Owner gives new meaning to phrase 'publicity shy'

WITH ALL eyes on Portman Road yesterday and the return to management of one of the most high-profile players of the Premier League era, there was a certain irony in the fact that the man chiefly responsible for his appointment could not be more publicity averse.

Marcus Evans, the businessman who fits snugly into the stereotype of the “publicity-shy billionaire”, bought Ipswich Town for around €15 million at the end of 2007. The 40-something corporate hospitality entrepreneur has been on the receiving end of plenty of press speculation himself down the years.

Prior to his purchase of Ipswich, the most recent flurry of coverage accompanied failed attempts to buy the newspaper publisher Trinity Mirror in 2005 and 2006. In the current market, even a Championship football club probably represents better value than a newspaper group.

More recently, it was claimed he promised a seven-figure donation to the Liberal Democrats. Their leader, Nick Clegg, has disclosed that Evans helped his own leadership campaign by providing telephone polling equipment.

But, unlike his new manager, Evans has never felt the need to defend himself in public. Fans are unsure whether he ever attends matches because, never having been publicly photographed, they are not sure what he looks like. Not for him the path from publicity-shy businessman to public figure taken by Newcastle United’s owner, Mike Ashley.

The Ipswich deal was astutely structured. Evans reached an agreement with the club’s major lenders, including Aviva (formerly Norwich Union), to buy out their €35 million of debt at a reduced price.

The club still owes the money, but now as a series of loans to Marcus Evans Investments, one of at least 15 related companies registered in Bermuda. It is only repayable in full if Ipswich reach the Premier League.

The web of events, corporate hospitality and training companies which make up Evans’s business empire in Britain are operated from the Premier League’s old offices in London’s Connaught Place. According to its website, Marcus Evans Group employs 3,500 people in more than 36 countries.

IRELAND PLAYERS AT IPSWICH

HAVING ASSEMBLED a sizeable Irish contingent during the early part of his stint at Sunderland, Roy Keane will inherit quite a few of his countrymen at Portman Road. There will be the odd familiar face too, including that of English midfielder Tommy Miller, who Keane once sought to farm out on loan to Ipswich.

When the deal collapsed, Keane observed that “You learn a lot about different clubs and different managers and how they conduct themselves, and some of it was disappointing. I’ve learned quite a bit from that. It doesn’t surprise me, (but) it might put me off doing business with them in the future.”

Clearly it didn’t, something that Miller, who subsequently completed the move as a free agent after Keane released him, may now regret. Another English player who Keane sold from Sunderland, striker Jon Stead, is also at Ipswich.

Of the Irish, though, central defender Alex Bruce, a son of Steve, is the club’s only regular member of Giovanni Trapattoni’s senior international squad. But Alan Quinn, who will already know his new manager from their time together on Ireland duty, earned eight caps before the Italian took charge and the Dubliner has had a solid season at the Suffolk club.

At the Stadium of Light Keane spent heavily to get the club promoted in his first season, but he has also emphasised his desire to bring through young talent, and there are several Irish underage internationals who will be looking to catch his eye.

By far the most established of them is attacking midfielder Owen Garvan, long regarded as a real prospect. The 21-year-old made his first team debut when just 16 and has scored seven league goals in 20 starts and 15 appearances from the bench during the current campaign.

Shane Supple also nailed down a first-team place for a spell a couple of years back, but now serves as understudy to former England international goalkeeper Richard Wright. The Irish under-21 international is well regarded, though, as is Billy Clarke, a striker who has scored four goals in six games since moving to Brentford on loan recently.

At underage level, there are a handful in the academy, with Wexford-born midfielder Paul Murphy and striker Ronan Murray perhaps the most promising.