News that the Town board are negotiating an extension to boss Joe Royle's contract was the main story to come out of Wednesday night's club AGM. Only around 10% of the 3,300 shareholders attended the meeting held at the Regent Theatre, the clash with the England match perhaps reducing the turnout.

Chairman David Sheepshanks opened the meeting and ran through the club's financial performance over the last year, saying that the refusal of Charlton's £3 million bid for Darren Bent spoke volumes about Town's current position.

Sheepshanks reiterated that the club are not planning to sell the striker come the January transfer window: "It's highly unlikely that we will see any outgoing transfers. Inward transfers are more likely."

The chairman said that boss Joe Royle currently has the cash in place to add to his squad: "There are limited funds available to strengthen through loan signings."

Sheepshanks was keen that shareholders "draw a line in the sand" regarding the club's period of administration, which he described as a period of "heartache and agony for all of us."

The club's future was an area the chairman preferred to concentrate on, announcing that manager Joe Royle and assistant Willie Donachie will be offered extensions to their current deals, which end this summer.

Sheepshanks praised Royle for putting the club well in the running for promotion, "against all the odds". He refused to be drawn on the length of the new contracts currently under discussion but said he was hopeful the deals could be completed soon.

Chief executive Derek Bowden was also praised by the chairman, having overseen the club's change in financial fortunes since joining the staff in 2002. Bowden was later warmly applauded by shareholders for deferring his £75,000 bonus in order to increase Joe Royle's loan budget.

Sheepshanks said he is currently paid for working two-and-a-half days a week for Town, although in actual fact he says he works for "considerably longer".

Board member Roger Finbow's law firm Ashurst's was paid £293,000 for legal services during the year 2003/04. Sheepshanks said they were given the work due to their expertise regarding the bond with Norwich Union which the club used to pay for the building of the two new stands.

Sheepshanks says that Finbow was not present in discussions on the matter: "The decision to use Ashurst's was made by the board without Roger Finbow present."

The chairman said that while he was pleased with the club's current position, there is still a long way to go: "There is lots more hard work to do, but increasingly there's a belief that we have what it takes this season."

Something Sheepshanks is keen to improve on is average attendances which have dropped year on year in the seasons since relegation. The club budgeted for 21,000 this season and the current average is 23,000, a figure down on the last two seasons.

However, this is something which is not causing the chairman too much anxiety: "We shouldn't read too much into it and shouldn't be too concerned. We will probably see our average attendance go up over the Christmas games."

The club is expected to make a loss in the financial year 2004/05 due to the combined factors of the lack of a parachute payment and the remaining Premiership player contract. The forecast for 2005/06 is for results more in line with 2003/04.

Sheepshanks said the club had planned to sell a player during the summer of 2004 but over-performance in other areas meant this was not required. However, with a financial loss expected in the current year, it looks likely that there will be a major sale in the summer of 2005 should Town fail to win promotion.

A second share issue is something which the club appears to be positioning itself for and Sheepshanks admitted that this is very much in the board's thoughts: "We are keeping this under constant review. It would be on the basis that all proceeds would go to strengthen the squad."

After Sheepshanks's speech, questions were taken from the floor. The chairman praised the Academy and its director Bryan Klug for their "invaluable" contribution.

One new shareholder asked that the board consider the timing of any future share issue more carefully than the previous pre-Christmas offer which came at a financially demanding period for many supporters.

Sheepshanks was asked whether the club had learnt from the mistakes made during 2001/02. The chairman said that all three clubs relegated in 2002 faced extraordinary circumstances and the situation would be different should the Blues go up at the end of this season.

The chairman says that the wage structure at the club has changed since then and that the Blues would not be left with players on the massive wages that some were in 2002 if they were relegated soon after any future promotion: "Premiership wages apply when in the Premier League and would fall away on relegation."

Sheepshanks said that a number of Premier League clubs are still agreeing contracts on pre-transfer crash terms, something which he felt was "unbelievable."

The club has two-and-a-half years of their Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) left to run and Sheepshanks says that rebuilding is still the board's main focus: "Recovery is our first priority but our ambition is to achieve automatic promotion and to establish ourselves in the Premiership."

Should the Blues return to the Premiership in May, Sheepshanks says the club's unsecured and preferential creditors will receive more cash, as agreed in the CVA, but that there would be some money for Joe Royle to spend on new players: "There would be enough to invest in the team but we won't be splashing out big fees. We'll be relying on Joe's expertise in the transfer market."

Royle, sat on stage with the club's board, said that the Blues need to follow the example of Bolton Wanderers if they go up this season and forget suggestions of being a yo-yo club: "If you go into the Premier League thinking you're a yo-yo club, you'll be a yo-yo club."

Bolton's signing of experienced often former international players on short-term contracts and their highly successful scouting network should, according to Royle, be emulated by promoted clubs.

A show of hands regarding the possibility of another share issue saw around 60% in favour, 30% against and 10% undecided, a vote Sheepshanks said would be taken on board, while not considered definitive.

Votes on 13 proposals followed, with the adoption of the financial accounts receiving unanimous support.

Chairman Sheepshanks was re-elected on to the board, although not quite unanimously, the rest of the directors also keeping their places with similarly big votes.

KPMG LLP were reappointed as the club's auditors, before Sheepshanks explained the intentions behind resolutions 11 and 12. Plain English explanations of these can be found on the Trust website.

Sheepshanks reiterated the board's declaration that no one will be allowed to own more than 15% of the club through a future issue of shares or loan notes.

Tim Edwards from Ipswich Town Ist gave a short summary of the Trust's proposal for the introduction of an elected supporter representative on to the board, and questions on the final three proposals were taken from the floor, a number of those making points failing to understand the principle behind the Trust's proposal.

Proposal 11 was overwhelmingly carried, while proposal 12 proved a closer vote, with the board requiring 75% of those in attendance for it to be passed. This was achieved, although there were a significant number of shareholders in opposition.

The only vote of the night which went to a count was the Trust's proposal, which was defeated by 220 votes to 82. Those voting against the proposal seemed in the main to be the longer-term shareholders, while new shareholders tended to vote in favour.

Trust chairman Carl Day said that Ipswich Town Ist will continue to push for a supporters' representative: "It was always going to be a big ask to win a shareholder vote, however, we feel we've made a good case for elected supporter representation.

"Throughout British football there is a movement towards greater supporter involvement in the running of the game and we'll continue to work for this at Town."

The AGM ended with retiring club secretary David Rose receiving an Official UEFA Order of Merit for his outstanding service to football.

Photo: Action Images

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