US investors close to completing takeover of Ipswich Town
By Tom Gott
A group of American businessman are close to sealing a deal to buy League One side Ipswich Town.
Ipswich have been owned by Marcus Evans since late 2007, but the Brit has been looking for potential buyers for the last six months after seeing the team drop down into the third tier of English football in 2019.
All change at Ipswich.
— Matt Slater (@mjshrimper) February 26, 2021
?? businessman Brett Johnson is leading a £17.5m takeover
? Marcus Evans effectively wipes the club’s £100m debt
⚽️ Paul Cook lined up to replace Paul Lambert https://t.co/wySgUZYwHH
According to The Athletic, Evans may well have found his buyers as a group led by Los Angeles native Brett Johnson are on the cusp of agreeing a £17.5m deal to take control of the club in the near future.
As part of the deal, Evans is prepared to write off the near-£100m debt which he is owed from investing his own money into the club over the last 13 years, handing the consortium a fresh start if the deal goes through.
The group are now looking at who will take control of the club on a day-to-day basis. The hope is that Bristol City executive Mark Ashton agrees to move to Portman Road, although they've picked a bad time to try and lure him away.
Bristol City have just hired Nigel Pearson as their new manager and are close to unveiling a new state-of-the-art training facility, and Ashton is thought to be eager to stay and see how the future plays out.
While changes at board level are still up in the air, one alteration which seems more concrete concerns manager Paul Lambert, who is expected to be relieved of his duties and replaced by former Wigan boss Paul Cook.
Lambert's future has been the subject of a handful of fan protests this season. He was unable to prevent their relegation in 2019 and failed to seal a spot in the play-offs last season, and a hot start this year has fizzled out yet again.
Ipswich now sit tenth in League One, five points behind the top six having played one game more than sixth-placed Doncaster.
Club officials hope that Cook can draw on his success in League One to turn things around at Portman Road. He led Wigan to the trophy in 2018 before everything at the club turned sour, while he has previously won League Two titles with Portsmouth and Chesterfield.