Ipswich Town taken over by American consortium and new owners pledge to restore former glory

After much speculation for the last month, Ipswich Town have finally confirmed the club takeover by American consortium Gamechanger 20 Ltd.

The Athletic first reported at the back end of February that a group led by Brett Johnson, part-owner of US outfit Phoenix Rising, were close to agreeing a £17.5 million deal with long-serving Tractor Boys owner Marcus Evans to purchase the club.

Evans refuted those claims at the start of last month, but things were clearly being done in the background and last week priority land searches of the club’s training ground were issued yet again by solicitors of the consortium.

And now the news that Ipswich fans have been waiting to hear has finally been unearthed – the Suffolk club are under new ownership and the aforementioned Johnson is involved, owning 5% of Gamechanger 20 with business partners Berke Bakay and Mark Detmer.

The new chairman is former West Brom CEO Mike O’Leary, and a new UK-based CEO will be appointed, with Bristol City’s Mark Ashton originally linked a few months ago.

Johnson has also confirmed that additional funds will be given to manager Paul Cook this summer in a bid to try and get the club back to the Championship at the earliest opportunity, in a move which will surely excite supporters.

Ipswich owners Marcus Evans Group have completed the sale of their majority stake in the club.