Farage unwelcome at Ipswich Town FC

Ipswich Town staff and fans complain at ‘apolitical’ club’s Farage stunt

Staff and fans of Ipswich Town football club have complained bitterly at an unannounced stunt to promote racist far-right Trump fan Nigel Farage. Farage published a promotional video for his politics filmed as he stood on the Portman Road pitch. The club then had insisted it is “apolitical” and denied “formally” inviting Farage to visit the club, but details that have emerged since refute the denial, showing that:

👉An associate of CEO Mark Ashton sent an invite to Nigel Farage
👉Farage was met by Marcus Nash, director of media and communications
👉Ashton and COO Luke Werhun had lunch with Farage
👉The club gifted Farage SIX ‘Farage 10’ shirts
👉 Employees outside a select few were unaware of the stunt
👉Members of staff have made complaints

This is despite the club claiming they were ‘apolitical’ in a statement made on Wednesday.

Farage’s lunch was provided free – the latest in a long line of freebies provided to the racist bigot by wealthy and often foreign donors. He also failed to declare more than £380,000 in outside earnings within the legally-required timeframe.

Nigel Farage’s visit to Ipswich Town’s Portman Road stadium has prompted a significant social media backlash.

Ipswich insist Reform UK and Farage were not formally invited by the club … but The Athletic has been told a slightly different story.

📝 @Dan_Sheldon_

Free to read… pic.twitter.com/ojBbQQRmH4

— The Athletic | Football (@TheAthleticFC) March 24, 2026

Club staff have complained and fans groups have expressed their outrage on social media. Supporters’ group Blue Action accused bosses of letting the club they love be:

egregiously exploited by a political figure for personal gain and those in charge seemingly allowing and even welcoming it … risk[ing] alienating large numbers of the fanbase and fomenting division.

Featured image via the Canary

Tags: Reform

Comments 2

David Palmer says:

2 months ago

What a disgrace and very obviously ITFC are not a-political but right wing, anyone connected to ITFC should be complaining at their lack of ethics not only for the club but what it says about the town, disgusted that a local; sports team would take such action and says everything we need to know about this shameful act. ITFC hang your heads low. Sports should not be seen to be a political mouth piece especially for right wing politics.

EW999 says:

2 months ago

Are you aware that Ipswich is on the long-list for City of Culture? ITFC is one of the four sponsors of the bid. A lot of us are very concerned that, after ITFC has effectively endorsed the Fash – and then lied about it when it rapidly turned into a dumpster-fire, all the hard work around tolerance, inclusion and diversity is in the toilet; along with any hope we might ever have had of even being taken seriously for City of Culture.

Rumours abound locally that high-profile ITFC associates and sponsors are absolutely furious and now considering their options – including local and Tractorboy Ed Sheeran (whose logo is also on the lovely shirts endorsing him for Prime Minister that the club made for Farage); and the US real-estate development and investment firm, Portman LLC, that only bought a majority share of the club last December, and is now watching its family-friendly brand investment decend into the gutter.