No stand redevelopment will happen for this close season… maybe end of next season. Who knows we might even be in the PL by then !

There are currently an enormous amount of bandwagon jumping youngsters showing interest; but in my experience they'll be the first to desert the club when things get tough. The supposedly 'passionate' fans(who are just out of nappies)will be the first to start aiming àbuse at the players and booing them off.....much like the moron who mouthed off at Morsy at Bristol Rvrs (purely b'cus we'd failed to win that game). Let's see if this generation can stick around like we did through thick and thin before major developments are planned. Personally I'm in no doubt that they've not got it in them. Passion for the club builds up over time, and just because you hold a flare in the air, look like Kermit the frog when we score or even run a social media platform for halfwits, it doesn't convince any of us who've been following the side for 40-50yrs plus. The great thing about this club is that we were always the underdog punching above our weight. Although the feelgood factor, ambition and belief is currently stratospheric I think a period of consolidation is now required to test out the loyalty of many thousands before we can think about rivalling Manchester City!!

the formula is relatively simple: larger stadium is more revenue and makes us a bigger stronger club.

The decisions taken by the cusodians (owners, board, manager) are critical to the product. If the product is good, Town fans will be there in their 40ks.

If it's not, ie MM era, they won't.

So all that's required is Owners, Board appointing managers that play the right way, and to back them.

I say bring on the expansion!

The only issue I can see with developing PR is finance, and that really doesn't seem to be an issue. If it were putting the club in debt I'd be apprehensive, but can't see this as anything other than positive.

In my view, we could easily fill a 40k+ stadium and it would be great to rebuild the stands to do so. Our record attendance is from the 1970s and was about 37k and I'm sure we could attract far more than that.

However, the reailty is, we don't actually need to build anything, because if we reach the promised land of the PL, the money is from TV, not matchday tickets. This is how clubs like Bournemouth and Brentford are able to survive.

Then, if you add in the historical collapses we've suffered after major stand expansion, the inconvenience and lost capacity while the works are ongoing, you have to ask whether it's worth the risk?

Stand/s situation needs updating/ replacing soon. New one will surely last another 50+ years and will provide plenty of revenue opportunities over those years with the right creative mindset, filled to capacity on match days or not. Could be an attractive venue not just for football with the right marketing but needs updating as is being done already.
We need to move this club forward, not hold it back.
I trust Ashton knows what he's doing.
Can anyone with a crystal ball see any better time to start planning it while the buzz is fresh & money available?

NorthLondonBlue2
Bournemouth are able to survive because there are at least 3 terribly run clubs who have wasted more money than Bournemouth have ever had, and Brentford are able to survive because the are run extremely well have a very astute manager. If they had the extra revenue from ticket sales, then they would be able to compete on a more equal playing field and they might even be able to increase their fanbases.

It seems to be less of a gamble for the forever fans and a necessity for these investors/owners. Before, there was always a financial constraint that curtailed the club's success when things were going well. How many more trophies could we have won in the Robson years? Two league titles, another FA cup, another European trophy? SBR insisted on the building of the Portman and Pioneer to meet the growth of the club football-wise but it was financially much more of a gamble. Now, with these owners, it's more a case of getting on the right footing to allow the football to do the talking: in the Premier League there are two clubs effectively part of Gulf states, and insane amounts going into others, and yet it's smaller clubs like Brighton and Brentford who are teaching some of the big boys a lesson. It's worth a go to see what this club is really capable of. And yes I nearly forgot, the West stand can also be redeveloped, the original is actually the oldest part of the ground, should add 2,500.

Years ago there was an advert on tv for Towns older supporters they will probably remember it. It went " Don't procrastinate, investigate, then insulate" it was obviously point out that you should lag pipes etc before winter otherwise you could end up with burst pipes. Now maybe it sounds strange, but the point is that you need to prepare before an event. These guys that now run the club post Marcus Evans are real shrewdies, they won't do a Sheepshanks/ Burley job as so much has changed. Parachute payments and no purchasing of a Matteo Serini or Finidi Geaoge. As the dollar say's in God we trust.

Bluearmy81 appeared to have turned a corner this year with his posts but why in a sea of support for our club he chooses to knock those who supported the club through the Evan's era only he can say. Weird indeed. Harping on about the past is so negative and I can only assume that his whole purpose is to denigrate fellow fans for the sake of it.Some of us have seen the ups and downs over many decades, this is,in my opinion, the most promising era because it is built upon very sound foundations and a blended approach to business, money and giving fans entertainment. We must grow the club with satisfied supporters and new ones who are in for the long haul not just the glory days.

I'd love to see the ground developed into a 40k arena, but that isn't now. Even if they pushed the button to redevelop the Cobbold, it would take a minimum of 6 months to prepare a master plan, another 6-12 months for the architect and club to come up and agree a design and then all the public & council consultations. It could take up to 3 years before even a brick would be laid.

MA talks about finding ways to immediately achieve extra capacity. Would standing be a possibility for the next couple of seasons?

There was talk of making part of the ground available for standing. Making the lower Bobby Robson and Sir Alf Ramsey stands standing where most people stand anyway would increase capacity without too much expense and disruption. I think your living in cloud cuckoo land if you think we could fill a 40,000 ground every week .Then there's the infrastructure car parking in and around the ground is a nightmare. The owners know that building a much bigger ground is a big risk and have enough common sense unlike some on here to bide their time.

Bert, I don't knock fans that supported the club through the Evans era but the fans that supported Evans (wouldn't hear a word said in criticism against him) in the face of incredible evidence that he was doing untold harm. If I'd been an ‘Evans inner' I'd be pretty quiet right now! And if you weren't an ‘Evans outer' you were an ‘Evans inner' by default imho. You're right, things are looking fantastic right now. The article just made me think of the previous mindset of many pre gamechanger, that's all.

The higher up the football pyramid you go, the less important gate receipts become (as a proportion of total revenue). That's why clubs with small stadiums like Bournemouth and Brentford can survive quite happily in the Premier League because TV money is king. The same will apply to us. Even in the Championship we will appear many more times on Sky Sports which can have a negative effect on ticket sales.

Redeveloping the Cobbold Stand is long overdue but I would be careful about increasing the capacity. Like most clubs we have a sizeable contingent of fans that turn out for the good times but weren't there for the boring midweek games under McCarthy.

Bluearmy_81 There was definitely a point in time when Evans saved the club from going out of business. It wouldn't be fair to suggest that Evans was malicious to the club and fans. There was also a point in time when it was clear that he needed to go, but there also could have been a worse and even more clueless owner come in. Fortunately for us, the right type of owner was interested in buying the club and we are now in a very positive situation.
All of that stuff is in the past and we are all pulling in the same direction, which is a credit to the current owners, manager, and other staff.

Taricco_Fan, I'd argue that the higher up the pyramid you go the more important gate receipts (and corporate hospitality) become in comparison to the other clubs because it's one major thing that differentiates the income levels.

Fatboy added 12:11 - May 3
Imagine how big the ground would need to be if we did this!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65417291

Still wouldn't have got me to the ground week in week out during MM's time in charge. Probably ME's worst ever decision while owner.

But will

Ipswich (or any other club) need a bigger stadium??? If the powers that be get there way you will only be able to walk 15 mins from your house .

If we had a bigger stadium we would not have put up with mc carthys football for so long so I'm all for bigger stadium 40000 capacity about right big club needs a big stadium.

Evans never ‘saved the club' ffs. I've never said his tenure was malicious just spectacularly inept and damaging!!

The plan is the Prem & be ready for it....not the Campionship, average attendance assuming we are holding our own 40,000 no problem...don't forget larger away fan numbers, it wasn't the Pioneer that done us it was Sir Bobby going .......,2000, it was the north stand finance that done us it was the recruitement & loss of Marcus up front, plus Sheepshanks didn't put money in the club he only took it out. The Plan is to increase to fullfill our potential......they know what they are doing.

sorry ,wasn't the Nothstand.....not was!

@Europablue - COVID demonstrated how the fan in the stadium isn't actually that important to the finances of football at the top level. The Premier League did just fine despite empty stadia. It's all about the TV money.

I have some doubts for us to fill a bigger stadium on a regular basis.
A lot depends of the form of the team and the type of football we play and that depends on the backing it gets from its owners. We all saw that from our last owner.
But I'm sure this new ownership will have done its homework, they will have figures that show how many more tickets could have been sold at the sold out games.
We have a core of die hard fans who will support this club whatever the form of the team is.
That core of around 14000 looked pretty feeble scattered around the stands, and I for one was guilty of maligning the way the team were playing and blaming the manager, blame of which has been in somewhat backed up by that manger in minds track record since leaving the club.
Todays game is totally reliant on money, proved by the backing of this club by its American owners and investors, if they hadn't we might even be looking at relegation from League 1 rather than promotion.
The way the club has been run since the takeover inspires confidence that they will do and make the correct decisions to take the club forward and I thank them for it from the bottom of my 💙.
Now go finish this seasons job by giving us three more points so we have every chance of actually winning the League and deservingly go up as Champions. Uppar Towen.

Taricco_Fan added 18:44 - May 3
@Europablue - COVID demonstrated how the fan in the stadium isn't actually that important to the finances of football at the top level. The Premier League did just fine despite empty stadia. It's all about the TV money.

How many of the home favourites lost with no stadium support Taricco? There were lots of big teams losing at home without their support behind them.