Ipswich Town CEO Mark Ashton has confirmed that it was always the plan to find fresh investment after securing promotion to the Championship, following the news that Bright Path Sports have acquired a 40% stake in the football club.
Ashton came in when Gamechanger 20 Ltd took over the club in April 2021, helping to steer the club back to the second tier at the end of the 2022/23 campaign.
But the focus has always been on continuously growing the club, and finding extra financial support has been an important objective for the last 12 months. Speaking to Town TV, Ashton explained how the deal materialised and the next steps are, praising the key figures who helped to seal it in the last few days.
“When we joined the football club back in 2021, we came in with a clear plan of how we wanted to rebuild this amazing football club and take it forward,” he explained.
“Part of that plan was, when we got to the Championship, we always had a plan to recapitalise the football club and look for further investment into the football club to take us on, so we could develop infrastructure in the football club, we could invest on the pitch and continue to rebuild the football club moving forward.
“Today, after almost a year’s worth of work with our partners in the US, Bright Path Sports, I’m delighted to announce that we’ve completed the raise of £105 million, which will be injected into the football club as we move forward.
“It will give us the cash that we need to continue to build this football club, both on and off the pitch.
“It’s something that we planned from day one, and when we got with the Championship, we stuck with the plan, and we started this work about a year ago. Ed has been fantastically supportive, as have been the rest of the board - the Three Lions included – Mike O’Leary, the chairman, Tom Ball, our CFO [Chief Financial Officer].
“All have worked tirelessly, both this and the US side of the pond, to secure the football club’s finances moving forward. I think that today is a really positive day, and I’m delighted to be able to talk about it.”
Of course, this looks to be a significant day in the history of the football club. Ashton was quick to explain that the financial boost will cover all aspects of Ipswich, both on and off the pitch, which will help it to fulfil its immense potential in the long-term.
“It’s key, because we want to continue to build and we want to continue to build this football club, both on and off the pitch, as quickly as we possibly can.
“We’ve talked before about the importance of building infrastructure, the importance of people, the importance of the team, the importance of the stadium, the importance of the training ground. This cash injection gives us the working capital that we need, substantially into the future, and allows us to start to build infrastructure projects which we can talk about today, really for the first time.
“I think it’s pivotal, it’s a pivotal day. A lot of work has gone on behind the scenes to get to this point, and now we can start to implement the next step of our plans.”
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