Ipswich Town fans have been reacting to news that owner Marcus Evans could be ready to spend in January, even though the club’s debt has increased to £89m.

We revealed last night that Town’s latest accounts – for the year ending June 30, 2017 – also showed that the Blues made a pre-tax loss of £4.3m, while average league attendances dropped from 18,959 to 16,980.

But finance director Mark Andrews said: It’s all external debt owed to Marcus. If he ever decided to sell the club then it would come down to what Marcus agrees it’s worth. As I say though, he’s still in it for the long haul.

-MORE: Town debt rises to £89m but Evans could spend in January

“If we keep performing how we are this season then we might have a chance of getting into the play-offs again.

“If in January we are still there or there abouts then it could be that some additional players come into the squad at that point.”

And some fans backed Evans on social media after we broke the story.

On Facebook, Michael Bixby wrote: “If it weren’t for Marcus Evans, ITFC would be no more, he saved the club.

“He’s spent loads of money on players wages etc but like some things in life it hasn’t worked out – just look at Derby, they spent loads and where are they? We should be thankful for Marcus Evans.”

On Twitter, Tom Lawrence said: “Fans want ME to spend cash, but if he were running the club on a break-even basis we wouldn’t have been able to buy Huws or Waghorn. He has still put £80m plus into the club. Without it we would be in League 1.”

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Edward Banthorp tweeted: “The Marcus Evans hate is all very good. And he’s clearly made many errors, especially when he first owned the club, but people forget that we’d probably have gone bust without him. Can’t imagine there’d be a big queue of people willing to buy ITFC if he pulled the plug.”

Other fans were not quite as quick to jump to Evans’ defence. Mark Tuxford tweeted: “Any positive mood that was around the club in recent weeks is about to come down faster than the snow we’ve been having.”

Another fan tweeted: “COULD spend in January...heard that one before. We were top two in January 2015 and we didn’t invest then so I can’t see him splashing the cash if we’re 6th-10th.”