Ipswich MP Ben Gummer’s suggestion that Ipswich Borough Council should sell Portman Road to the club in order to finance the compulsory purchase of waterfront land for redevelopment is “stupid and naïve”, according to Borough councillor and ITFC Supporters Trust committee member Alasdair Ross.

While the Blues own Portman Road's stands and other buildings, IBC own the land on which they are built with Town having signed a lease on the 8½ acre site in August 2001, the term lasting 125 years from the start of a previous agreement in June 1969.

Former Town chief executive Simon Clegg revealed to TWTD that in 2011, during a lengthy dispute relating a backdated rent rise, club owner Marcus Evans had had a bid to buy the stadium rebuffed by IBC.

Town’s offer, believed to be in the region of £1 million, was, Clegg said, a long way from IBC’s valuation: “I don’t really want to go into figures, but we did make a substantial offer to the council earlier in the year and they felt that the offer didn’t value the ground in the same way that they did. It is fair to say that there was some considerable distance between us.”

Now, MP Gummer says he believes the council should cash in on the ground in order to buy waterfront land close to Stoke Bridge for redevelopment: “I don’t want to tell the council what they should or should not sell, but we know the football club is keen to buy the freehold of Portman Road,” he told the Ipswich Star.

However, Labour councillor Ross says there is little to be gained from the sale with the current arrangement protecting Town from the sort of situations which have occurred at other clubs where grounds have been sold for development, in the case of Brighton with no new stadium in place.

“I think it’s rather stupid and naïve,” he told TWTD. “There’s no need to sell the ground, it’s of no benefit to Mr Evans the way we are to buy the ground.

“And with the council owning it we know the ground is secure. If Mr Evans were to sell the club in the future while owning the ground, who would own it then? The current situation is protection against anyone trying to develop the ground in the future.”

Photo: Action Images

BillBlue added 20:48 - Mar 11 What on earth have Ipswich Town supporters come down to. Almost every one of the above posts is an unthought out political statement. Sport and politics do not mix nor should they be. Get a grip on yourselves and grow up or goodness help us.
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theobald1985 added 21:04 - Mar 11 BillBlue peoples hatred of wretched little tory boys like gummer is entirely justified. The idea of the council not owning the ground is ridiculous.I was looking through an old non league football directory the other day and there were clubs on most pages that now dont exist.Why would we want the risk of this i cant believe anybody could even contemplate this as an idea. Gummer could not care less if the club went out of existance tomorow.

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Mark added 21:19 - Mar 11 @Marshalls_Mullet But why wouldn't IBC just borrow £1M if they need that and repay from the rent? Even at 5% interest, that would cost just £267K interest over 10 years compared with £1M rental income, plus they'd still have the asset at the end to keep earning rent on for another 71 years! Selling makes no financial sense.
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Marshalls_Mullet added 21:32 - Mar 11 @ Mark I have explained to you that the market value is £1m - £1.25m and that is why it would appeal. Even if you apply a 5% yield to an income of £100,000 per annum. That would give you a capital value of £2m. Councils can borrow at a low rate, so they may view the opportunity cost at £2m. £100k in 81 years time is not worth the same as £100k today, its called depreciation. What is your view of the market value of the right to receive £100k per annum?

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Notts_tractor added 21:34 - Mar 11 Alasdair Ross = lifelong supporter of Ipswich Town, someone who truly understands the place of ITFC in the community; Ben Gummer = like most Tories, knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
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Hegansheroes added 22:42 - Mar 11 Agree with DaleyITFC & a lot of other comments. Gummer is a pretty useless local MP on a par with his duck loving Dad who reprented the greedy few. Any thing else IBC can sell off, Fore St baths? Privatise the roads? The parks, wouldn't put anything as safe in their hands.
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itfc1981 added 23:23 - Mar 11 A poor plan from a poor MP.
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algarvefan added 00:39 - Mar 12 Too many burgers Gummer as a child, God his father was a git!!!!
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Mark added 08:06 - Mar 12 > £100k in 81 years time is not worth the same as £100k today, its called depreciation. But IBC and ITFC renegotiate this rate every 10 years I understand, so it would not stay fixed at £100K but instead be uplifted. I think you mean inflation rather than depreciation. > What is your view of the market value of the right to receive £100k per annum? I don't know, but I'd say a lot more than £1M. Anyway, we're talking about the town's football stadium here and as a voter and tax-payer I want IBC to protect this asset for the town.

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oldbluey added 09:24 - Mar 12 Chinless wonder and public school toff Gummer, who recently advocated "deep cuts to welfare and pensions ", should keep his tory snout out of ITFC affairs.
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nthstd added 10:19 - Mar 12 With IBC owning the land we can be assured that the club will not d loose it's ground. Young Mr Gummer is talking sense form a business perspective, but not from a footballing perspective. If Marcus Evans company bought the ground in no time at all he's be looking to capitalise on the real value of the land and move the club to a "purpose built” site. If and when, note the positive, we return to the premier league we will hope to stay up. A few seasons up should hopefully clear our debts and establish us fiscally. The last thing you want once we are in the black is some mad new ground scheme! IBC holding onto the title for the land is an asset for the Town of Ipswich and as asset for the supporters.

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TrueBlueTrueBlue added 10:23 - Mar 12 I see some, who know nothing about Gummer would rather score nasty points borne from ignorance than have a proper debate about the viability of selling. This was of course what Councillor Ross wanted you to do and you fell for it. Go speak to Ben Gummer MP and you will see how much he loves Ipswich and would only suggest something in best interest. £ 1 million pounds got the ball rolling for the building of the university. Don't sneeze at it or what it could do for the town. the Waterfront is the best thing about Ipswich (apart from the club!) but it could be even better. I cant see anyone selling it off but we can never be sure about the future. On balance i would rather it wasnt.

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JWM added 10:30 - Mar 12 Some vitriolic abuse for the Ipswich MP, makes me wonder how he ever got elected in the first place!
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oldbluey added 10:53 - Mar 12 @JWM Lord Ashcroft's money helped to get Gummer elected. Alasdair speaks for the true ITFC fans. Gummer speaks for the privileged 1%.
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JWM added 11:15 - Mar 12 @oldbluey Gummer's comments must be taken into context with the much wider debate about the desperate need for extra money to be spent on a delapidated Town Centre which is 40 years past it's sell by date. Aaron McClean was right when he tweeted on the state of Ipswich Town Centre and any debate that focuses attention on the urgent need to redevelop the run down parts of the Town must be welcomed. ITFC must play a big part in any future plans for redevlopment as it attracts most of the money spent by visitors to Ipswich. A modern Town Centre that can boast decent infrastructure together with a strong community focused football club is surely what we all want.

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dford7 added 11:21 - Mar 12 Moving the ground! Please gog, no. Lets not forget all of us that get here by train. Where would you move it to? Manningtree!!!???!!!
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Marshalls_Mullet added 11:21 - Mar 12 Mark - Under my proposal, the ground would stay under the control of IBC!!!!!!!!!!
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Rimsy added 11:27 - Mar 12 Sell it. Move to the outskirts. If they were building a new stadium now, the center of town would be the last place considered.
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HARRY10 added 12:44 - Mar 12 "A few seasons up should hopefully clear our debts and establish us fiscally" That is extreme wishful thinking. With our debt at a figure now most likely around £75m we could not take out say £25m over three seasons, and still remain competitive with other PL clubs so as to stay up. As to our ground I am concerned that yet again the sharks are circling. This is not a coincidence and it worries me tha MEI could find money for this and not the squad. Portman road is our home it should remain as such and not have a shadow hanging over it.

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rapier added 12:51 - Mar 12 ME should just buy the land at the Waterfront and rent it to IBC, troll'em good.
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Doctor_Albran added 13:27 - Mar 12 Why so many negatives on BillBlue? He's spot on. Politics has no place in sport. The political bile being spouted is awful and your support of IBC is interesting. Looking at the majority of the posts above whilst the opinions stated might be correct and the sale of the ground may be a bad idea at least it was a suggestion to generate investment in the town (the fact he's a chinless wonder is neither here nor there) Labour or Tory I'd like to see more ideas like this - Ipswich town centre is dying on it's a*** through a lack of investment and affordable parking, you can't get out of town because the roads and traffic are so bad and IBC is trying to win political points by stamping out ideas... Modern myopic UK politics in a nutshell!

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theobald1985 added 14:13 - Mar 12 Doctor_Albran the town centre would be a whole lot better if young gummers party would stimulate jobs and growth with higher taxation for the rich to pay for more job creation. without jobs people have no spare cash to spend in the shops so they close down. People dont move here as there is no jobs and the town centre goes downhill. to sell are ground to pay for his partys inadequete running of the country would be unforgiveable.

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Ipswichbusiness added 14:17 - Mar 12 Marshals MUllet; promotion to the Premiership might make it financially viable. I know it's a bit different, but I recall reading somewhere that with regard to Arsenal the 9000 best seats at the Emirates generate more income than the whole of the old Highbury (capacity 35000+). Also if the so-called financial fair play rules are calculated on an income/expenditure basis, then capitalising the payments might give us more freedom to manoeuvre.

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WickedBlue added 14:41 - Mar 12 I'd trust ME over IBC any day. Everything IBC has a finger in falls apart. They are doing a great job killing the Town itself how long before they turn their attention to the football club?
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JWM added 16:18 - Mar 12 Oh Theobald I do despair at your 'soak the rich' rhetoric! Wilson and Callaghan tried that in the 1970s and look where that got us!
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