Ashton interview re Delap

[hallamblue]

Hopefully this will finally put to bed the era of a one season player at this club….Mark Ashton says it was a case of 'take it or leave it' when it came to the relegation release clause in Liam Delap's contract.


Ipswich Town: Mark Ashton on Liam Delap relegation release clause

By Stuart Watson
Chief Football Writer


Ipswich Town striker Liam Delap is on the verge of a £30m move to Chelsea. Stuart Watson spoke to chairman Mark Ashton about the front man's relegation release clause ….


England Under-21 international, just scored 12 goals for a relegated Premier League side, a throwback striker possessing rare attributes at a time when so many top clubs are searching for a striker solution...

What would Liam Delap be worth in an open market right now? Sadly, for Ipswich Town, that's a moot point.

The Blues signed him from Manchester City for £15m last summer, the deal having potential to reach £20m. He'll soon join Chelsea for £30m after a relegation clause was triggered. And Ipswich will have to give some of their £10-15m profit - reportedly 30% - to City as part of a sell-on clause.

Making between £7m-10.5m profit on a player inside 12 months is not to be sniffed at. It's hard not to think about how much more could have been banked though.


However, as Town chairman Mark Ashton is keen to stress, there really wasn't an alternative.

"I never speak about any player’s individual position, because I’d be breaking every confidentially rule in the book, but I'm going to give you a context to this," he says, in an exclusive interview with the EADT and Ipswich Star


"Let's be really clear, when you are signing players from a Premier League football club as a newly-promoted Premier League football club, young or old, they're very nervous about being stuck in a Championship club. Because the stats show that newly promoted clubs often go straight back down. So the contracts are always heavily negotiated.

"The reality is that when there’s a high profile player who is wanted by several clubs you get presented with a term sheet – ‘those are the terms for the club’ and ‘those are the terms for the player’.

"You're told, 'If you want to talk to the player and give your pitch to sign him you have to agree to those terms because if you don't then there are six other clubs who will agree'. We speak to other clubs, we know the market, so we know that that's not lies.

"So there is very little to negotiate. You're taking it or you're leaving it.

"At that point, our relations allow us to nibble around the edges of those agreements, to bend and twist them, so we get the best version of it.

"That’s just fact. That’s just the reality of where you are. You've gone from being a big fish in a small to medium pond, to being a big fish in the Atlantic

Back in March, Ashton insisted the club was 'very, very, very well protected' when quizzed about clauses in Delap's contract. It was only subsequently that the £30m relegation release clause was reported nationally.

Asked to clarify that comment, he said: "You protect yourself to the best of your ability.

"The board and major shareholders all know what you're getting into. That means, at that point in time, you are going to break the record purchase for the football club and if you sell that player you're going to break the record sales for the football club.

"And also – remember, I'm not talking about any specific player – when that player moves on you retain a percentage of his future profit as well. You’re protected.

"With all our players we know where we are with them. The ownership know where the cash flows are with them. You have to look at it with an investment bank-like view across the board.

Ipswich Town chairman Mark Ashton says it was a case of 'take it or leave it' when it came to the relegation release clause in Liam Delap's contract.


"As I said, I think a couple of players will leave the club this summer - not huge, not handfuls. One (Delap) has been very heavily publicised, hasn't been publicised by us. I think if I was an Ipswich fan I'd be frustrated at the amount of times that's been in the press, but when things are in the press, particularly the nationals, they're in there for a reason and that will be agents or other clubs trying to unsettle players, trying to build markets for players etc.


"So all I can say to the fan base is we have been as open and honest as we can be since we joined this football club. Every decision we make is in the best interest of this football club, but we have to deal with the market as it is. This football club is always protected moving forward."

So, just to clarify, does that mean that Ipswich would benefit from a significant sell-on fee if Delap goes on to make a mega money move further down the line?

"Again, I'm going to take the word ‘Liam’ out of it because I'll get myself into world of trouble," replies Ashton. "But that would be a standard clause that we would negotiate into deals.

"We're not perfect, let's be really clear, but we do know what we're doing. It's frustrating because you can't tell the fan base everything. If they knew everything, trust me, they would look at it very differently.

"But this fan base again have been very trusting, very supportive and we will fight tooth and nail for this football club."

[ITFC2024]

It was pretty obvious to me without the explanation, especially when you consider the position we were in. It does connote a sense of desperation for newly promoted clubs and player acquisitions. I guess a lesson learned could be to vet and consider your options more carefully.

In my opinion, Muric and Philogene fall into the "panic buy" category.

[marko69]

The Philogene transfer took decades to be finalised. It was on. Then off. Then on again......, then off. Before finally being on again ,,,,,,

......, do you think the club were "panicking" the whole time? Was there really that lack of talent out there?

[hallamblue]

...and he's looked complete pants whenever hes been on the pitch too.

Thsts £20m pissed up against the wall that we'll no doubt sell for £5 m if we're lucky

[The Odious Mr Rossi]

Somebody postulated on another thread that the problem is that established PL players are reluctant to join a newly promoted club as it's likely they will come straight back down.

There's a lot in that I think - and shows the way to go is to build a squad capable of surviving the PL whilst still in the Championship. That's what needs to happen this coming season. Fail to do this, and if we were to get promoted we would be in no better shape than we were this season.

Of course, another way to survive the PL is to look at what you have available and play accordingly, not to f*ck about expecting players to fit into a system that doesn't suit them. Any bells ringing?

[Bluemike]

Yes that's exactly how I understood it regarding the Delap signing, we either went with it or jog on basically, and at the end of the day we've still made a few million out of it, unlike Philogene as Hallam says.

[Dubai Blue]

Pretty obvious there is a sell on clause or maybe an internationals clause. So we should wish him well and hope that he tears up the Prem next season, plays for England and get a dream move to Bayern to replace Harry Kane who surely can't go on forever

Oh and I reckon that Philogene could do really well next season.

[Ricco]

£7m to £10.5m profit not to be sniffed at. It is when his value has gone up probably £40m to £50m.

[Bluemike]

Yep sadly we were never in a position to get a bigger piece of pie, we have basically come out of it as good as it could ever have been

[ITFC2024]

Oh and I reckon that Philogene could do really well next season.

I hope so!