It’s led to a growing debate around the fairness of the Premier League’s Profit & Sustainability Rules (PSR), which were introduced back in 2015 to prevent other clubs following overspending Portsmouth into administration but could ultimately end up creating a closed shop.
In the simplest terms, top flight clubs can make a loss no greater than £105m across a rolling three-year period. It's more complicated for those who have risen from lower divisions though.
“For us, with back-to-back promotions, new challenges arose around financial fair play,” explains Ashton.
“In League One, you're with SCMP (Salary Cost Management Protocol) rules, where you're allowed to inject equity.
“When you move into the Championship, you move into Profit and Sustainability. And then when you move into the Premier League, you move into a whole new world.
“The reality is, in our Championship promotion season, our wage bill would have been one of the lowest in the division. We pushed to the maximum that we could spend and we would still have been one of the lowest.
Ipswich Town achieved promotion to the Premier League against the odds.Ipswich Town achieved promotion to the Premier League against the odds. (Image: PA)
“Why is that? Well, our revenue streams for four years in League One are not in line with bigger clubs in the Championship, let alone those who’ve dropped into the Championship on parachute payments.
“When we were in the Championship, there would have been a number of clubs whose revenue streams could have been anything to £30-40 million-plus ahead of ours, which gives them that additional headroom to spend."
He continues: “When we bought the club, our revenues were around £13 million, stagnant, per year. This year, we'll cap out at circa £160 million. That's incredible growth.
“Now some people will say, ‘Yeah, yeah, but the majority of that is broadcast’. It is, but there's a hell of a lot of other things that go into that. Record commercial sales, record ticket sales, record shirt sales... That shows one of the biggest football growth curves in world football.
“And whilst that's good from a P&L (Profit and Loss) and a revenue perspective, you're still limited by the amount which you can spend on players because of Profit and Sustainability rules.
“There’s a lot of talk in the industry this year about those rules being changed. I think those rules will be changed and amended over the next 12 months, and I would heavily support that.
Despite spending more than £120m+ on transfer fees, Ipswich went straight back down with a finishing total of 22 points.Despite spending more than £120m+ on transfer fees, Ipswich went straight back down with a finishing total of 22 points. (Image: PA)
“It's been a prohibitor for us because clubs who've been in the Premier League for a number of years naturally have much bigger revenues through commercial headroom, consistent Premier League revenues and player trading numbers.
“Up to this point, we've bought a hell of a lot of players over the last three or four years and sold minimal. And that's fine because that's the choice we've made. But naturally in that cycle comes a point where, not necessarily for cash, but for financial fair play, you've got to trade because you've got to give yourself the headroom to move again.
“It's a huge challenge. The clubs who are promoted are naturally at a disadvantage, but the Premier League want you to spend money because they want you to enhance their brand and be part of the show.
“Some clubs go up, don't spend anything, and come straight back down and go down again. We don't want to be in that bracket. So, look, we've been brave and bold, but we won't be reckless.
“I think anyone who knows me knows I passionately care about this football club and wouldn't do anything purposely to risk the long-term future of this football club. Kieran (McKenna) says exactly the same.”
Ipswich will see a huge drop off in broadcast revenue next season, but that blow ill be softened by the receipt of parachute payments - something that can continue up to three years following relegation.
“To say it's been a challenge from a profit and sustainability, financial fair play perspective is an understatement. And I've made those representations very clearly to the league," reiterates Ashton.
“The reality is the financial rules are stacked against you. I'm not saying the baby needs to be thrown out with the bath water, but I think there needs to be an adaptation.
Ipswich broke their club-record transfer fee to sign loan star Omari Hutchinson permanently from Chelsea.Ipswich broke their club-record transfer fee to sign loan star Omari Hutchinson permanently from Chelsea. (Image: PA)
“What I said to the league was, look, as a club that's gone back-to-back, I think someone from the Premier League and from the EFL should be sitting down with us and saying ‘tell us the challenges you've faced so that we as leagues learn to work together better to support those type of clubs on the transition up and on that transition back’.
“You hear noise in the industry about should we or should we not have parachute payments. Well, if we didn't have parachute payments we couldn't have signed any of the players that we signed on promotion.
“There has to be a balance between the two. Whether you call it parachute payments or it's rebadged to something else, there still has to be a line that's smooth between the two divisions and, at the moment, the step speaks for itself.
“I think it's more than a trend. The numbers don't lie. You've got two clubs who've gone up this season with parachute payments (Burnley and Leeds), really well-run clubs with good experience and knowledge, but they know they're going to go into that division finding it really tough. I think the rules need to adapt.”
Ipswich Town chairman Mark Ashton (left), pictured with manager Kieran McKenna at last weekend's Fabio Wardley fight at Portman Road.Ipswich Town chairman Mark Ashton (left), pictured with manager Kieran McKenna at last weekend's Fabio Wardley fight at Portman Road. (Image: PA)
Ipswich spent £120m+ on transfer fees over their two Premier League transfer windows. Asked if he’d have spent more had the financial rules allowed it, Ashton replied: “I always want more. Look, we try to be as creative as we possibly can in allowing ourselves to do that within the rules.
“But we want to build not just success here. We want to build sustainable success.
“Success sometimes just lands at your door. We've seen clubs who have been promoted very, very quickly and then hit two relegations very, very quickly. That's because they're not building sustainable success. To build sustainable success, you have to build infrastructure.