CEO Mark Ashton says Town are going to “have to look at the capacity of the stadium” at Portman Road with the Blues having sold out home tickets at their final games in League One this season.

Speaking ahead of last night’s end-of-season dinner, Ashton told iFollow Ipswich: “We’ve got about 300, 350 people here at Milsom’s, the reality is that we could have sold it twice over. We’re going to have find bigger venues.

“Portman Road was packed on Saturday, almost 30,000, we’re going to have to look at the capacity of that stadium because the fanbase of this football club is just growing all the time.

“I refuse to put a lid on how big this football club can become. The opportunity lies ahead and we want to take it.”

The obvious way of increasing the capacity of the ground is to rebuild the Cobbold Stand, which is now more than 50 years old. However, Ashton has previously suggested this is a long-term rather than short-term aim.

Asked how he found Saturday, when Town secured promotion to the Championship via a 6-0 victory over Exeter City, Ashton laughed: “A blur! A relief! I just don’t think you could have planned a better day. The fans, the weather, the result, the club, the supporters, everyone coming together in that one moment.

“And to be 5-0 up by half-time was just incredible. An amazing day and I’m just so pleased for the fans.”

Photo: Matchday Images

BurleysGloryDays added 20:46 - May 3 @Blue81 - Evans did his best, it was just nowhere near good enough and ultimately as you say was damaging. But, writing off the debt he did in my view certainly commands respect - he did a noble thing not many wealthy people would do. And - he sold to game changer. Again, looking at how happy we are now, his legacy is certainly not a disgrace. I'm actually grateful to him for leaving in the way he did.

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Bert added 22:37 - May 3 @Blueaemy81 I think others have given you plenty to think about. You need to be more nuanced in your understanding of why fans think as they do and respect opinions that may be different to yours. Nothing is ever as black and white as you appear to think.
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Bluearmy_81 added 23:14 - May 3 BGD he had no choice but to right off the debt such was the mess he'd left us in! If his legacy wasn't a disgrace I'd love to see what you considered a disgrace of a tenure was!! 😄
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Saxonblue74 added 07:10 - May 4 BA81, to suggest Evans had no choice but to write off the debt is up there with your best! Of course he had a choice, it's his money!! Of course his tenure was a failure, and of course he made some very poor decisions with his worst IMO being the appointment of Keane. The difference between you and others is the ability to balance opinion, and the ability to move on!!!!

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Nomore4 added 07:42 - May 4 Ah yes the Evans era…..do supporters not realise had the takeover not happened when it did, the 23/24 season would have been played in L2 with Chambo as player manager. Stuff nightmares are made of….
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churchmans added 13:43 - May 4 Grow our own! That is bull! 750,000 people live in the county of Suffolk alone! That link and 2bob app I have no idea where they get there info from! Itfc have always been well supported and have a massive fans base! The only reason we had an average of 12,000-14,000 under ME was because the football was so poor! And thousands didn't want to be mugged off!
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churchmans added 14:36 - May 4 In other words we definitely need a bigger stadium! We are MASSIVE and when we are run right(like now) it proves it! So looking forward to next season already
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grow_our_own added 15:41 - May 4 Churchmans, I said within 40km. This includes North Essex and South Norfolk. This 1m catchment area is all ours except for Colchester. I assume you've done the full analysis as to why the data on https://www.freemaptools.com is incorrect?
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DocMartyn added 16:49 - May 4 It's unlikely that safe standing (introduced post hoc into a stand originally built for seats) would increase capacity to any meaningful degree, so that's not an option.
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dirtydingusmagee added 17:01 - May 4 we gonna a bigger boat !. What a turnaround we have had since Evans departed. The attendance was becoming an embarrassment for our club. We have our club back . Happy days . COYB
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Michael101 added 17:25 - May 4 Saxon blue,all of Evans appointments were bad,but by far the worst was McCarthy
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Europablue added 18:13 - May 4 Michael101, you must be joking? McCarthy was by far the best. McCarthy did exactly what he needed to do to keep us in the league and did well to make money on players he brought in. Obviously, no-one liked the football, but for one season even it was successful. By far the worst managerial appointment was the dark Lord.
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runningout added 22:58 - May 4 the way people are feeling now won't dissipate. I would hope fans will stick with club in numbers even if we wobble, as we will at times :-)
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Ebantiass added 14:49 - May 5 I would LOVE to see the club grow and expand the ground but it has to be responsible with the right people leading the project. Keane was a terrible manager.
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