Town chief executive Simon Clegg and East of England Co-operative Society executive officer Roger Grosvenor both stressed that the companies’ newly-formed relationship was a partnership of two organisations which play important roles in the local community at a Portman Road press conference this afternoon. The six-figure deal, which will see the West Stand renamed the East of England Co-operative Stand, will last an initial three years.
Clegg says he is delighted with the link-up: "This is a very exciting development for the football club, it’s an initial three-year deal which extends potentially to five years and involves a six-figure sum, although we won’t be more specific than that, but it’s a greater annual amount that we were receiving previously.
"Within that deal will be the renaming of the West Stand as the East of England Co-operative Stand. I think in challenging economic times like we are at the moment, it’s very easy for companies to whittle away at their sponsorship budgets and marketing budgets, but it’s a huge pleasure for me to be announcing this partnership with such a strong brand locally.”
He feels Town and the East of England Co-op are ideal partners: "This is a natural coming together of two major brands in Ipswich, in Suffolk and the east of England and I’m very excited in terms of where we can take this partnership going forward.
"I know a lot of people will talk about sponsorship but to me this is about partnership, it’s about two great brands coming together and working together to serve our joint customers.
"Their chief executive Roger Grosvenor’s customers are our customers and it’s important that over the coming years we develop ways in which this partnership can filter out and touch our joint customer base in different ways, over and above the naming of this great stand here at Portman Road.
"I’m very excited about the future, very excited, particularly in the context of Financial Fair Play, which is a challenge for all clubs in the Championship.
"Being able to announce a partnership like this today is very exciting in itself, but particularly in the context of the club having to commit to the Football League’s Financial Fair Play regulations.”
Grosvenor added on behalf of his organisation: "We’re absolutely delighted. It’s two brands coming together, two large brands in East Anglia.
"What is most important in all this though, after speaking to Simon and his colleagues, we’ve both learnt that Ipswich Town Football Club is more than just a football club and the East of England Co-op is more than just a retailer.
"We are all committed to the communities we serve and our membership. We’re both membership organisations and I’m sure Ipswich Town would aspire to our half a million membership.
"We’re quite happy to be here today and for the future and we look forward to a successful season and look forward to forging many links and ways that we can work our relationship for the benefit of the East of England Co-op’s members, customers and Ipswich Town’s fans.”
How the stand’s seats will look
Grosvenor, a big football fan but not a supporter of the Blues, says the Co-op have previously sponsored the club on a smaller scale but sees this as something bigger than just a commercial opportunity.
"We believe we want to take that to another level,” he said. "The community relationship, which is where we see our business growing. Like the Co-op, Ipswich Town covers all ages and all genders and therefore the fit is perfect.
"When they gave us the opportunity to take up the sponsorship of the stand but we also looked at the ‘underskin’ of Ipswich Town Football Club, they’re more than just a football club. They’ve got the academy, they’ve got the Charitable Trust.
"They are like us, we are very much focused on supporting our members in the community and I believe the fit was perfect for us.
"The stand sponsorship is just the tip of the iceberg at this point in time. It’s part of a whole package of ideas that Simon and the marketing department want to embrace and move on with. We can share lots of opportunities for the future with this.”
He says Blues’ performances already have an effect on the company: "Ipswich Town has an impact on our staff — when they win, our productivity tends to go up, and when the lose it tends to go down!”
Clegg says the new sponsors will get match tickets as part of the deal with further promotional ideas under discussion: "There are tickets in there and we will look at additional ways to creatively provide support for the East of England Co-operative Society.
"This is an entrance way for Roger and his colleagues into all sorts of aspects of the club, be that the academy, the Charitable Trust or some other areas that we’re yet to announce but that I’m hoping we’re going to announce over the next week or so.”
He says that former stand sponsors the Britannia Building Society will remain involved with the club: "They will continue to be involved. The Save and Support scheme will continue and they will do some additional work in a grassroots programme that we are developing, so we will be retaining some of that money. So, in some respects you could say this is a double win for the club.”