Town have extended the deadline for existing season ticket holders who pay for their seats via direct debit to opt out of becoming Academy Friends.
Fans who pay for the season tickets via direct debit had the £120 cost of joining the Academy Friends scheme automatically added to their payment schedule unless they opted out before a deadline of today, despite their season ticket application forms erroneously having stated that they were required to opt in.
However, the club has now written to those supporters yet to opt out informing that the deadline has been extended until May 1st.
Via the new Academy Pledge, season ticket holders signing up to become Academy Friends would be entitled to a free season ticket for 2015/16 if the Blues are promoted to the Premier League next season.
Town joint-managing director Ian Milne told the official site: "The Club is placing a huge emphasis on the development of players through the Academy, which we believe is vitally important if we are to compete with clubs both with and without Premier League parachute payments.
"We have a long tradition of developing home grown players and the club wants this to continue.
"To assist the club in its push for category one Academy status we have launched various fund-raising initiatives, the key one being the opportunity for season ticket holders to obtain a free Premier League season ticket if we are promoted next year for those pledging £10 per month to the Academy for season 2014/15.
"We have had great take up for the Pledge but we are, however, conscious that fans were not aware from our season ticket literature that the Academy pledge was an opt-out scheme until payment schedules were sent out. This was a mistake by the Club at the publishing stage and we apologise for that.
"While wanting to encourage support for the Academy, we also want to ensure that only those that want to contribute do so. We are therefore extending the opt-out period from the original date of April 17th to May 1st.”
Season ticket holders on the direct debit scheme can opt out by sending an email to seasonticketchange@itfc.co.uk or by phone on 0844 8011555 before the new May 1st deadline. Town will then send out a new payment schedule confirming the change.