Chief executive Simon Clegg says the Blues are already making plans for the off-field work which would be required if the club is promoted to the Premier League via an initiative named Project Leap. Town have been away from the top flight for almost a decade now and aspects of Portman Road need modernising, while some Premier League regulations have changed during that time.

Clegg says the club is determined not to be caught on the hop when they finally reach the promised land with only 10 weeks separating the play-off final and the start of the following season: “Project Leap has been around for a year and it’s an exercise for me and the department heads to start getting our minds around what the implications of Premier League football would be.

“What has to be done, how much it’s going to cost, what we would like to do and how much that would cost.”

Amongst the issues addressed so far is the requirement for Premier League away teams to be given 3,000 seats at Portman Road, which would take the current visitors' section in the Cobbold Stand around and beyond the central Block D which houses premium season ticket holders.

Fans in that area were surveyed at the Arsenal Carling Cup match last season — where the away support was at Premier League levels - to find out whether they would like to stay where they are or move after promotion. Clegg says they made their thoughts very evident: “We got a very clear and unequivocal message that they don’t want to move and are quite happy where they are come what may.

“Which is great. I gauged them, explained what the problem was and the implications of it, and gave them the opportunity of experiencing that and got their feedback as a result.”

Project Leap has also looked at the situation with the Portman Road pitch which has required major work for a number of years, despite recently departed groundsman Alan Ferguson still managing to provide a perfect surface.

The restoration, which would cost six figures and require work deep below the surface, wouldn’t be carried out immediately after promotion: “We wouldn’t be able to do that in time for Premier League football because the lead time is too long - you wouldn’t know that you’d been promoted when you'd have to start," explains Clegg.

“Therefore, where our mindset is now is that we would have to factor in major pitch renovations at the end of the first season that we’re in the Premier League, even if we were relegated."

Clegg says there are also plenty of other areas which will need to be assessed as part of Project Leap: “You can see the way my thinking is. There are all sorts of other things we’d need to do - media facilities for the Premier League, for example.”

Photo: Action Images

wesleyITFC added 15:26 - Sep 3 @ sereneblue - I understand that comment but isn't that part of going to a football game? being part of an atmosphere? I sit in the cobbold stand near the north stand and I've found that the cobbold actually has better view and atmosphere than the north stand upper, and when me and a few others were singing in the cobbold a few of the zombies joined in so maybe you're not speaking for everyone there

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Knoxvilleblue added 16:16 - Sep 3 I wonder, with this great leap forward, will fans be made to memorise a little red book before they are allowed in?
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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 16:39 - Sep 3 Tractored: It didn't go too badly really after the Great Leap Forward. World domination is obviously on the horizon. COYB!
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Jesney_Havoc added 17:00 - Sep 3 Well I should ruddy well hope we had spend some time over the last 10 YEARS thinking about it ! Havn't we spent longer in this league than anyone else ! Whatever next ? !
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PaulSlocombe added 20:28 - Sep 3 Stick the away fans in the bottom of the North Stand. That should liven up the atmosphere in there. Oh, I forgot, North Stand Lower are the only real supporters the club has. Nobody else counts.
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4everblue added 20:59 - Sep 3 When we do eventually get promoted I believe the plan is to rebuild the Cobbold Stand anyway. Where will they put their deckchairs then?
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churchmans added 23:09 - Sep 3 demolish the portman stand and build a new stand in its place an extra 10-20 thousand would be nice to take our ground up to 40000plus
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GiveusaWave added 23:48 - Sep 3 well said the changingman and arc So, we have a plan for Premier League Football. Brilliant. I hope we have a plan for League 1 football because we have a lot more chance of ending up there. Get a spare-gk, a rightback (since Wright we have been begging for one), another centreback and 2 more wingers and it might be a tad more realistic. Maybe we are not so deluded though, Preston North End did the same last season...

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CobboldNeal added 00:06 - Sep 4 Maybe Clegg is a Billy Bragg fan? One leap forward, two leaps back Will politics get me the sack? waiting for the great leap forwards well here comes the future and you can't run from it If you've got a blacklist I want to be on it waiting for the great leap forwards It's a mighty long way down rock 'n roll From Top of the Pops to drawing the dole waiting for the great leap forwards If no one out there understands Start your own revolution and cut out the middleman waiting for the great leap forwards In a perfect world we'd all sing in tune But this is reality so get some room waiting fort the great leap forwards So join the struggle while you may The Revolution is just a T-shirt away Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards

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martin12120137 added 08:35 - Sep 4 i used to go and see matches without a parent when i was 13 or 14 m8
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BasilSmallpiece added 10:50 - Sep 4 Wonder if the General has also formulated a Project Trapdoor, whereby an unnamed rural football club, run by a bunch of dimwitted fools, plummets down the football ladder and disappears into ignominious obscurity.
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sereneblue added 14:08 - Sep 4 WestlyITFC. Point taken.But this is what I I'm trying to get at. Everyone enjoys a game of football whether their singing , just sitting and watching or taking the zombie route. By the way has anyone else noticed that the north stand is split into two sections when it comes to singing/chanting is concerned. Probably if they all sung as one it might help improve the atmosphere! Who knows some of us Cobbold supporters might even join in.

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SouperJim added 15:00 - Sep 4 This makes rather bizarre reading. Why is Clegg telling the media this stuff as though he is doing something groundbreaking? Isn't this his job? Well done Simon, now off you pop and draw up plans for Project Let's Not Drop Any More Clangers With Player Contracts.
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BigBluBen added 15:56 - Sep 4 There is no need to think about promotion until we get a new manager. With PJ in charge all they need to prepare for is League 1 and the Johnstone Paint Trophy.....
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Tiggs added 17:50 - Sep 4 Major problem with this!!!! We are so far away from being a promotion chasing team, so what is the point? Take your deluded head of Clegg!!!!
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MaySixth added 21:59 - Sep 4 For god's sake, replace the upstairs carpet in Planet Blue at the ground. It is embarassing and makes us look a bit mickey mouse.
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BlueVelvet added 12:50 - Sep 5 As they say, don't leap before you can win games. The only pitch renovation we need is around our goal mouth area - we need an inpenetrable wall built. Still Oly(mpics) Clegg needs to think ahead because next summer closed season he'll be oiling his way into the Olympic stadium to whoop it up with the other gravy train passengers. Cleggs role for ME will be at an end once the closing ceremony is finished - we can then all focus on football and less on selling corporate hospitality and black market olympic tickets, Clegg will be gone and we can maybe have someone who knows and can talk turkey about the bootiful game

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