IPSWICH Town owner Marcus Evans will pay himself a minimum of £564,000 this year as part of the deal to buy the club.The payment will come from interest on preference shares he bought when he took over at Portman Road last December.

Derek Davis

IPSWICH Town owner Marcus Evans will pay himself a minimum of £564,000 this year as part of the deal to buy the club.

The payment will come from interest on preference shares he bought when he took over at Portman Road last December.

As part of the £12m deal Evans paid £3.9m for 87.5% of ordinary shares which gives him overall control of the club and the remaining £8.1m bought 'preference shares' which effectively act as a loan at seven per cent interest paid annually.

The club will repay the £8.1m loan after it has been in Premier League for five years.

Evans' company Marcus Evans Investment, will also receive interest on the £32m debt it bought, reportedly for around £6m, also at seven per cent which works out at £2.24m a year and it is expected the club will run at an operating loss again this year..

His company, Marcus Evans Group recently secured a five-year sponsorship deal with Ipswich Town for an undisclosed sum, which means his name will be on the front of the shirts.

Evans is listed in the 2008 Sunday times Rich List as the joint 397th wealthiest man in Britain with an estimated worth of £200m.

The Marcus Evans Group based in Bermuda and the last available accounts from the UK holding company showed the company turned over £32m in 2005.

The board that effectively runs the club is made up of Martin Pitcher, Jonathan Symonds and Ian Milne from MEG, along with David Sheepshanks, who although he has been stripped of his £100,000 annual salary and is now a non-executive director remains chairman, chief executive Derek Bowden and Kevin Beeston, with the casting vote being held by one of the MEG trio.

Finance director Anna Hughes quit her post earlier this year and has left the club.