Ipswich chairman Mark Ashton reminds Ipswich Town special story and gap between Championship and PL

The storied Suffolk club – top flight, FA Cup and UEFA Cup winners in the 60s, 70s and 80s respectively – found itself in the League One doldrums after a death by a thousand cuts decline.

Investment from new American owners, the driving force of Ashton and the leadership of bright young first team manager Kieran McKenna combined to produce back-to-back promotions though and end a 22-year absence from the Premier League.

Speaking on Men in Blazers – the largest ‘soccer’ podcast in North America – Ashton was asked why US listeners should pick the Blues as their football team to support.

Looking down the lens, he replied: “This is a very special club with an amazing history and tradition. If you want to be part of a family, be part of a football club, be part of a journey that’s moving at lightning speed… This is the best story in world football.

“I’m telling you, this is the best story in world football. You can take your Wrexhams, you can take your Birmingham Citys (both under American ownership). They’ve done incredible things and good on them – but this is sanity, this is a house of stone with real professional people who are relentlessly obsessed with rebuilding this amazing football club.”

Mark Ashton believes Ipswich Town is ‘the best story in world football’. (Image: Sarah Lucy Brown)

Town find themselves 17th in the Premier League table having taken four points from their opening eight games (D4 L4).

Ashton, who oversaw a £100m+ spend on transfer fees over the summer, has already admitted the step up has been ‘brutal’.

“I think there’s actually two gaps,” he said. “You’ve got a gap that is Premier League to the Championship, then you’ve got a gap that is then Ipswich to the other two newly-promoted clubs (Leicester and Southampton).

“Because remember both of those are on parachute payments, so they’ve got substantially more revenue than us. We are adrift (financially), because this club hasn’t been in the top flight for 20+ years. So we are, if you like, double bubble when it comes to making up the gap.

“But do you know what? All we can do is be the very best version of ourselves. Focus on ourselves. Don’t worry about the riches that everyone else has got. Don’t worry about what we haven’t got. Focus on what we’ve got, focus on our culture, focus on what’s got us here. Stick to our beliefs and adapt and learn quickly. If we do that, we give ourselves one hell of a fighting chance.

“We need to be proud about who we are and focus on us. Ignore the noise. Let the craziness of the Premier League take care of itself. We’ll just be the best versions of ourselves and I think that will give us a great fighting chance.”

Ipswich head to Brentford on Saturday looking to bounce back after successive defeats to West Ham (4-1 away) and Everton (2-0 at home).

On the debrief process that comes after games, Ashton explained: “Kieran and I have a rule that we talk before the game, but after the game we leave each other alone. It’s too emotional. Win, lose or draw, the conversation’s a waste of time. We’re too high if we’ve won, we’re too low if we’ve lost.

“We talk on Sunday evening at seven o’clock when we can come back with a cold set of eyes. Kieran’s great! He always says to me on a Sunday, ‘If you’re going to ask me about the game, about anything technical/tactical, you’d better have watched it back! Because what you see with your first sets of eyes, and before you’ve looked at the data, isn’t necessarily true. So he expects me to have done my homework on Sunday morning before we talk!”

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