Town chief executive Simon Clegg says he hopes to forge closer links with Ipswich Borough Council now that the disagreement regarding the back rent has been settled. The Blues chief believes success at Portman Road can have a huge effect on the town as a whole.
Clegg told TWTD: "I’m pleased that has been resolved and I think it’s been resolved to the best solution we could have hoped for, bearing in mind that there was no evidence to support the position which the club had adopted.
"I’ve always had a very good relationship with [IBC chief executive] Russell Williams and also with [IBC leader] David Ellesmere, however, I have a slight bone of contention and that is that I would like to see a different type of relationship between IBC and Ipswich Town Football Club.
"I’d like there to be some recognition that we are a marketing vehicle for Ipswich and nothing will have a greater impact on the local community — and I’m talking about the local business community in particular — than Ipswich Town being promoted to the Premier League.”
In 2006 a paper jointly produced by Town and IBC estimated the economic benefit of Premier League football to be around £50 million a year and Clegg says the discussions regarding the back rent have led to talks about cultivating closer ties: "It doesn’t matter what initiatives the council come up with, nothing can match the positive ramifications for the local business community as well as the feel-good factor for the citizens of Ipswich as if Ipswich Town were promoted.
"That’s something I’m exploring with them as a part of the negotiation and the agreement that we reached over back rent.
"Part of that is an agreement on behalf of both parties to establish and develop a more meaningful relationship.”
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