually all owed to you. Is this convenient to you for tax purposes?
44. Do you feel you owe ITFC supporters a full and frank explanation of why there have been so many allegations made against you and your companies, such as THG and MEG over the last ten years?
45. Since an international arrest warrant was issued for you, are you restricted in your ability to visit Britain, and more particularly, Portman Road?
46. Do you not feel embarrassed about the Brazil scenario?
47. Ipswich have always been seen as a friendly and approachable club, yet you refuse to meet fans and rarely engage with journalists and other bodies. Why is this and do you not see it as damaging to the club?
48. In what circumstances would you consider selling the club?
49. Do you have a selling price?
50. Have you ever entered negotiations to sell Ipswich Town?