Town say the move of any fans from the East of England Co-op Stand would be “carried out as fairly as possible” with season ticket holders in a section of the stand having recently received letters regarding the club’s long-term plans for that part of the ground.

That area of the stand was designated a ‘family area’ last year with the club staging pre-match events on the FieldTurf behind it. However, space for new families is now increasingly limited, although the club is not yet turning away new sales.

While many season ticket holders in the section concerned are families, some have sat - and in some cases in pre-all-seater stadium days stood - in that area for many years prior to the section having been used for families.

With the long-term availability of seating for families in mind, the club recently wrote to fans with season tickets in that section about what they describe as “a situation that may affect [them] in the coming months or seasons”, leading to complaints on the TWTD Forum, on social media and letters to the club from fans potentially affected by the issue, while some fans have started a petition.

The club's letter reads: “We believe there to be a number of adults without accompanying children in our family areas and this could be due purely to the fact that the seat was sold prior to it becoming a family area or that family members have grown up and naturally either drifted away from the club or decided to sit elsewhere.

“It does however leave us with this difficult situation to deal with in terms of moving adults attending without children to alternative areas, which will be inevitable if we were to be promoted to the Premier League.

“We will also need to investigate reducing the ‘orphaned’ single seats within these areas by offering seat moves, ensuring these seats can be utilised for additional seasonal/match ticket sales.

“If you currently come as a family group consisting of juniors then please just use this letter for information purposes only, although please note that we are going to be looking at data that will tell us if junior season tickets have been purchased but are not being used.

“If you are an adult season ticket holder that does not sit with junior family members and you wish to consider moving to a non-family area prior to us getting to the stage when we have no option but to move you, it may be worth contacting the Ticket Office to seek advice on the best seats available sooner in order to select from the most suitable seats.”

A club spokesman clarified their plans: “The letter was sent out to reiterate the club’s intention to accommodate families with children in the family enclosure.

“We do have limited space available now in the family stand, for a number of reasons and that is a situation that may have to be addressed at some stage.

“If changes have to be made, they will be carried out as fairly as possible with each individual case judged on its merits.”

Photo: Action Images

MaySixth added 15:53 - Jan 21 Went there a few times with the missus and kids and to be fair it was full of people with no kids. Hardly a family section.
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not_a_witty_name added 16:02 - Jan 21 A lot of them have had their seats for decades and feel that their loyalty is not being returned.
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70s_Legend added 16:06 - Jan 21 About time! Tried to get 5 season tickets together in there a few years ago but was told the only space for that amount of seats together were in the 'wet' front rows. I've had to pay the extra to sit in the middle tier and each week we can see the ridiculous amount of people hogging these cheap seats. Kick the cheapskates out now and get some new families in there to become the future of this club.

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blueblood66 added 16:10 - Jan 21 I sit here and have done for 24 years, prior to having children and then started taking my son who is now 19 and also a season ticket holder. If we move, they want to put us in Lower Cobbold, which does not offer the same match day experience, with the practice pitch and easy access to facilities. Most people who sit around us know us and have become a part of our match day 'family'. The club will have to finds us seats which are not currently used by season ticket holders, so we assume seats that they can't sell as season tickets at present.

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borat_the_blue added 16:13 - Jan 21 The letters sent were appalling. (I will try and share). The alterative seats, an absolute joke. There are plenty of empty seat sections to create a family section rather than picking on loyal fans. For me, this another sickening example of how clueless our ticketing management team are. Again, ripping us for play-off tickets against Norwich, far more expensive than what their home fans had to pay. Those seats have sentimental value too, many of the lone tickets now are due to family bereavements. I personally know at least two cases where this applies. Loyalty in football - died a long time ago! Shame too, as clubs like ours rely on it!

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borat_the_blue added 16:19 - Jan 21 @70s_Legend I understand your frustration but the vast majority of people had season tickets in that section long people the club decided designate it a family area. Also, all fans should be considered regardless of their generation.
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sixtyblue added 16:19 - Jan 21 Agree with bobs blood completely.I have sat in this stand for numerous years been a supporter for over sixty five years,but then what price loyalty from this club.If they think I am going to move to lower cobbold in the rain then they very mistaken.
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sidtheswan added 16:32 - Jan 21 Sounds like club designated it a family area without taking season ticket holders opinions into consideration . Maybe inviting season ticket holders to a meeting and explaining situation face to face or offering better seats might be the way forward .
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PhilTWTD added 16:48 - Jan 21 Re a couple of comments about the Cobbold lower being the area where they plan to move fans to, I was told this was only a suggestion made in the letter as the prices are the same rather than alternative seats as such. If fans want to move - and as far as I'm aware at the moment no one is being forcibly switched aside from those who are misusing the cheap junior tickets - they're free to move anywhere in the ground.

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itfcjoe added 16:54 - Jan 21 Can see why they need to move people, not like there is 10k spare seats every week....
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jas0999 added 17:01 - Jan 21 The club really don't care about the fans anymore, just how to fleece them, whilst purchase the cheapest players possible. It's been in a sad decline for a while. Season ticket holders who are in their late 70s have recently received letters asking them to prove their age. Presumably Evans is concerned their may be a few who are not paying full whack when they should be. The reality is many of those affected had already provided such details a long time ago. The club didn't care nor did they acknowledge an email I sent them on behalf of my Dad. Presumably gutted that they couldn't charge an extra hundred or so pounds. I no longer buy anything else from ITFC on a match day as I begrudge giving Evans another penny of my money.

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borat_the_blue added 17:02 - Jan 21 @PhilTWTD Have you seen the letter? I will try and get a copy of it. To paraphase the godfather, it's an 'offer that loyal fans can't really refuse'
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ipswichtowny added 17:06 - Jan 21 As a town fan for 48 years, who has travelled home and away and abroad and who goes with my elderly father,who has also been a fan for over 64 years we have sat with other fans in the now family enclosure for the best part of 25 years, these people we sit with are our football family. Why would we want to move? We have sat there week in week out when on some games only 5/6 thousand fans have attended, In all weathers as well I might add. We are all happy and don't want to move. Is this Loyalty ? I hardly think so. As to a previous review stating we get cheaper season tickets, please may I suggest you understand that NO we don't,we pay £500 a season, hardly cheap. Other areas of the ground could be made another family area, the ground has roughly 10 thousand free seats each match, why upset loyal fans asking them to move?

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PhilTWTD added 17:10 - Jan 21 borat_the_blue Yes, much of the above is copied from it.
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PhilTWTD added 17:12 - Jan 21 And further to a few other comments, think the reason the club wants that particular area to be the family area is because it's the closest area to the Fieldturf where they hold pre-match activities for kids.
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BtreeBlueBlood added 17:13 - Jan 21 at least they are trying to get kids into the ground-perhaps they could put them next to section 6 for a real match day experience. my son 9 - cant wait til he can join them. Portman rd can be a library at times
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Slambo added 17:25 - Jan 21 PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let this be a precursor to them moving the away fans back down toward the North Stand...
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Vancouver_Blue added 17:36 - Jan 21 I wonder if they will move them to them to more expensive sections for the same price they currently pay
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hollie_ipswich86 added 18:31 - Jan 21 I understand the reasoning to want to move people from the stand, I currently sit here and have done for 17 years, why not make the whole of the stand a family stand, that way there will be plenty of seats available and everyone can use the so called facilities and activities that are put on, this being a bouncy castle and 1 free go and a mock up 10 pin bowling alley! I don't want to move as others have said it's very much all about the people I sit with including my father, who are part of my match day experiance but I guess ITFC don't care about that!

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truckerblue added 18:49 - Jan 21 Did they not say at the end of last season that children under a certain age wouldn't be allowed to sit in the lower sections of the stands because of the possibility of being hit by a stray ball?? I remember commenting at the time they're in more danger of getting hit by a stray ball in the upper section due to our style of football.
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truethurstonblue added 19:48 - Jan 21 Just for the record, I have sat in Lower FF since the days of John Lyle & Mick McGiven, having previously been a regular in the old North Stand since the early 60's. My season ticket record will show that I used to take my son, until he went to Uni, then my oldest grandson, and now my twin youngest grandchildren. I am happy to nurture their interest in football and ITFC in particular....but they don't always attend...night games, cold games and days when they have other exciting activities...so sometime I am on my own...except of course, I am not on my own really....all the people who sit around me make it a great, if sometimes painful experience. I don't want to move, nor do I want the hapless twits in the Ticket Office to deny me the opportunity of continuing my grandkids 'education'. Rather than move existing seat holders, I would suggest that other areas of the ground become designated as Family Enclosures ASWELL. ITFC don't seem to care about their supporters as much as supporters care about ITFC

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Bergholtblue added 20:00 - Jan 21 I sat in this area many years ago when my son was a junior and for one match against Arsenal in the Cup (that was in the days when we progressed beyond the third round) we were surrounded by loutish Arsenal fans effing and blinding without a child amongst them. I trust that the ticketing for this area is more strictly policed these days.
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carlisleaway added 20:05 - Jan 21 Have been seated in that area for over 30 years with my son and hopefully Grandson when he is 5 ! But what irritates me is that on the many night games we have had this season many areas are left empty..... Can understand supporters who have stood or sat there since the 60s are a bit annoyed.
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NSL added 20:35 - Jan 21 Trust me, the quality of football on the pitch is dire from whatever seat you watch it from.
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sotd78 added 21:43 - Jan 21 I wrote to Ian Milne the day I got the faceless nameless letter from the Ticket Office. It suggested we might like to hold a conversation with them but it did not say to whom or how that might happen. My family have sat in I2 for the past 17 years. We are actually probably okay not to be forcibly removed as we have grandchildren who attend occasionally - but not evening games. There are couples and single fans all around us who we know and to whom we speak. Everyone is angry and mystified by this appalling attitude from the club. To tell us to go to the Lower Cobbold in the rain, blinding sun, in front of away fans and away from the "action" we see each week in the dug outs is not appropriate. I advised Mr Milne that we would consider alternative seating in the Co-op stand at the same price...but of course the club does not have that same price seating. My family tried and failed fifteen years ago to get us all sat together. I asked the then Chairman to find us six seats altogether at a price we could afford. The club failed. Three of us are left; the rest no longer attend. So I see both sides of the problem. But when the club wants to move loyal supporters it really has to do that with some sort of incentive; offering better seats for the same money for a couple of seasons would probably do it. The letter was appalling. The club attitude stinks. And the fans that have actually been there the longest are being treated abysmally. For the elderly couple that sit next to us this will probably be the straw that breaks their support - they btw come from Maldon. Part of the extensive out of town ITFC fan base. The Olympic stadium will be nearer for them next season!

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