Ipswich Town

Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna has been speaking to the media before Sunday's Premier League game against Tottenham (kick-off 14:00).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• There are "no new injury concerns" for the game with defenders Axel Tuanzebe and Jacob Greaves set to be available for selection after the November international break, as well as midfielder Jack Taylor. Defender Dara O'Shea is set to play again despite an ongoing back problem.

• McKenna feels Ipswich have been "competitive" in most matches even though they are still looking for their first win since returning to the Premier League: "I don't think you can always set an exact expectation or definition of performances because every game is different. One of our first goals is to be competitive in every match and we're not too far away from that. Across the 10 games we have certainly been in the large majority of games. We would have liked to have won a couple by now but, also, we've only lost five out of 10 with what we have been through and the challenges we have faced over the early part of the season."

• He added: "To pick up five results - certainly could have been one or two more - and to be as competitive as we have been, I think there are a lot of positives in there. We know there is another step to take to win games consistently in the Premier League that we haven't taken yet. We're showing good signs of progress and the group is growing."

• McKenna came through the Spurs academy and began his coaching career with the club: "It has had a massive bearing on me as a person. It's a great club and one that I, of course, have a fondness for. From a football perspective, as a player, it was my opportunity and access to the professional game in England. Definitely from a coaching point of view, I was very blessed to be there at the time I was as a coach because from an academy level, the club were country-wide leaders at that time in terms of developing players."

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Ipswich have won their past three Premier League games against Spurs, completing the double over them the last time they met in 2001-02. They have never won four consecutive league games against them.

However, Ipswich remain winless in their 10 Premier League games this season (drawn five and lost five), their longest run without a win from the start of a top-flight season.

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Former Ipswich defender Mick Mills spoke to BBC Radio Suffolk about the club's next two Premier League matches - an away match against Tottenham and a home game against Manchester United after the international break.

Mills said: "Apart from when Sir Alex Ferguson managed Manchester United, I've always put them and Tottenham in the same bracket; they can either be absolutely scintillating or a gross disappointment. That is the thing that we've got to cling to.

"We've seen it [with Tottenham] this season. I saw 45 minutes at Brighton where they were absolutely superb and another 45 minutes that was absolute rubbish. When you play teams who are up and down like that, you have to go in with a bit of confidence. You might just land correctly on the right day and be able to take them.

"There is going to be a mad scrum of people [at Portman Road] for the Manchester United game because it's [Ruben Amorim's] first game. It's a big occasion for him, but I'm quite confident about it. Let's hope that they wilt under the pressure of the good atmosphere we have here.

"I'm not too worried about these two games, not like I would be for the top-four teams who are ultra consistent."

George King
BBC News, Suffolk

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Crunch talks held between Ipswich Town and refereeing body PGMOL following a controversial VAR decision will remain "confidential", the club said.

The Tractor Boys’ chief executive Mark Ashton said Premier League football was "worse off" following the introduction of video assistant referees (VAR).

He spoke about the new refereeing tool in an interview on BBC Suffolk's The Blue Hour after Town was denied a penalty in the team’s 1-1 draw against Leicester City after Abdul Fatawu appeared to push Conor Chaplin.

Ashton has since welcomed PGMOL chief Howard Webb to Portman Road to discuss what the Ipswich boss believed has been a lack of consistency around VAR decisions.

Ashton and Webb agreed to meet after the pair had an "interesting conversation" in the hours after the team's home draw against the Foxes.

"All I look for is consistency," Ashton said. "Right now, I am confused.

The BBC asked the club if a resolution had been reached between Ashton and Webb but was told the conversation would "remain confidential".

The PGMOL also confirmed a meeting had taken place but the details would remain private.

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Ipswich Town chairman and chief executive Mark Ashton has told fans to "ignore the noise" surrounding the club and manager Kieran McKenna, as the Tractor Boys continue to try to find their feet in the Premier League after back-to-back promotions.

Speaking in an exclusive interview on BBC Radio Suffolk's The Blue Hour, Ashton said: "We have got a very talented manager, who we worked very hard to re-contract in the summer. I think he made the right choice and the best choice to stay with us.

"He is a friend, a colleague and a top manager who will go and take this football club further.

"My job wasn't really to persuade Kieran to stay - it was to point out the logic as to why we were the best fit for him. It was about focusing on right now and where this football club can be.

"Some will say we are behind the other clubs in this league, but we are only behind them in time.

"Rome wasn't built in a day. We haven't come on a journey - we have built a rocket ship. We still have so much further to go and there are going to be blips in the road. This isn't going to be smooth, we are in the biggest and best league in the world.

"Let's just remember where we were two years ago, when we were kicking off against Morecambe in League One at home with a half-empty stadium.

"We must not forget where we have come from."

Listen to the full interview on BBC Sounds

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Ipswich Town's chairman and chief executive says he would love to increase the club's stadium capacity to 40,000.

Mark Ashton also revealed the club was considering an extension to the West Stand at Portman Road, with the Blues having already agreed to buy a large parcel of land to potentially expand the Cobbold Stand on the opposite site of the ground.

"It is on the to-do list but it is not top of the to-do list, I must be honest with you," he said.

"Why? Because I'm certainly not going to take a stand down in the midst of a Premier League season. That is just not the right thing to do."

If the existing Cobbold Stand is demolished, 750 season ticket holders and 3,000 away fans would temporarily be without a seat - but the club has a potential solution.

Ashton continued: "The next development there is the West Stand, which sees an increase in capacity of surprise, surprise, circa 4,000 people.

"So, when you take down the Cobbold Stand down, people don't lose their season tickets and they could move across."

Portman Road currently has a capacity of about 30,000.

Ashton insisted there is no timescale on extending either stand, partly because rebuilding the club's training ground is top priority.

Read the full news story here

Mark Ashton says he is "thoroughly enjoying" his new role as Ipswich Town chairman, after stepping into the position following Mike O'Leary's retirement this summer.

He joined the club as chief executive in July 2021, just after owners ORG completed their takeover of Portman Road, and went on to appoint Kieran McKenna as manager in December 2021.

Speaking about his new role on BBC Radio Suffolk's The Blue Hour, Ashton said: "It's not that much difference, to be honest with you. I could still do with a few more hours in the day, a few more days in the week.

"I'm thoroughly enjoying it. This place has become a real home-from-home for me. I love the town, the county, the people and most importantly this amazing football club."

Ashton was asked whether the plan is for him to become chairman of the club long-term or whether the club are searching for someone externally, adding: "No, it is long-term. It is an executive management team that run the football club.

"Things haven't really changed that much since I took over. I worked with Mike O'Leary for many years, he is a first-class guy but it was just a natural progression in the workload that I was doing and the way we were operating and running the club.

"Those who know me know that I care passionately about this football club. I will give my last breath defending this football club."

Listen to the full interview on BBC Sounds

Ipswich Town chief executive Mark Ashton believes football has been "worse off" since the introduction of video assistant referee (VAR) and has called for more "consistency" around its application in the Premier League.

Speaking in an exclusive interview on BBC Radio Suffolk's The Blue Hour, Ashton said: "From an entertainment perspective, I believe the game is worse off with VAR - from what I have seen.

"All I ask for with refereeing and VAR is consistency. We have not seen consistency. I don't personally believe, and my colleagues don't personally believe, that we have seen consistency over the games.

"All I look for is consistency. Right now, I am confused."

• Town considering stadium expansion

Ashton confirmed he has spoken to PGMOL chief Howard Webb after the Tractor Boys were denied a penalty in the 1-1 draw with Leicester City, after Abdul Fatawu appeared to push Conor Chaplin over in the box.

He added: "The culmination of the interesting conversation with Howard on Saturday night was that we will meet this week at Portman Road to discuss it. We need answers. We need to understand.

"At the moment, I cannot understand some of the refereeing decisions that were made and I struggle to understand why we weren't awarded a penalty.

"I have seen former referees giving their opinion that it wasn't a penalty, but they cannot be serious. Come on - don't just back your former colleagues - it was a stonewall penalty."

Listen to the full interview on BBC Sounds

Richard Woodward
Fan writer

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It has taken three months, but finally my resistance has been broken. I am doing a piece about VAR.

First let me say - all football fans should appreciate that refereeing is an extremely tough gig. Not only do you have to deal with the increasing physical demands of the modern game, but you need to be analysing and decision-making in real time. Not many could do it (or at least do it well) so big respect for those who can.

When the clamour grew for giving referees help, it was difficult to argue. The financial stakes at the top level are so high that video support was almost an imperative.

So how have we got to 2024 with such a fundamentally flawed concept, compared with every other major world sport? Why have we superseded understandable human error with counteracting, subjective video protocols - specifically, "referee's call" vs "clear and obvious"?

In a matter of weeks, my team Ipswich have come out on the wrong side of multiple situations where VAR either did not need to get involved but did anyway, or where it should have got involved but could not or would not.

The immediate aftermath of our latest penalty award VAR failure was a second booking and red card for Kalvin Phillips against Leicester. Even if this decision was the wrong call (and to be fair it was more debatable than the penalty), this situation is not permitted to be reviewed as second yellow cards leading to red cards are excluded from allowable VAR intervention. Why?!

Until the PGMOL establishes common sense protocols for utilisation of video assistance which can be applied both objectively and consistently, VAR is going to continue to ruin the spectacle of top-flight football, hang referees out to dry and meaningfully impact teams like Ipswich.

It would really help if those charged with discussing in national media where VAR has been poorly deployed, particularly ex-referees, do not try to hide it from fair criticism.

Find more from Richard Woodward at the Blue Monday Podcast, external

Ipswich Town CEO Mark Ashton is joining Brenner Woolley on The Blue Hour to take questions from fans right now.

You can watch a live stream of the discussion or listen on BBC Radio Suffolk.

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We asked for your thoughts after Saturday's Premier League game between Ipswich and Leicester.

Here are some of your comments:

Ipswich fans:

Mike: Ipswich were brilliant - measured in play, aggressive, forward thinking, first to every ball. Unfortunately the ref and VAR were against us again - second home game in a row no penalty given. I'm sure we will have an apology from PGMOL like last time. Unfortunately doesn't give us the points back.

James: This was a big improvement on recent performances, with Town producing plenty of heart, a firm defence and a considerable threat going forward. We would have won the game nine times out of 10. It is a travesty we aren't coming away talking about Leif Davis' wonder goal but instead - yet again - discussing a sub-standard refereeing display.

Oli: Good Ipswich performance but poor (again) from referee and VAR. Almost every foul on Ipswich went unnoticed yet trying to book almost every player in the Ipswich line-up. Philips has to be more astute when on a yellow. Turned the game.

Paula: Should have been a penalty to Chaplin (right in front of us). No idea why VAR wasn't consulted. Should have been a free-kick to Morsy just before the goal. Didn't see the red card incident so can't comment on that. Ipswich were much the better side for the vast majority of the game.

Leicester fans:

Neil: Leicester got away with a result. Until the red card, Ipswich were the better team and Leicester struggled to show any real quality going forward. After the red card, the game changed and Leicester could have won it. A decent away point but not a great performance.

Simon: Not good enough again. We can't rely on scraping a point in added on time. We need to change our team selection and style. Cooper is out of his depth to compete at this level. The sooner the club sees this the better.

Wayne: We're still trying to establish our best 11, or 14, since being back in the Premier League. Post-Maresca's chess-style system was always going to be tough, and Cooper is trying his best to find that team. We lack transitioning from midfield to high-quality goalscoring opportunities around and in the box. The sending off was pivotal.

Narcis: This was an important point for the Foxes in a relegation battle. Now on course to stay up in the PL!

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Former Ipswich defender Mick Mills spoke to BBC Radio Suffolk on the solution to Kalvin Phillips' red card against Leicester City on Saturday: "Cameron Burgess was almost dropping down the pecking order, but he’s come in and he’s been faultless really and he’s played really well.

"I thought that Conor Chaplin got his opportunity last week at Brentford and he took it. He has done the same [against Leicester] and he was probably one of our best players.

"When you look at the central midfield pairing, we had to play last week without Sam Morsy. Cajuste came in, probably earlier than we expected him to [after his injury] and not only did he get his own game going nicely, I thought he had improved Kalvin Phillips. That partnership seems to gel better than the Morsy-Phillips partnership has this season.

"The Morsy and Phillips partnership for me, wasn’t really taking off, that section of the game was behind other areas and it’s a really important area.

"Now all of a sudden it’s going to be Phillips out of the next game because of suspension, you think maybe Morsy-Cajuste could be OK.

"We have got a number of permutations there and a little less worry now that we have seen a number of them come in and play up to the standard, so maybe we will have a decent pairing."

Listen to more from the debate on BBC Radio Suffolk

Mark Ashton, Ipswich Town's chief executive, joins the Blue Hour with Brenner Woolley on BBC Radio Suffolk on Monday at 18:00 GMT.

He will be taking questions from callers and the Town community.

Submit a question here, external and listen to the full show here

Gary Lineker introduces highlights and analysis from Saturday's seven Premier League fixtures.

If you missed Match of the Day, you can catch up now on BBC iPlayer.

Listen back to full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:

• Liverpool 2-1 Brighton

• Wolves 2-2 Crystal Palace

Mark Ashton, Ipswich Town's chief executive, joins the Blue Hour with Brenner Woolley on BBC Radio Suffolk on Monday at 18:00 GMT.

He will be taking questions from callers and the Town community.

Submit a question here, external and listen to the full show here

Marissa Thomas
BBC Sport journalist

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It has been the story of Ipswich Town's season so far as they dropped points once again.

The Tractor Boys have dropped 12 points from winning positions, the most of any team in the Premier League this campaign.

Since their return to the Premier League, the newly-promoted side have scored the opening goal in five league games this season and not gone on to win any of those (D3 L2).

Relegation looks a distinct possibility with just five points after 10 games as Kieran McKenna's side went ahead before finishing the match with 10 men for the second successive game.

Kalvin Phillips was sent off for a second bookable offence after a late challenge on Ricardo Pereira with 12 minutes remaining and the home side were unable to hang on for their first league victory of the season.

Ipswich have registered five draws and five losses in their opening 10 games, the club’s longest winless run at the start of a top-flight campaign.

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• Ipswich Town scored the opening goal of a fifth Premier League game this season, however, they haven’t gone on to win any of those (D3 L2) – overall, they have dropped 12 points from winning positions, the most of any Premier League team in 2024/25.