It appears unlikely that East Anglian derbies will be played away from Sunday lunchtimes in the foreseeable future after the findings of the internal police inquiry into last April’s Portman Road game between the Blues and Norwich City were made public.
A Freedom of Information request made by the BBC revealed that the report largely blamed the staging of the match on a Thursday evening for the disorder which took place.
After the game, Norwich City complained that the policing had been "utterly incompetent" and "grossly negligent" with around 100 of their fans reportedly still outside the ground when the match kicked off.
Suffolk Police's professional standards department said in the report: "The critical issue above all else in respect of the cause of the disorder was to move the fixture from its traditional time of midday on a Sunday to an evening kick-off.
"The evening kick-off afforded rival fans the opportunity to consume large quantities of alcohol, an obvious aggravating factor in this case."
A Town spokesman says the report contained inaccuracies, particularly with regard to the reasons for playing the game on the Thursday, which was the day before the Easter weekend, and they will seek to address them at a future meeting: "We have only recently gained sight of the full report but it contains some significant inaccuracies that we are already in the process of raising through the appropriate channels.
"These discrepancies include the decision-making process to play the game on the Thursday, as well as the claim that the club sold tickets for home areas to away fans as a result of a voucher scheme, which simply isn’t the case.
"A meeting with all parties is already planned for February when we will be seeking to iron out these inaccuracies. Until that time, the club will be making no further comment on this issue.”
Despite the report, Supt John Everett of Suffolk Police felt the operation — which led to 19 arrests and 13 ejections - had been a success: "We didn't have any significant disorder. We had a very, very small number of minor injuries and no significant damage to pubs, which we've seen in the past with these derby games. Of course, we're more than happy to learn and to react positively to constructive criticism."