Town have announced that chairman David Sheepshanks will take a non-executive role with the club from July 1st. Sheepshanks will continue to chair the club and PLC boards as well as the Community Trust.

Sheepshanks told the club site: "This is a naturally a good time for me to assume a less active role at the club and it will allow me to give greater time to other business interests.

"It has been my aim to see the club properly financed and back in the Premiership. With Marcus Evans's investment we have achieved the first and we are well on the way to the second.

"The infrastructure at our club is now first class and we have a brilliant professional staff led by Derek Bowden and Jim Magilton. We have an excellent academy on a par with the best, a ready made Premiership stadium and a fantastic fanbase backed by a strong community support ethic.

"If we continue to build on these foundations as I am sure we will, then the club can look forward with excitement to another era of greatness.

"Ipswich Town and the community are in my blood and my heart, so I am very happy to carry on as non-exec chairman, having held executive authority since 1995. The club is in good hands with Marcus Evans and the new five-year sponsorship agreement is another example of his support.

"I look forward with optimism and to continuing to assist Marcus and the club as best I can."

Club owner Marcus Evans added: "David is a big personality in the game and has done fantastic work for Ipswich Town over a number of years. Following the changes at the club over the last six months, both David and I believe that it is the right time to make this change. We now look forward to taking Ipswich Town Football Club into a new era and hopefully into the top league of English football."

Sheepshanks is currently away with the England squad ahead of the Trinidad and Tobago game in his FA capacity.

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