Blues co-owner Mark Detmer is delighted that the PLC opted to maintain its stake in the club following the recent takeover.
Ipswich Town PLC represents the shareholding of the club prior to Marcus Evans’s 2007 takeover with the majority of those owning the shares - who number around 3,500 - supporters who bought them as the club sought to raise cash following the 2003 period in administration.
It has a 12.5 per cent stake in the club with Gamechanger 20 Ltd owning the other 87.5 per cent.
In the December 2007 deal which saw Evans take ownership of the Blues, it was agreed that if and when the club was sold to a third party the purchaser would have the right to require the PLC to transfer its shares at the same price as had been paid to Evans - 35p per share as it turned out - and the PLC would similarly have the right to require the purchaser to buy the shareholding on the same terms.
Last month, it was confirmed that the the top 20 PLC shareholders, accounting for more than 56 per cent of the share capital, had indicated a preference for maintaining the current position. The PLC board therefore opted not to exercise their tag right.
Detmer, speaking to TWTD and Blue Monday in the first podcast of what will be an ongoing collaboration, said he is pleased that the existing shareholders wanted to maintain their stake in Town.
Asked whether Gamechanger would ever consider the PLC having board level involvement or anything along those lines, he said: "That I can’t comment on, but we’re thrilled that they stayed in.
"They had an option, a tag along, and we had lots of conversations about what that may or may not look like and we’re thrilled that they wanted to stay in for this journey with us, to come along. Because what is a club without its fans, without its community?
"That’s what we take so seriously in all this. We are a representative of the community in the way that we handle ourselves, the way that we treat others, the way that we commit to the project and the club’s performance overall. We were thrilled that the community wanted to stay in as our partners.”