The true cost of Town being relegated could be around £50 million according to a report this morning. Business leaders are crossing their fingers as much as fans with Premiership status apparently worth £1 million a week to the region.
The club itself is set suffer an immediate loss of £10 million in turnover should they go down with David Sheepshanks already warning that players will leave Portman Road over the summer if Town do drop out of the Premiership.
The chairman says that a strategy for relegation has already been worked out, but told shareholders at the AGM that this had been locked away in the hope that it would never be needed.
Even business leaders from North Essex say there has been a positive effect on their region from Town's spell in the Premiership.