Marcus Evans made one final Ipswich Town mistake - It was a seriously underwhelming one | OneFootball

Paul Cook's time at Portman Road went nowhere near as planned

Ipswich Town's expectation levels have changed drastically in such a short period of time, largely down to the smart thinking and investment put into the club by Gamechanger 20 Limited since their takeover from Marcus Evans in 2021.

Beforehand, the Tractor Boys and their supporters had known very little other than stagnation in the Championship after being relegated from the Premier League in 2022, with the closest they came to a promotion being a gut-wrenching defeat to Norwich City in the play-off semi-finals back in 2014/15 under Mick McCarthy.

The aforementioned Evans' tenure in the boardroom was also extremely mixed, and one which hardly brings back joyous memories for those on the terraces at Portman Road despite his £12m cash injection in 2007, during which he also wiped out a staggering debt total of £32m.

However, after a series of transfer and managerial mishaps over time, Evans well and truly tightened the pursestrings, with Ipswich operating on a shoestring budget in the final years of his tenure in the Suffolk boardroom.

The first mistake in a series of costly events came in 2018, when McCarthy's dismissal was followed by a two-manager campaign, albeit neither Paul Hurst nor Paul Lambert, who had previously overseen glorious times in charge of Norwich, could lift the Tractor Boys off the foot of the table.

A strong start to the first of four eventual League One campaigns would be as good as it got for Lambert though, although there was still time for one costly error to be made by Evans in March 2021, just weeks before Gamechanger took control of the club for £40m.

Paul Cook's nine-month stint in charge of Ipswich Town proved a costly mistake

Lambert would depart Portman Road on February 28th, 2021 by mutual consent, with Ipswich residing in eighth in League One at the time, albeit they were just two points outside the top-six.

At the time of his exit, it was reported that Paul Cook was keen on the role after previously departing Wigan Athletic, before putting pen-to-paper on a two-year contract the following week.

The Liverpudlian's first game in charge came through a 1-1 home draw with Lincoln City, before accumulating his maiden victory four days later as Town edged out Plymouth Argyle at Portman Road to stay in the play-off race.

Yet, despite the off-pitch feel-good factor which met Gamechanger's acquisition of the club weeks later, Ipswich won just three more games in the league and fell five points short of the play-offs, although there was hope of promotion heading into the following season.

As such, Cook acquired several names who went on to be Portman Road stalwarts such as Sam Morsy, Wes Burns, Conor Chaplin and Cameron Burgess in what would be his only transfer window in charge.

However, patience wasn't an option for those new in the boardroom as they looked to turn Town's fortunes around immediately.

Therefore, a goalless draw against Barrow in the FA Cup second round proved to be Cook's final game in charge, with Ipswich also 11th in the third-tier at the time, as the experienced boss departed with a win percentage of just 30%.

The rest has clearly been history for both Ipswich and their former boss, with Gamechanger's subsequent appointment of Kieran McKenna proving to be a masterstroke.

The Northern Irishman achieved back-to-back promotions in his first two full seasons in Suffolk, with Town scoring 193 goals during that time, seeing them return to the Premier League for the first time in 22 years.

Whilst Town couldn't consolidate in the top-flight, the atmosphere at Portman Road has been completely transformed, as well as the investment ploughed into McKenna's squad, which included a Championship-record-fee for Sindre Walle Egeli in August 2025.

Cook has also enjoyed success in his second spell at Chesterfield since returning to North Derbyshire in February 2022.

In his first full season, the Spireites reached the third round of the FA Cup against West Bromwich Albion before losing the National League play-off final on penalties to Notts County.

However, they have since recovered in remarkable fashion, winning the fifth-tier title by 12 points in 2023/24, before reaching the League Two