The controversy over Nigel Farage’s publicity stunt at Portman Road, the home of the Tractor Boys, and my (very) local football club, has demonstrated the truism of the first Valladares Rule of political crisis, i.e. it’s not the wrongdoing itself that is fatal, it’s the botched coverup that follows.
If it had simply been that Nigel Farage and his PR team had entered Portman Road under false pretences and used the stadium as a backdrop for a publicity stunt, well, it would have asked some serious questions of the club staff but a few slapped wrists later and everyone might have moved on.
But, to issue a press release that basically disassociated the club from any knowledge or awareness of what was going to happen when, as it turns out, quite the opposite was the case, is probably the worst thing that could have happened for the club’s reputation and integrity.
Ipswich Town has always had a reputation as a family club, run for decades by the Cobbold family whose most famous quote suggested that the only time there was a crisis at the club was “when we run out of white wine in the boardroom…”. It is, and I can testify to this as a supporter of another club, at the heart of the county’s community. And, despite what many outsiders may think, Ipswich is quite a multicultural town.
As for the team, Congolese, Albanian, Angolan and Chilean players fill key positions on the pitch, and the British players are as ethnically diverse as any other team in the Football League.
That’s why what happened next became such a problem. A controversial political figure visiting such a workplace was bound to trigger a reaction amongst the staff, so it should have been pretty obvious that, if the press release wasn’t remotely truthful, then the facts would emerge.
“Nothing to do with me,” said CEO and Chairman, Mark Ashton, “we knew nothing about the visit in advance”. The emerging allegation that, far from knowing nothing, one of his staff had offered the invitation on his behalf and that, far from having nothing to do with him, he had actually arranged to have lunch with the Reform UK leader.
The pictures of Farage with an Ipswich Town shirt with the number 10 on the back? Reform staff had bought those from the club shop, we were assured. Sources happy to contradict that, both within the club and Reform UK indicated that a half-dozen shirts were prepared and handed over by the club.
So, in the post-Cadbury era, if a CEO had trashed the company’s reputation, and authorised the issue of a press release which seemingly gave an entirely false impression in order to save said CEO’s face, the Chairman would courteously invite the CEO to consider his future. Unfortunately, Mark Ashton is also the Chairman, so it seems reasonable to assume that, unless he is schizophrenic or has multiple personality disorder, that isn’t going to happen.
I do think that the owners will, if they have a sense of the feeling amongst the fanbase, act, if not to fire Ashton, who retains some support even now, then to discipline him publicly.
We know that the players are unhappy, and I suspect that the manager, Kieran McKenna, will be unhappy to have to deal with a major distraction in the midst of a serious promotion challenge. And, if there is any suggestion that said distraction denies Ipswich the promotion that the fans crave, I’m not sure that Ashton deserves to survive.
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