Chairman David Sheepshanks and Marcus Evans's representative Martin Pitcher were both unanimously elected on to the club's PLC board at Monday's AGM. The first AGM of the Marcus Evans era passed relatively quietly aside from news of Town's impending signings.

Sheepshanks opened the meeting with a speech, which can be read in full on the club site.

The chairman then took questions from the floor with footballing queries being passed on to manager Jim Magilton sat at the top table with the PLC's directors, aside from Holly Bellingham and Peter Cohen who sent their apologies.

Sheepshanks revealed that the club has three player bids currently lodged with terms agreed with one player.

The Town chairman also said that there is an outside chance of one or two other deals, while there could also be players on their way out of Portman Road: “That's possible, although I can't give you any names. But there are a couple of deals in the offing. Clearly we want to add to our numbers, but we don't want to disproportionately large squad.

“That said, there are a considerable number of players out of contract at the end of the season, so if we do end up with a slightly larger squad than we would have intended if everything comes off, then I think that will be naturally redressed in the summer.

“Loan signings, of course, can continue even after Thursday, which is another reason why we're all hopeful that if one or two of the hoped for deals don't happen in the next couple of days, there will be still an opportunity to loan players right up until March.”

Asked about future AGMs now that the PLC owns only a 12.5% stake in the club, Sheepshanks said that Marcus Evans had agreed that the club should continue to hold meetings with shareholders in a similar format: “Marcus accepted that we should hold AGMs here with the benefit of the shareholders seeing the annual accounts and report and having the opportunity to question directors, the manager and myself in the same way as they do now.

“The intention and expectation is that this type of meeting will continue very much in the same vein in future years.

“The PLC represents the supporters and the shareholders, but we only own 12.5% of the club as things stand today. However, at many other clubs supporters own nothing when a major new investor comes in.

“I think it was extremely important that we were able to negotiate continuing ownership and a continuing role for shareholders and supporters.”

Martin Pitcher, Marcus Evans's representative on the PLC board and one of three on the club board, gave a short speech introducing himself and outlining some of the reasons why his employer had decided to invest in Town. Pitcher said that the club's history, its academy and Community Trust all impressed the club's new owner.

A questioner asked about the PLC's finances going into the future and chairman David Sheepshanks said that the only real business now carried out by the PLC will be the payment of the interest on the remaining loan notes held by high net worth fans.

Sheepshanks confirmed that all £12 million of the Marcus Evans's investment went into Town's bank account shortly after last month's EGM and that Evans has unsurprisingly taken an interest in where the money is being spent.

Asked whether revealing how much money was available was an “own goal” when it came to transfer negotiations, Sheepshanks said that there was no alternative but to tell shareholders how much the club was being sold for ahead of the EGM.

He confirmed that the club were being careful with the cash and would not blow it all in one spree, despite one shareholder pleading for the entire £12 million to be spent by Thursday: “There's no question, we're not trying to spend all our money at once. I don't feel, and nor do Marcus Evans or Jim, that that's right way to run a club. We've always talked about adding-to rather than wholesale change.

“We've always talked about taking our time, getting the right players in and not being rushed into unwise moves.”

Sheepshanks said that no new sponsor to replace E.on has yet been found with sales and marketing director Andrew Goulborn the man charged with finding the club's new commercial partner.

One shareholder asked whether Town's new-found wealth would see the Britannia Stand finally get its full complement of executive boxes. Sheepshanks said that this was something which he would like to have done, but that no decisions had yet been made on that front.

Jim Magilton confirmed that he is keen for the likes of Dean Bowditch, Billy Clarke, Tommy Smith, Ed Upson and Jaime Peters to go out on loan, but said that the clubs are not always there to take young players on this basis. Magilton said those players would benefit from loan spells in the same way Jordan Rhodes's development was enhanced by his time at Oxford United earlier in the season.

Both Magilton and Sheepshanks stated their unhappiness with the Football Combination and their frustration at Town being excluded from the Premier Reserve League at the end of 2005/06. This, the Blues chairman said, was down to Premier League clubs believing they were too many reserve games and the exclusion of Football League clubs was something specifically championed by David Pleat.

There are hopes of a Championship reserve league in the future, but a number of Midlands clubs are currently happy playing one another in ad hoc friendlies.

One shareholder complained that ticket prices are too high, specifically suggesting that the prices for Sheffield United fans attending their game at Portman Road ought to be reduced in line with the £10 paid by Blues supporters at Bramall Lane earlier in the season.

While under the current pricing structure this was ruled out, it was revealed that Andrew Goulborn is currently looking at “price grading” ahead of next season's ticketing structure.

Sheepshanks played down suggestions that crowds have been poor at Portman Road this season, citing the recent West Brom and Portsmouth games as examples of good attendances and pointing out that some of the more attractive fixtures are still to come.

A shareholder queried the lack of Easter Monday fixtures this season, while Sheepshanks himself said the club were unhappy that for two seasons running the Blues hadn't had a Boxing Day game. The chairman also said he was keen to reduce the number of long distance midweek away trips fans were having to make.

Sheepshanks reiterated that Marcus Evans bought the club to be a Premier League side and again stated that there was no timescale put on this achievement. Further investment would also be available if required in the future.

The Town chairman told shareholders to judge the club's transfer window progress after Thursday, not now.

The question of the smoking ban was raised and Sheepshanks revealed that the club had formed a working group to discuss whether an area might be set aside for smokers to escape to in time for next season, although no promises were made.

After that it was time for the evening's business with seven resolutions all being passed. The club's financial statements for 2006/07 were given an overwhelming vote of confidence, as was director Kevin Beeston, although with one or two dissenting hands raised.

Fellow board member Richard Moore received a unanimous vote, as did chairman David Sheepshanks and new director Martin Pitcher.

KPMG were reappointed as the club's auditors, then the final resolution, which allows the board to allot up to a certain number of shares, was also passed, before the 200 or so attendees retired to the Legends Bar.

Photo: Action Images

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