Ipswich Town Chairman Mark Ashton Admits Liam Delap’s Departure Was Inevitable After Relegation
Ipswich Town chairman Mark Ashton has revealed that the departure of star striker Liam Delap this summer was always on the cards following the club’s relegation from the Premier League.
Delap, who had a standout debut season in the top flight, netted 12 goals and earned plaudits for his powerful, aggressive playing style that left defenders struggling to cope.
However, it later emerged that the striker had a £30 million relegation release clause in his contract. Following Town’s drop back to the Championship, several top clubs lined up for his signature — with Chelsea ultimately winning the race. The 21-year-old completed his move to Stamford Bridge on June 4 before joining the Blues on their trip to the FIFA Club World Cup in the United States.
Speaking on talkSPORT with Jim White and Simon Jordan, Ashton confirmed that Delap’s exit had been expected for some time.
“To be honest, yes, we knew it was coming,” Ashton admitted. “Simon’s run football clubs before — he’ll know how this works. When you’re relegated, FFP rules kick in no matter how much money you have, so you have to sell players.
“Our recruitment model is focused on bringing in young, ambitious, mainly English players who can develop and increase in value. We made a significant profit on Liam in under a year, but realistically, a young English striker who impressed in his first Premier League season was always going to attract serious attention.”
Ashton also shed more light on the nature of the deal in an exclusive interview with East Anglian Daily Times reporter Stuart Watson, revealing that agreeing to the relegation clause was a non-negotiable condition when Ipswich signed Delap from Manchester City for £15m last summer.
“When you’re a newly-promoted Premier League club trying to sign players from established top-tier teams, whether they’re young or experienced, there’s always hesitancy,” Ashton explained. “They’re wary of being stuck in the Championship if things go wrong — and statistically, newly-promoted teams often go straight back down.
“So the contracts are tough. When you’re trying to sign a high-profile player that several clubs are after, you get handed a term sheet. That’s it — those are the club’s terms, and those are the player’s terms.
“If you don’t accept them, there are six other clubs that will. We talk to other clubs and know the market, so we know it’s not a bluff.
“There’s very little room for negotiation. It’s a take-it-or-leave-it scenario. Fortunately, we’ve built strong relationships that allow us to tweak some parts of those deals — to shape them in our favor as best we can.
“That’s just the reality. You go from being a big fish in a small pond to a big fish in the Atlantic Ocean.”
