'McCarthy deserves a lot of credit' - Sheepshanks

Former Ipswich Town owner David Sheepshanks has been in conversation with BBC Radio Suffolk.

As he prepares to release a new book, Sheepshanks reflected his sale of the club to Marcus Evans in 2007.

Speaking to BBC Radio Suffolk's Brenner Woolley, Sheepshanks said: "I wasn't involved during the later years of Marcus. I was still a fan. Looking on it was simply awful for all fans, painful to watch.

"But at the beginning when we found him, he came in, I first met him, we interviewed him, the board interviewed him, he made all the right noises and did the right things. He invested, heavily. He made a lot of money available, initially to Jim, then Roy Keane, then Paul Jewell.

"But after a while he stopped. Mick McCarthy really gets lot of stick from fans and I think unfairly as he did an amazing job for the club on a shoestring. The way he kept us in the thick of things, when Marcus wasn't giving the club any money, Mick was deflecting all the flak and still kept a competitive team.

"Marcus did well by the club when he came in. His intentions were good but after a few years when it doesn't go so good, I don't think he would mind me saying he might of got some slightly more experienced people around him.

"I left in 2011 completely but effectively in 2009. There wasn't a lot of expertise around him. Whoever was in his ear, some of the decisions that got made were maybe things he will reflect on. But he tried. I give him credit for coming in, trying to do the right thing and putting a lot of money in."

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