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Tractors look stuck in the Championship

The authoritative Swiss Ramble has reviewed the 2016-17 accounts of Ipswich Town.

He comments, 'they have adopted a sustainable strategy under Evans, though whether this will lead to a promotion challenge is debatable, especially when competing against clubs with large parachute payments or hefty owner investment, so the lengthy stay in the Championship may well continue.'

Since Evans bought Ipswich Town he has provided £48m of funding (loans £36m & share capital £12m). Other financing has come from £13m net player sales. This has almost entirely been used to cover operating losses with very little invested in infrastructure (though £1m in last 2 years). Evans averaged £6.3m new loans a year between 2010 and 2014, but this has been cut to £1.1m in last three years.'

The club's £89m debt was the fifth highest in the Championship, below three clubs that have since been promoted to the Premier League (Brighton £207m, Newcastle £152m & Cardiff City £127m) plus Blackburn. Unlike many owners, Evans has not converted any debt into equity.

In recent times the club focused on free transfers and loans, while trying to bring through Academy players. Consequently, annual gross spend averaged just £1m in past five years, compared to £6m in first three years of the Evans era, while sales have doubled over same period.

Almost every club in the Championship has an awful wages to turnover ratio with 13 of them being above 100%. Ipswich’s 103% looks almost reasonable compared to clubs like Blackburn 147% and Nottingham Forest 137%. The £18m wage bill was 18th highest in the Championship, way behind Newcastle £80m, Villa £61m and Norwich £55m and many clubs not receiving parachute payments, e.g. Derby £35m & Brighton £31m.

Crowds have declined by around a third since 25,651 in 2004/05, when they reached the play-offs. Since then, the only season where attendance increased was 2014/15, when Mick McCarthy’s side also got to the play-offs.

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