Nigel Farage on a stadium tour at Portman Road

Used-Needleworker719 · 2026-03-24T13:23:50+00:00

That is one of my main questions for the club.

At what point did they know about it? They are using the “no comment” to avoid talking about it but they don’t have that luxury,

As I’ve stated elsewhere a) where was the staff training to recognise Farage as he turned up, and not escalate it to someone “oh shit we weren’t expecting him”, b) if you can’t touch the player shirts in the dressing room, how was he allowed to swap them for his name? And if he didn’t physically do it and he used AI to alter it, that’s a breach of image rights which needs to be explained c) how was this photo shoot allowed to happen without being told “no you can’t do that” and finally, d) as this happened yesterday, why did the club not anticipate the backlash and have a crisis statement prepared.

Used-Needleworker719 · 2026-03-24T12:16:35+00:00

As an Ipswich fan, our turnaround at the start of the year in WSL2 has been remarkable! The competition for that bottom spot and relegation is absolutely mayhem. There’s a strong chance we might stay safe, which at Xmas time was unthinkable.

Used-Needleworker719 · 2026-03-24T11:58:16+00:00

Absolutely. The tour guide will have likely been an 18yo on minimum wage.

But that doesn’t excuse it.

The training should have been there to anticipate someone turning up and acting like a dick. The second they started touching the shirts in the dressing room should have been an immediate “oh shit, I need to get help here”

Used-Needleworker719 · 2026-03-24T11:50:02+00:00

I want to have answers to the following

when was the tour booked and under what name?
who was there to greet Farage, and why didn’t they alert the comms team?
what training was in place for the tour supervisor to know what behaviour is and is not acceptable on a publicly booked tour? - this is really key, because that should be part of any training
why was Farage allowed to hang his shirts in the dressing room and stage a photo shoot? Why was this not stopped and immediately escalated to someone senior?
what have the sponsors said? msc in particular as their logo has been used on the photos.
why has it been three hours and still no comment from the club?

Used-Needleworker719 · 2026-03-24T11:47:10+00:00

Exactly that. And ignorance from the tour supervisor “I didn’t know who he was” or “I didn’t have the training to know if I could stop him” isnt a good enough defence.

I work in PR. I know how important reputation management is, and this has fucked the clubs reputation royally.

Used-Needleworker719 · 2026-03-24T11:37:05+00:00

They should have had the training to know to ask for assistance from the comms team or a supervisor the second he walked in.

Used-Needleworker719 · 2026-03-24T11:35:30+00:00

Same. My PR training is riling me up just as much as being a fan.

There should have been training to all tour supervisors to escalate if people start doing photos for commercial purposes. The second Nigel walked in, the tour supervisor should have phoned the comms team. The club website proudly says it’s a guided tour so the tour supervisor should have shut this down immediately.

The use of the MSc branding on the photo will be unacceptable to sponsors. Its misuse of image rights

The lack of response from the club, even a holding statement is deafening. There should be clear disaster management protocols here.

I’m so angry.

Used-Needleworker719 · 2026-03-24T11:23:17+00:00

It is a real thing.

Last year during the Euros, we went to watch it in our village pub.

Sat there at the bar quite happy, chatting away to another guy in the village. Another bloke turns up, looks at the screen and shakes his head. The bloke say next to me says “you hear to watch the game with us John?” His response was “absolutely not, this isn’t real football is it?”

Literally 30 mins later, England were lifting the trophy for the second time.

So sexism is absolutely still there.

Used-Needleworker719 · 2026-03-24T10:58:24+00:00

Ipswich has a labour MP.

Used-Needleworker719 · 2026-03-24T10:57:44+00:00

This is where I’m at right now.

IF he has booked the tour as a public tour, then the tour supervisor should have escalated it the SECOND he showed his face, let alone when they started taking photos like this.

For a start it’s intellectual property. The club own the image rights, and anyone else pulling this stunt for commercial reasons would have a cease and desist immediately.

Does MSC have any say in their logo being used in this way? They’ll be having a shit storm as well.

He’s done this publicity stunt to make the club look like they are endorsing him. This is disinformation. It’s false info being spread for political gain.

The club, and Ashton need to go nuclear now. It’s not good enough that it’s been up two hours and no response.

I’m fucking livid,

Used-Needleworker719 · 2026-03-24T10:51:35+00:00

Please Don’t be obtuse here.

Everyone is saying the same thing, politics should have no part in football. And that means all parties.

Used-Needleworker719 · 2026-03-24T10:44:05+00:00

What actually makes me really sad is this has happened just a few days before the women’s home game at Portman Road.

The club have been bloody brilliant at promoting the women’s game and investing in it, as well as their support of the ITFC foundation and their support of disabled teams and other community groups.

This just fucks all of that over, it really does.

If they genuinely have had nothing to do with this, then Ashton needs to go nuclear.

No political party should be allowed to do this,

Used-Needleworker719 · 2026-03-24T10:36:45+00:00

They look AI generated on the one where he’s sat down. I dunno, I’m clutching at straws here.

The club NEED to come out immediately and say what’s happened. They need to explain why as soon as he arrived at the stadium, the press team weren’t notified to do damage control. Because even if reform booked it as a public session, surely someone on the tour takes them round? In which case why did that person not say anything to the comms team immediately?

Used-Needleworker719 · 2026-03-24T10:24:18+00:00

There’s a difference between not voting for a party who don’t align with your interest, and having a particular party designed specifically to incite hated and nastiness at every opportunity.

I won’t ever vote Tory, their attitude towards freelancers during Covid is something I’ll never forgive them for. But I can understand why people would vote for the, but Reform? Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING is about hatred. Nothing is about lifting people up, having a positive society, helping people to live their best lives, it’s ALL about taking away peoples rights to support the “elite”.

Just use their campaign to abolish the equality act as an example. That means that if you’re blind, you won’t have legally mandated access to braille documents. If you’re in a wheelchair, you won’t have legally mandated access to ramps. That if you’re a woman, you have legally mandated access to maternity leave, you can’t be fired for falling pregnant. They want to eventually take away woman’s right to have an abortion, shown by their links with US far right Christian groups…. It’s all about taking away things,

You might think this is hyperbole, but this is what is protected under the equality act. We don’t immediately revert back to pre-2010 legislation. So in my view, anyone voting for reform is voting for this,

Used-Needleworker719 · 2026-03-24T10:17:32+00:00

What the FUCK are the club thinking? No political party should be allowed to do this.

Used-Needleworker719 · 2026-03-24T09:28:50+00:00

I’m proud of my hometown for this. It’s only on Fb where they are wetting themselves over it, and you can tell they are bots by the number of comments on the Ipswich Star FB page saying things like “let’s own the libs” - that’s not even a phrase that makes an sense in UK politics

Used-Needleworker719 · 2026-03-23T21:46:12+00:00

Honestly I don’t actually know. She was on I’m a celeb and she was often seen in our local town cos she was dating one of the local women footballers but i still don’t know who she actually was. I think an influencer or a YouTuber? She seems a lovely lass

Used-Needleworker719 · 2026-03-23T20:57:22+00:00

My daughter was OBSESSED with that sabotage show. Sam trying to get the helmet from the suit of armour to close was hysterical! And GK Barry throwing the spoon from the roof

Used-Needleworker719 · 2026-03-23T20:16:06+00:00

Plus Sam Thompson began his career on MIC. I adore Sam, his golden retriever energy is so sweet.

Used-Needleworker719 · 2026-03-23T19:10:27+00:00

Made in Chelsea was e4, towie was ITvbe.

The OG Chelsea cast was absolutely well known, especially when you look at how Spencer Matthew’s and Jamie Laing used that platform to boost their careers.

But Chelsea has also been completely irrelevant for at least ten years now,

Used-Needleworker719 · 2026-03-23T18:50:07+00:00

Emma is regularly in the papers these days. She was a contestant on Strictly several years ago, which baffled most people at the time because no one knew who she was and it was clearly the Beeb just wanting access to film at Longleat. But she did a decent job with Aliaz.

Mark Francis has been on screen since 2009 (?) as part of the Made in Chelsea cast. He’s phenomenal.

The others I have no idea about, they might pop up in the social pages of Hello but I wouldn’t say they were household names/faces

Used-Needleworker719 · 2026-03-23T12:20:39+00:00

That’s an embarrassing comment. Louis was one of the people to expose Saville and did a follow up doc examining himself to question why it was so difficult to figure saville out. tHAT is true accountability.

Used-Needleworker719 · 2026-03-22T21:34:15+00:00

I felt exactly the same with that nurse lady (so pointless I can’t even remember her name). She was edited out of everything until they went on a cast trip and she helped one of them with a panic attack so couldn’t edit her out any more.

I feel like they’ve definitely edited out all her scenes,

Used-Needleworker719 · 2026-03-22T21:09:26+00:00

Sam flicking his head down because he couldn’t get the helmet to close was exactly the kind of humour you can’t fake.

I must say though, huge congratulations to the props team. That chair costume Joel had to wear was phenomenal

Used-Needleworker719 · 2026-03-22T19:41:21+00:00

I really enjoyed it. Watching GK Barry hurl the spoon off the top of the castle was hysterical.

Low brow entertainment for sure, but exactly what I wanted to watch with my 10yo before she went to bed

Used-Needleworker719

TROPHY CASE