Ipswich Town’s American owners have thrown their support behind Paul Cook’s side as the Blues head into the start of a new era this weekend.

The club’s US-backed takeover in April, coupled with a busy summer of recruitment, has created a real sense of optimism as the club prepares to open the League One campaign against Morecambe tomorrow.

A crowd of around 20,000 is expected for the game and, while the Three Lions of Brett Johnson, Mark Detmer and Berke Bakay are not able to be among them, due to Covid travel restrictions, the Three Lions will be there in spirit as they watch from thousands of miles away.

In a video message to supporters, Johnson said: “To all the Ipswich family all over the world, this is Brett Johnson with a quick video, first to express my regrets that, despite the best intentions and due to the Covid protocol in place when we had to make a decision, we will not be at the home opener.

“That being said, I’d like to extend my best wishes to Paul and the players for a phenomenal, historic home opener that I regret I won’t be able to be at in person. I can not wait to come over and to celebrate with each and every one of you who can make it to the games.

“And to the entire family I just want to express how grateful I am to be a part of this and how excited I am.

“I know we’ll have our ups – hopefully a lot of ups – and I know we’ll have some downs, but we’re on this journey together.

“We’re grateful to every ounce of support everyone is providing to this club and to this new era. Come on you Blues!”

Detmer added: “Good morning Ipswich Town Football Club fans, this is Mark Detmer from our beautiful home in sunny Scottsdale, Arizona.

“I come to you with humility that we’re so excited to be with you on this journey through the 2021/22 season and hopefully you will recognise all of the energy and hard work which has gone into the club since our acquisition, from Mike O’Leary, Mark Ashton and Paul Cook.

“I’m hopeful of a successful result. Not only on August 7 from the boys but also through our campaign and ending in promotion.

“Hopefully you will come out to the match and cheer on the boys for 90 minutes with everything you’ve got because we know they are going to come out and give everything they have.

“So let’s do this. Come on you Blues, let’s go and make this happen, Ipswich.”

Bakay said: “I wanted to quickly let you know I will not, unfortunately, be at Portman Road this weekend.

“As you can imagine, for a long period of time, I’ve dreamed of being there with you, get to know Ipswich and breath the air of Portman Road.

“But those plans need to wait a little bit longer.

“I’d also like to wish Paul, his entire coaching staff and all of our players and fans around the world a safe, healthy and successful season.

“Come on you Blues!”

Ed Schwartz, director of Gamechanger, the holding company formed to buy Ipswich, said: "My name is Edward Schwartz and I'm coming to you from my hometown in the US, Cleveland, Ohio. The rock & roll capital of the world.

"Like Ipswich, Cleveland is a port city with very proud, working class people who love their sports teams. And, very similar to Ipswich, the Cleveland sports teams have a very rich and deep tradition but have had much less success in more recent times.

"As a new owner of Gamechanger 20 and Ipswich Town Football Club, my commitment to you is that we will work every day, everyone in the organisation, to make the Ipswich Town supporters proud once again.

"We ask you to be patient as we build this team, literally from the ground up. I can't promise you we will get out of League One this year but I can promise that every day we will give every effort we can to improve the club and build this team for a long-term, sustained, success.

"Thank you for welcoming me to Ipswich Town and I look forward to seeing you all at Portman Road in the near future."