Today I am mostly very embarrassed by my club. This statement is nowhere near good enough.

Really piss poor ITFC. Fascists should not be welcomed to our football club.

Utter xxxx-wits !

I hear Tommy Robinson's on his way to Carrot Road

Ipswich Town is proud to be an inclusive, diverse and welcoming organisation that supports all members of the local and wider community.
But the bloke they gave a free tour to is none of these things.......shame on the owners

Not even close to good enough. Weak and increases my disgust at the club.

It’s an oversight by the club.

But the anger should moreso be directed at the sting job done by the politician and his team, who have successfully tried to exploit our good name and brand in world football and the community.

I think we’re the unlucky ones here - and all clubs will now be quickly and quietly updating their policies to try prevent this happening to them. While their fans crow at us!

Since it’s galvanised a lot of energy in the fan base, why not direct that energy into doing something positive for the community, and help send a different message from the fans of this great club?

The Athletic does not think this was "an oversight" (apologies if this has been posted previously):
"The Athletic has seen a message sent by an associate of a senior club figure to a Reform official asking for a meeting with Farage during his visit to the town."
Oh.

Wtf was that statement?
Could you be any lamer?

This is a massive mistake by Ashton. There's no reason why MPs of any colour can't be guests of the directors in the boardroom on matchday but to use the club to drum up support for a political party is completely unacceptable.
The Athletic is reporting that, 'The Athletic has seen a message sent by an associate of a senior club figure to a Reform official asking for a meeting with Farage during his visit to the town'. There's only one senior club official - Ashton.
This now very murky and someone needs to fall on his sword.

Quote -

“The club remains apolitical and does not support or endorse any individual or party”.

I personally do not agree with Reform’s political leanings nor do I support their policies.

However, the above statement from the club says it all.
Ferage was NOT invited to take a tour of the club, his representatives applied to do so through the same system which is open to everyone else.

What do you want the club to do, issue a caveat on their website stating no person belonging to the below listed political parties nor any person supporting those political parties will be allowed to take the tour? I hope not, because then this football club would be opened up to being a bandstand for political argument, which it should never be. IT IS A FOOTBALL CLUB.

It’s not anyone within ITFC that has embarrassed this club, it’s a proportion of the fans on this site now blowing this Farage stunt totally out of context, which has now opened up this fan base to be ridiculed by many outside of the club,who are rubbing their hands with glee, and rolling over with laughter. Quite frankly….It’s Pitiful.

Apolitical my big hairy backside. If they were truly apolitical they wouldn't be letting Farage make political hay out of the visit without raising an objection. Their failure to speak out about Farage using the visit as a political stunt speaks volumes.

There have been many ridiculous comments on here by Farage fan boys calling everyone who objects to this scumbag a leftie or woke. Personally I’ve vote for all 3 main parties during my life, so not sure how I’m a lefty. However if this idiots version of being woke and a lefty, is objecting to racism, facism, authoritarianism, relgiious bigotry, misogyny and sexism… please find me a red flag? This guy pumps out putin talking points, love the biggest moron of a leader on the planet in Trump and fools idiots into thinking he’s a man of the people by smoking a cigarette and holding a pint he’s a privileged public school boy, multi millionaire stock market crook who never does anything for his constituency, in fact doesn’t go there or the commons. Spends his time doing cameos in support of convicted neo Nazis. It’s sad to see how many people never fact check his lies and forget that the thing that screwed the economy and powered a massive rise in immigration was brexit.

This!

Can’t believe that anyone at the club would think that creating this divisive three ring circus is aligned with the values of the club or that it’s going to do anything other than damage its reputation. And at this time in the season. Embarrassing.

Cancelled my TownTV subscription. Unfortunately living abroad I don't have a season ticket to send back.

I have never been ashamed to be a town fan until today. I feel. truly let down by the club.

To allow his social media team in and claim to be apolitical is pathetic.

Wow, it shows that dividing the public and turning people in on each other truly works, well done Farage!!! I don't trust or support any politicians, they are all in it for themselves and why anybody on here would bring politics into football is beyond me?

I will say however I truly hate racism, homophobia and 'othering' of ethnic groups. I will always stand against that, any decent person would. It was the upbringing I had from good parents, something seemingly lacking today. If you think about it (go on try!) the club was put it a 'no win' situation today by reforms media team, Town would have been criticised if they had banned Reform and are being criticised for letting him and his team in. I don't know how much the club 'supported this visit' I mean you can buy a shirt in the club shop and a video can be made with a phone these days.

Also I watched the video on the Reform site which I found appalling, not because of the politics but because of the individual. Anyone who thinks he is not a racist is living on planet Zod to be quite honest. It would have been nice to have put a bit more thought into the press release, you can keep out of politics but make it clear the club doesn't support the views of Farage himself for example.

For me personally I feel sad that in over 60 years of supporting this club, as a family going back to WW1, that my family fought fascism in the armed forces in both WW1 & WW2 and they would have been mortified to see an individual like Farage seemingly welcomed at the club. I will still support Town of course but this has left a bitter taste and we fans deserve a better explanation.

I expected better from Ashton and his team.

Most comments on here are joint condemnation. On facebook it is the opposite, which demonstrates just how skewed social media is. most of the people commenting are fake accounts or in other countries.

If it is true that the club reached out to him, then Mark Ashton has to go.

Was so looking forward to the Women's Game on Saturday but not sure I even want to go now. Luckily my ticket is in Block H2 so right near the director's box.

A terrible mis-step by the club; intentional or otherwise it is sickening to see this depraved individual brandishing our shirt for publicity purposes.

Here's another take on the subject and most definitely my last one, however long it rumbles on. A football club is a rarity in any community, it is one of the few things that is ( or most certainly should be ) all inclusive, regardless of gender, sexuality, race, political and religious leanings. It is that rare case of all these people coming together and uniting over the same thing, the love of football. No one asks about your lifestyle etc, yes you always get a few morons at almost every club, mercifully they are generally few and far between.

In my view a football club should honour that diversity and stay firmly out of anything even vaguely political or religious, it's a sure way to keep all your supporters onside and not make some feel alienated. Just welcome all, not the select few. If a football club states it's " all inclusive ", then if it holds gatherings for one particular organisation, then it has to hold them for all, that's what " all inclusive means ". Far better to stay out of it and not hold any.

I'm sure what has happened will be acknowledged as a mistake, well we all make them, me included. I hope the person who took the booking and apparently never asked who or what it was for isn't hounded out of the club. I'm sure it's a lesson learned, the hard way.

Finally I hope this passes over quickly, lessons are learned where needed, and we can get on with the far more important topic of the run in and specifically the next game against Birmingham.

A better approach for the club would be to restate that whilst everyone who pays is welcome, visitors whilst in the ground are not allowed to use their visit to promulgate political religious commercial (etc) ends other than those that support Town or the Foundation. Such an approach would maintain the club position of neutrality and being apolitical. What the club can’t reasonably be expected to do is start creating banned lists as this itself inevitably becomes political and non inclusive.

Pathetic effort to salvage the Club’s PR own goal. There should have been a plan that includes preemptive measures to prevent the Club from being put into such situation. Instead, the Club is in the backfoot to limit the PR damage. Mark Ashton must have a good look at how the Club runs its PR and Comms Dept. If the Club has the right to turn a drunk man/woman who kept on sprouting vile racists remark from joining a tour, then the Club could have done something to stop the visit from going forward.

Disappointing for a Club of such stature as ours to be associated in whichever way it is with this character. We have to be better than this.

The club have dropped one here. This goes against everything the club apparently stands for

"The club remains apolitical and does not support or endorse any individual or party."

You literally just did that.

"The club will continue to engage with representatives from across the political spectrum as part of its role within the community."

No. Firstly, that's not the business of community engagement. And secondly, some on the "political spectrum" are not like the others - this is false equivalence. Anyone who thinks "so much for the tolerant left" at that idea, I do not align with the political left and you should look up "the tolerance paradox": "a tolerant society must be intolerant of intolerance to prevent the rise of oppressive ideologies. If a society allows intolerant views to flourish unchecked, it risks losing its own tolerance and democratic values"

“Ipswich Town is proud to be an inclusive, diverse and welcoming organisation that supports all members of the local and wider community. This commitment remains unchanged."

Then you need to take a long hard look in the mirror.