Leeds United's promotion rivals handed major boost as takeover confirmed

Leeds United are still in the midst of an international break as they prepare for a huge few weeks. The Whites are just weeks away from finding out whether they will be returning from the Premier League, but there is plenty of work still to do if they want to outrun their promotion rivals.

Daniel Farke's men have been superb in 2024, and it will be interesting to see if they can keep up that form during the period of maximum pressure. In the meantime, one of United's promotion rivals Ipswich Town just got even richer after announcing a partial takeover. Few were aware that the Tractor Boys already had a very wealth ownership group, with their relatively modest budget hiding that fact.

But their ownership situation has now changed, with US private equity Bright Path Sports Partners purchasing a 40% stake in the club for £105million.

It has been confirmed that current chief executive Mark Ashton will remain in charge of the day-to-day running of the club. He said in a statement: "The investment will continue to support the club in both the medium and long term, with the biggest immediate use being to support a number of key infrastructure projects, including the significant redevelopment of the training ground at Playford Road." Jake Zahnow and Sam Simon will now join the board on behalf of the new co-owners, and in a statement, Zahnow added: "Mark and the team at Ipswich have an in-depth knowledge and vast experience of running football clubs and we love the direction the club is moving in, while being excited for the future."

The current owners ORG, who bought the club from Marcus Evans under the name GameChangers20 in 2021, have naturally reduced their stake with the sake of shares. ORG chief Ed Schwartz has said: "When we purchased Ipswich Town in 2021, we did so with the initial aim of restoring the club to the Championship and becoming competitive at this level, with the plan always including bringing a partner on board when the time was right," said ORG principal Ed Schwartz.

"The club's progress means we feel that time is now and we are excited to welcome Bright Path Sports. Alongside the continued day-to-day leadership of Mark Ashton, who we are delighted has further committed his future to the club, we look forward to Bright Path bringing significant value to Ipswich Town in the coming years."

Ipswich are currently second in the Championship, just one point behind Leeds.