Manager Mick McCarthy and managing director Ian Milne will answer questions from shareholders at the Annual General Meeting of the Ipswich Town PLC, which will take place in the Sir Bobby Robson Suite on Wednesday 2nd December (doors open 6.30pm, 7.30pm start).
The PLC owns 12.5 per cent of Town and consists of the club's shareholding prior to the takeover eight years ago with Marcus Evans owning the other 87.5 per cent. The meeting is open only to shareholders or their proxies.
Ex-club director Roger Finbow is the current PLC chairman, while the other PLC board members are MD Milne, former joint-MD and current club director Jonathan Symonds, Supporters Club chair Elizabeth Edwards and one-time club board members Philip Hope-Cobbold and Richard Moore.
In his letter to shareholders Finbow reveals that John Kerr, club chairman from 1991 to 1995, is standing down from the PLC board with Peter Over set to take his place.
"John Kerr has decided to stand down from the board at the AGM,” Finbow writes. "John, and his father before him, have together been involved in the club for more than half a century, with John serving as chairman of the club for a number of years, a period which included our time as an inaugural member of the Premier League.
"I am sure I speak for all shareholders in acknowledging John’s enormous contribution to the club’s successes. Fortunately we and the club will continue to reap the benefit of his wisdom and experience through his remaining a Vice-president.
"John’s retirement leaves a vacancy on the board, and I am very pleased to propose that Peter Over be appointed as a director. Peter is a farmer from Elmswell in West Suffolk, and will be well known to many shareholders as a Trustee of the Suffolk Agricultural Association and a former honorary director of the Suffolk Show.
"He and his family have been season ticket holders for many years and he has been actively involved in the academy both as a Sponsor and an ambassador and is a regular attendee at matches, both home and away, and at many other club functions.”
Regarding on-field matters, Finbow adds: "As we’d all hoped, the club finished last season strongly, mounting a credible and creditable bid for promotion.
"Although, as I write this, we’ve hit a bit of a dip having started the season so well, your board is confident that the combination of a stronger squad, the stability, dressing room camaraderie and high standards engendered by Mick McCarthy and his staff, and the support of a happy, close-knit and devoted administrative team, will enable us to be at least as successful, and hopefully a little more so, this season.”
In addition to the PLC’s own accounts, shareholders are traditionally given a document entitled the Financial Highlights of Ipswich Town Football Club Co Limited for the year to the end of June at the AGM which is subsequently posted on the club website.
For more details on the PLC AGM visit the club site.