The Court of Appeal hearing into last year’s High Court ruling on matchday policing charges at Portman Road began earlier today.
In July 2016 Mr Justice Green ruled that Suffolk Constabulary were entitled to charge Town for policing two roads bordering the ground on matchdays (Portman Road and Sir Alf Ramsey Way) during the period 2008 to 2013.
The police argued that the policing of the roads was inseparably linked to that inside the stadium and was therefore the club’s responsibility, while Town claimed the charges were unlawful.
Ruling in the police's favour, Mr Justice Green stated that the policing provided amounted to "special police services".
At this morning’s Court of Appeal hearing, Michael Beloff QC for Town argued that Mr Justice Green's assessment had been overcomplex: "He overcomplicated what is or should be a simple issue.
"He spent so much time in examining various trees that he lost sight of the wood. A better metaphor might be that he took his eye off the ball.”
Last year’s ruling was contrary to those in previous cases relating to matchday policing involving other clubs, including Leeds United and Wigan Athletic.
Mr Beloff added: "This decision, if upheld, will be expensive for a large number of clubs in the Football League and, one may infer, in the Premier League too.”
He said he hoped that the Court of Appeal's ruling in this case would reaffirm the position going forward.
The hearing is expected to take two days, while it’s anticipated that the three Court of Appeal judges, Lady Justice Gloster, Lord Justice Gross and Lord Justice Briggs, will reserve their decision to a later date.