CEO Mark Ashton says the Cobbold Stand will require redevelopment of some type at some point given its age but that the club is looking at the stadium in a holistic manner rather than at any stand individually.
The Cobbold Stand is the oldest at the ground these days after celebrating its 50th anniversary this summer having been built in 102 days in the summer of 1971.
"We’ve been talking about this as a senior team,” Ashton said when asked about plans for stadium developments and specifically the Cobbold Stand at last night’s fans’ forum.
"One of the things that we haven’t had is an estate strategy and you can’t develop any part of any stadium in isolation, you have to make the stadium work.
"We’ve been having meetings with the club’s architects, who have been the architects of the club for many, many years, and the number of schemes that they’ve drawn up for the football club that have never been actioned or built is just incredible, from stands to changing rooms to disabled facilities to pitch reconstruction.
"We’re starting to understand how the flow of the stadium works. It’s quite interesting, the architects said to me that the entrance to the stadium actually means that the club has almost got its back to the town. I’m trying to learn about Ipswich, I didn’t understand.
"I think we’ve got to look at the redevelopment or development of all areas of the stadium, not just the Cobbold Stand. The Cobbold Stand is an integral part of that and if you look at the Cobbold Stand it’s got a lifespan now. It is going to be need to be altered, changed, rebuilt at some point in time.
"But we’ve got to make sure that we’ve for the flow of the rest of the stadium right and that means that we can cater for the commercial customers, mid-level customers, season ticket holders and matchday fans.
"And that the stadium caters for that next generation of supporters too because, as I’ve said before, we really have an opportunity here to pack Portman Road and inspire a generation. We’ve got to make sure that all the facilities in all the stands work to do that.
"It’s a really good question and I think the answer to it in a short sentence is that we’re looking at the whole stadium and how it all works before we get to the specifics of which bit first.”