Ipswich Town: Mark Ashton promises 'brave and bold' transfer window

Ipswich Town face a tricky balancing act this summer.

It's vital that all the special qualities that have led the club to this point - continuity, camaraderie and momentum - are retained.

It's also important, however, that the scale of the step up is not underestimated, there's not too much room for sentiment, and quality recruits are added.

"It’s a fine line, but if anybody can walk that line then it’ll be Kieran (McKenna)," said chief executive Mark Ashton, speaking long before speculation about his manager's future heated up.

"We have to evolve the squad, that’s just nature, but we have to keep the core of our culture. You lose that at your peril. Our most important assets are our people, on and off the pitch, so we’ll walk a fine line on that. 

“Look, ultimately players will come into the football club. Players may move out the football club. That’s just the nature of football. But we have to keep the heart and soul of what we’ve just achieved."

Ipswich Town chief executive Mark Ashton (left), in conversation with chairman Michael O'Leary. (Image: PA)

He continued: "This is the biggest league, the best league. The best players, the best coaches, the best managers on this planet are in this league.

"I think both myself and Kieran will relish the opportunity to pit our wits against them. We’ve had several discussions about what this could look like.  

"It’s not like you’re running two detailed plans (one if you get promoted, one if you don't) because the plan is almost ‘the plan’.

"But you tweak and turn what you want to do on the levels. So we know the direction of travel we want to go. 

"I think you know myself and Kieran well enough to know that this club will be as prepared as it can be come that first game." 

George Hirst (pictured) and Jack Taylor were Ipswich's most expensive signings last summer at £1.5m each. (Image: Stephen Waller)

Ipswich spent well in League One, paying out seven-figure fees to recruit Leif Davis (£1.2m, Leeds), Harry Clarke (£1.5m, Arsenal) and Nathan Broadhead (£1.5m, Everton) from Premier League clubs. 

Following promotion to the second-tier, many wondered whether the club would break its transfer record (£4.75m paid for Italian goalkeeper Matteo Sereni back in 2001). In the end, last summer's spend was modest. Signing loan star George Hirst permanently (£1.5m, Leicester) and adding midfielder Jack Taylor (£1.5m, Peterborough) was as big as it got in terms of transfer fees, with Ali Al-Hamadi subsequently arriving in January (AFC Wimbledon, £1m+).

With television income about to explode, season tickets having sold out and Ed Sheeran sponsored shirts likely to fly off the shelves once more, will the club's ambitious American owners provide a healthy transfer budget on top of a huge infrastructure spend?

“We won’t be wild, we’ll be methodical, but we’ll be brave and bold, as we've done from the first day we walked into the club," insisted Ashton, who made the calculated gamble of pushing the boat out to get a loan deal done for experienced Bournemouth striker Kieffer Moore on January transfer deadline day.

The January loan addition Kieffer Moore from Bournemouth didn't come cheap. (Image: Ross Halls)

"We’ve done that this season, we’ve been brave with the people we’ve brought in. 

"You’ve seen these players that we've brought in. Because Kieran’s done his homework, and recruitment have done their homework, it means that when they come they slot into the processes and his system really quickly. I know for sure that’s what he’s going to want again."

There are, of course, rules to stay within. Last season saw Everton and Nottingham Forest deducted points for breaching spending limits.

"Look, we won’t be reckless that’s for sure," insisted Ashton, a former member of the EFL board.

"There’s a lot of debate in the Premier League around their Financial Fair Play rules changing, so we need to get our head around that pretty quick. I think we’ve got a good understanding of the direction of travel that’s going.

"You know me well enough, I won’t talk specific numbers, because that will kill me in the transfer market, but we’ll be brave. I’ve said this ahead of every transfer window and in every transfer window we have been brave. 

"I hear noise sometimes, if we haven’t signed four players in the first week of a transfer window, from people saying ‘he said we were going to brave and we haven’t signed anyone yet’. Well, it’s a long transfer window.

"We’re fairly methodical in what we do. We try and do our homework. We don’t get everything right, but if you look at a percentage we’ve got more right than we’ve got wrong.

"Kieran will 100% want to keep in the same vein. He'll want the right characters, with the right technical, tactical and physical abilities, to take us forward."

Jack Taylor arrived for £1.5m last summer (Image: Steve Waller)
Ipswich have signed 42 players over the four transfer windows there have been since the Gamechanger 20 Ltd takeover in 2021. All of them have come from domestic clubs.

Is this the summer that the club spreads its recruitment net into foreign markets?

“Listen, the net’s already been spread," insisted Ashton. "We’re already doing the work in those territories, the right player has just not dropped for us that we've wanted to do.

"We’ll continue to do the work and if the right one’s there then we would execute it. If it’s not there then we won’t."

It's been 17 years since Ashton was last in charge of a Premier League club - that was Watford back in 2007. How different is it negotiating transfers at this level?

“It’s the same thing, just bigger numbers!" he laughs. "We know all the agents, we’ve worked with them long enough, we know all the clubs, we’ve worked with them long enough. The philosophy of how we do these deals stays the same. It’s the same challenges, just different numbers. 

“It was the same challenges just different numbers when we went from League One to the Champ. From the Championship to the Premier League will be the same with, unfortunately, much bigger numbers. 

“What that means is you’ve got to get it right. The mistakes have to be fewer. As the numbers get bigger, mistakes can be harder to recover from.

“I always say this; You’re always one bad summer window away from a disastrous season. We’ll be methodical, we’ll be calm, we’ll be processed as we step through this."

The Premier League is exciting and daunting in equal measure. Speculation surrounding McKenna has created understandable angst.

Hearing Ashton and the owners talk provides a reassuring reminder that solid foundations are in place though. If you can keep your head while all around you others are losing theirs...