Club director Kevin Beeston has stepped down from both boards of Ipswich Town. Since the Marcus Evans takeover a year ago the Blues have been run by two boards, the overall football club board and a PLC board controlling the 12.5% owed by the club's previous shareholders.

Beeston was one of three pre-takeover directors on the new club board, along with chairman David Sheepshanks and chief executive Derek Bowden. They were joined by three board members from the Marcus Evans Group, Martin Pitcher, Ian Milne and Jonathan Symonds.

It appears unlikely that Beeston will be replaced on the club board, although a Town spokesman told TWTD that the Blues will not be making a statement on the issue: "We're not commenting on the future make-up of the club board at this time.”

Beeston, Holly Bellingham and Andrew Goulborn have also stood down from the club's PLC board which controls the 12.5% of the club not owned by Marcus Evans.

Lifelong Town fan Beeston and Bellingham are leaving the PLC to concentrate on their business interests outside football.

Amongst a number of other roles, Beeston, who joined the Town board in August 2003, is the non-executive chairman of FTSE-100 service company Serco, while Bellingham, who became a Blues director in February 2004, is the chairman of specialist liability insurance company Marketform. Bellingham recently joined Ipswich Town Ist, the Town Supporters Trust.

Goulborn, also a long-term Blues supporter and Town's sales and marketing director, has stepped down from his role on the PLC board but remains a club employee.

Yesterday, the PLC released its annual report and accounts and will hold its AGM in the Sir Bobby Robson Suite in the Greene King Stand on Wednesday, 28th January.

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