Town chairman David Sheepshanks has welcomed the results of the latest FA Premier League Fan Survey which showed that Town have the greatest number of female season ticket holders and a large family support.

The survey, carried out by the Sir Norman Chester Centre for Football Research at Leicester University, revealed that 23% of Town's season ticket holders are women, a figure well above the Premiership average of 14%.

As well as the large female support Town's extensive family support was also illustrated in the survey. Eight out of ten supporters said they regularly took their school-age children to Portman Road.

Racist and violent incidents were also considered rare by the 2,252 respondents to the questionnaire which was sent out towards the end of last season. The response was the largest from any of the 20 Premiership clubs surveyed.

A pleased David Sheepshanks said that although the results were positive there is still work to do: "I was greatly encouraged to see that we are now averaging as much as 23% female audience. The challenge now is to ensure that we provide the facilities and merchandise they would expect."

"It's very pleasing to see Ipswich Town coming out so well from such a national survey. We have received a very positive response in most areas. However, I can assure supporters that it will not lead to any complacency on our part as our commitment is to carry on improving on the quality and services we offer. I believe this is a direct reference both to the strides we are making in terms of safety, and comfort at the stadium, as well as the success of the Community Department's integration with schools all over the region."

Nationally, a total of 56,020 questionnaires were sent to randomly selected adult season ticket holders at all the FA Premiership clubs which produced replies from 22,090, 39.4%.

23,980 questionnaires were distributed to non-season ticket holders with from 7,633 questionnaires returned, 31.8%.

Overall 80,000 questionnaires were distributed to supporters at Premiership clubs. 29,723 responded, 37.2%. 74% of the sample were season ticket holders and 26% are non-season ticket holders.

Photo: Action Images

Ipswich Town Polls