Town's shareholders unanimously passed both resolutions at an Extraordinary General Meeting held in the Galleria in the Greene King Stand on Thursday night.

Around 70 shareholders attended the meeting which was chaired by David Sheepshanks who was flanked by his entire board with the exception of Lord Ryder who sent an apology, Joe Royle and Simon Baskeville from solicitors Ashurst Morris Crisp. Town director Roger Finbow is a partner in the law firm who have worked with the club before.

Sheepshanks outlined the club's plans for the formation of a PLC company to sit above the current Ipswich Town Football Club Company Limited which will allow the issue of new shares.

The first vote was the proposal to convert the recently offered loan notes into shares in the company, this was carried unanimously.

The second show of hands carried the motion to amend the articles of association for the formation of the PLC company for the purpose of the issuing of shares. This too was passed unanimously.

Questions from the floor led to Joe Royle briefly coming to the microphone and stating that he is "truly optimistic" about the season ahead.

Sheepshanks was asked about the changes to the board which have been widely reported, and while not naming any names, revealed that there would be a number of new members joining the board in the near future.

One new non-executive member of the board will be a financial guru while other new members would add to the skills of the current directors. There will also be departures from the board in the not too distant future.

From here the process towards the share issue will see a formal postal vote amongst shareholders for the club's proposed share issue afterwhich the prospectus will go out. An end date for the purchase of shares is likely to be October 31st.

Photo: Action Images

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