Two players could be on their way out, whilst the new investors’ stance on McKenna and Ashton is revealed.
Ipswich Town are still in a good position to secure back-to-back promotions.
They may be in a weaker position than they were in during the early stages of the campaign, but after a wobble, they have been able to keep pace with the likes of Leicester City and Leeds United.
And with the Foxes struggling in recent times, it wouldn’t be a massive surprise to see Kieran McKenna’s side overtake them at some point.
Championship Table (As it stands March 25th)
Team
P
GD
Pts
1
Leeds United
38
42
82
2
Leicester City
37
41
82
3
Ipswich Town
38
31
81
4
Southampton
36
26
73
5
West Brom
38
23
66
6
Norwich City
38
15
61
7
Hull City
37
7
58
8
Coventry City
37
16
57
Wes Burns’ injury is a blow, but psychologically, the Tractor Boys are in an ideal position.
The teams around them were expected to be in the promotion mix this term, but Ipswich weren’t, and that means there’s less pressure on them to go up.
Even if they don’t win promotion, they are in a strong position to go again next term.
The future is undecided for the club, but we’re focusing on the present as we take a look at some of their latest news headlines.
Kieran McKenna and Mark Ashton look set to remain at Ipswich Town
With Bright Path Sports Partners purchasing a 40% stake in the club, they will now have the opportunity to have their say on how the club is run.
In the short term though, it seems as though Jake Zahnow and Sam Simon (who are part of the group) are happy with both CEO Mark Ashton and manager McKenna.
Zahnow told Town TV (via the East Anglian Daily Times): “I expect to come over as often as I can, especially at the pleasure of Mark and the management team.
“I want to echo what Sam said – we support this management team. We looked at teams all over the world, and when we met Mark and Ed, we stopped looking. We love the asset, we love the strategy, but we don’t want to get in the way of the plan.
“We’re here to provide capital, we’re here to provide support. If there are ancillary projects, input and consultation that Mark, Ed and the team need, we’ll provide 100% of our time and resources to doing that.”
His verdict on the pair is no surprise, considering both have been integral to the Tractor Boys’ success.
Mark Ashton on Ipswich Town’s priorities following investors’ arrival
With the new investors able to inject more capital into the club, this could be a real game-changer for Ipswich, who are certainly on the rise.
CEO Ashton certainly knows what the next steps are for the club, with training ground investment and a category one academy in his sights.
He told Town TV (via TWTD): “It [the funding] gives us the stability to take the plan forward. We’ve talked before to supporters about the importance of infrastructure and the first key infrastructure project will be the training ground.
“That will be a multi-million pound investment. We’ve already got the pitches in place, we have a fairly detailed design in place now, we’ll be entering the planning process very shortly and I’d like to be on site this year, putting that training ground plan into place and seeing the buildings coming to fruition.
The Ipswich Town goalkeeper made a confident claim they may bave to achieve in recent days.
“That allows us to put new facilities in for the first team, also put better facilities in for our women and ultimately, something that we’ve talked about time and time again is the importance of our academy.
“This new investment, we’ve discussed internally, and part of this investment will be used to take the academy from category two to category one.
“I know it’s something we’ve talked about and I’ve always said, if and when the time is right, we would do that. We’re now committing to that and we will put a timeline in place to move to category one academy status.”
QPR cast eye over Ipswich Town duo
Ipswich duo Nick Nkansa-Dwamena and Henry Curtis appeared for Queens Park Rangers’ development squad in a game against Sheffield Wednesday last week, according to West London Sport.
18-year-old right-back Nkansa-Dwamena and 20-year-old Curtis are both expected to be released on the expiration of their contracts at Portman Road at the end of the season.
With this, the R’s have taken the opportunity to see them in action, but it remains to be seen whether either of them will be snapped up by Marti Cifuentes’ side.
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