Town have announced that E.ON will not be extending their sponsorship of the club beyond the end of this season. The power company have been the Blues' sponsors in a variety of guises since 2001.

E.ON recently announced that they are to close their Wherstead offices next year and the end of their association with the Blues had been widely expected.

Town's sales and marketing director Andrew Goulborn told the club site that the club's association with E.ON had been a positive one: "We have had a great working relationship with E.ON and enjoyed working with them on a number of highly innovative sponsorship projects including the recent carbon neutral campaign.

“We're very proud of the longevity of this partnership and we look forward to working with E.ON for the remainder of this season and beyond, albeit in a different kind of partnership.

“We have had a number of conversations with other companies interested in working with us in the future and these will now be developed further."

Mike Thompson, E.ON's head of sponsorship, added: "We are immensely proud to have been part of one of the longest club sponsorship deals in football.

"We remain fully committed to the club and look forward to working closely with the club and fans this season. It is appropriate that in this, our final season, we are able to recognise the fantastic support of the fans with our True Blue campaign - a season-long initiative to find the most loyal Ipswich Town supporters. The most fanatical fan will win a pair of 20-year season tickets."

TWTD recently asked chief executive Derek Bowden about alternatives to E.ON if their sponsorship was to end and he told us that there has been interest from a number of companies: “We've had one or two other parties approaching us in the last couple of years, so we've kept them on the back burner.

“Obviously, our loyalty is to E.ON and if they wish to renew then we'll renew with them. Through TXU, Powergen and now E.ON, they've been a very good sponsor.

“But we have to be prepared for when they say they're going to change strategy and aren't going to do it any more, so we've got one or two who we've got in mind in case that happens.”

Inevitably there will be speculation that Marcus Evans's THG hospitality business might be the name emblazoned on Town shirts next season, while Greene King may be keen on returning to their role as main club sponsor that they relinquished when TXU came to the club in 2001. AXA and the Port of Felixstowe are likely to be other interested parties.

Meanwhile, TWTD understands that the Town board met on Tuesday to discuss developments regarding Marcus Evans's proposed takeover of the club. The deal which would see Evans take an 87.5% stake in the club is believed to be progressing smoothly with an EGM likely to be called for mid-December.

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