CEO Mark Ashton spoke about the club’s long-term plan to rebuild the Cobbold Stand at last night’s PLC AGM in the Sir Bobby Robson Suite.
The Cobbold Stand is now more than 50 years old with the club previously having plans to upgrade it in the early 2000s in the wake of the redevelopments of what are now the Sir Alf Ramsey Stand and Sir Bobby Robson Stand. However, those ambitions were shelved following relegation in the summer of 2002.
The summer saw Portman Road's pitch renovated at a cost Ashton revealed to be £2.7 million, while other work, including new scoreboards and an improved PA, has also taken place in the just over two years since the takeover.
"The general upkeep of the stadium moves forward,” Ashton said. "The digiboards, the big screen, the land that we purchased behind the stand, the whole stadium starts to look tidier and starts to look smarter.
"But, is it big enough? A good question. Averaging 29,000 per home game is incredible and we need to look at a long-term plans on how we increase capacity in the stadium. And I say long-term, because that is not a short or medium-term plan, let’s be very clear.
"We are working with the local authority to look at plans and land allocation around the stadium on how we assemble an overall masterplan.
"That masterplan obviously includes, at some point, a replacement for the Cobbold Stand, but that will not happen overnight.
"We will move through planning, we will move through design, we will look to build a stand which operates 365 days a year and drives revenue alongside that.
"But we won’t execute that plan until we believe the time is right. I think that is absolutely key because I think it’s important that you don’t simply take a stand down at the wrong time and you’ve got no atmosphere in the stadium, you lose your revenue in that period. So the timing of that will be key, but we are working on those plans right now.
"The infrastructure plans at Playford Road are also moving forward. Architects have been appointed and the design of an elite, professional, Premier League training ground facility is under way.
"Again, we will move forward with design and planning and then into the construction phase. The delivery of the training ground project before the Portman Road project.”
Ashton says it’s vital that the new stand pays its way day in, day out rather than just on a matchday.
"We’re in constant dialogue with the local authority and we’re at the point now where it’s been a masterplanning exercise because we have the land on which we want and need to expand,” he added.
"But what we don’t want to do is build a white elephant for the town because when you build a major stand, the revenue that you get from 23 home games is never going to give you payback, the numbers just simply don’t stack up. The stand has to operate seven days a week, 52 weeks a year.
"You then have to look at the town, look at the county and look at the facilities that it lacks and put those type of facilities into the stadium because ultimately there’s an argument to say that if the Cobbold is rebuild in a specific way, it turns the stadium around because at the moment we’ve almost got our back to the town.
"What we’re doing is discussing that with the local authorities to look at how we best link to the railway station, how we link for access and egress and facilities that would not only best service and give revenue to the football club but would also service the town. [chief financial officer] Tom [Ball] has been in those meetings with me and we are working through them.
"Architects have been appointed, they’re top, top international architects, who will put a scheme together for us to take forward.”
Ashton was asked about safe standing and says that will be part of the wider thinking on the ground’s development, which also includes the placement of away fans.
"What we’re working on is a stadium plan,” he said. "It links to the Cobbold plans because part of that is to discuss where Premier League away fans could go, where long-term fans would go if we replace the Cobbold and also what our safe standing policy would be around the stadium.
"We’re talking about that now and I think what we would look at is once we’ve agreed that internally is communicate with supporters what our policy is going to be because it has to start in certain parts of the stadium.
"Coventry was a challenge on Saturday. In fairness, I thought their fans were great, they never stopped singing, but they were standing up. Do we start a seating plan with the away fans? That doesn’t quite feel right.
"We’re probably going to start in home areas, but we need to put a plan in place and communicate it. But I promise you, it was something which was discussed again this morning and something we’re working on because we’re going to have to move to it.”