Saturday’s home game against Hull City is in doubt due to the continuing Arctic conditions. While the pitch is expected to be fine, supporter safety both on the way to the ground and at the stadium could see the match postponed.
The pitch has been under cover since the U23s match on Monday with hot air blowers in use, snow having been cleared to the periphery.
Unless there is further heavy snow on Friday evening or Saturday morning the surface is expected to be playable.
However, the area around the stadium is frozen with temperatures not expected to increase significantly before Saturday, while some of the toilets in the Sir Bobby Robson Stand are frozen.
""There are doubts over the game going ahead as we stand at the moment,” Town stadium manager, Greg Pillinger, told the club site.
"""The safety of the supporters is priority and if we can’t guarantee that with the conditions, then the game can’t go ahead. "
"All the concourses and seating need to be safe for the public to view the match along with the perimeter of the stadium and routes to and from bus stops, car parks and the railway station. This has involved consultation with the local authorities.
"Likewise the police and the Highways Authority have been consulted for their views on the major road networks leading to and from Portman Road.
"Importantly, our own matchday staff, both stewards, catering and corporate, all need to be able to get to the stadium safely and in the correct numbers, in particular the stewards to ensure we meet the minimum numbers to adhere to the Safety Certificate.""
"So, there is much more to it than getting the pitch playable but we are doing all we can to get the game on.”
The Hull squad are set to fly on Friday afternoon, although they have a contingency plan to travel by coach, and the prospects of the game taking place as scheduled will be discussed at a meeting at Portman Road tomorrow morning.
As things stand, manager Mick McCarthy's pre-match press conference will take place at 1pm and will be live on TWTV, however, if the match succumbs to the weather won't take place.
Already, tomorrow's Ex-Players' Association Hall of Fame Dinner has been postponed and rescheduled for Friday 4th May, while Tuesday's Legends of Darts event was also called off and has been rearranged for Wednesday 18th April.
Saturday's U18s and U16s matches at Bristol City have also been postponed, while all academy PDP trials and training sessions were also victims of the weather and will take place next week.
Portman Road's last postponed first team fixture was the game against Watford on Boxing Day 2010 which was surprisingly called off 90 minutes before kick-off due to a frozen area of the pitch.
The Middlesbrough match in February 2012 was abandoned after 37 minutes with the score 0-0 with sections of the pitch having frozen.