Former Phoenix Rising manager Frank Yallop is “excited” by talk of his former bosses spearheading a takeover of English League One club Ipswich Town.

“Ipswich needs a fresh impetus and a boost, and I think that if we can get someone to take over […] it’ll be wonderful,” he said on Friday night. “I think the club couldn’t be in better hands if the rumours are true and it goes through with the group with Brett [Johnson] and Berke [Bakay], so I’m very excited.”

Yallop, who described himself as “Ipswich through and though”, played over 300 games for the club spread out over more than a decade. He also managed Phoenix Rising through its transition from Arizona United, working under both Johnson and Bakay in the Grand Canyon state.

Reports first surfaced last month in The Athletic that Johnson was spearheading a consortium – featuring Bakay and others – seeking to purchase the Tractor Boys for £17.5 million ($24.2 million).

Johnson has also recently purchased USL League One’s FC Tucson, and is leading a project to set up a USL Championship team in Rhode Island.

In the mind of the former Ipswich defender, the rumoured consortium has what it takes to return the Suffolk club up the leagues.

“I think them doing the Phoenix Rising project only bodes well for them,” Yallop said. “If you think what they’ve done in three, four, four-and-a-half years, it’s amazing with Phoenix Rising.

“I’d like to think it’s going to be a bit quicker if they do work out going to Ipswich, and get us up, but sometimes these things do take time to get in and figure it out.”

Ipswich currently sits in 7th spot in the English Football League One table, after finishing 11th in a curtailed campaign last year. That was their first season in the third tier since the 1950s.