Ed Sheeran’s backing has given Ipswich a greater reach than even clubs like Manchester United, the Suffolk club’s chairman and chief executive has said.
In August the singer-songwriter bought a 1.4 per cent stake in the club he has supported since childhood, having been a shirt sponsor since 2021.
Town chairman and chief executive Mark Ashton said Sheeran’s support helped the club punch well above their weight.
The Ed Sheeran effect. 📈
Mark Ashton, Chairman and CEO of @IpswichTown explains how the world superstar, and passionate shareholder, allows the club to reach huge and new audiences.#LeadersWeek pic.twitter.com/BEFVFgAfCS
— Leaders Business (@LeadersBiz) October 17, 2024
“He is incredible,” Ashton told The Summit at Leaders Week London.
“When we launch a kit and he is live on a stage in Vegas, we have a reach that even Man United and Chelsea would love to have, because he is a world superstar who cares about this football club. He sponsored the club when no one really wanted to.”
Ipswich have secured back-to-back promotions to reach the Premier League, but Ashton admitted the club’s start to top-flight life had been “brutal” after a summer of speculation surrounding manager Kieran McKenna.
“It has been brutal,” Ashton added.
“It is the biggest and most challenging league in the world. We got promoted. That was great – then the biggest clubs wanted to take our manager from us, which was difficult. I like to say we handled it with integrity.
“I spent a lot of time with Kieran, not trying to persuade him to stay, but talking about Ipswich. We talked about the pros and cons of the other clubs, what our analysis is, what we can do and all I could do was give him the facts and he is a young, intelligent man who makes his own decisions. He came back and said ‘no, this is home and where I want to be’.”
Ashton called on the Premier League and the EFL to strike a new deal over television revenue. Talks have been on hold since March, and are complicated by Manchester City’s legal challenge to top-flight financial rules on one hand and the imminent creation of an independent regulator on the other.
Within that, Ashton maintains the position he has held since long before Ipswich were promoted – that parachute payments to relegated clubs should stay, a view not shared by EFL chairman Rick Parry.
“I am a capitalist at heart and was on the EFL board. They know my view, I am in favour of parachute payments,” he said.
“But I think we need to review the Financial Fair Play (profitability and sustainability) regulations, I think they are outdated, and the costs (of competing at the top level) have changed.
“You can see that the Premier League clubs couldn’t spend as much this summer because of Financial Fair Play, I think it needs to be in line with UEFA rules in their competitions but it has to be a flow between the Championship and Premier League. I think we need to look at the PL working with the EFL for a new financial deal – whatever it looks like.”
The top flight’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) are set to be replaced at the end of the season by a squad cost rules (SCR), which mirror UEFA regulations in that they limit spending on transfers, wages and agents fees to a percentage of a club’s revenue. Clubs in UEFA competitions will ultimately be limited to a 70 per cent ratio, whereas the Premier League is looking at 85 per cent.
The SCR are being trialled in shadow form this season.