Local firm is new shirt sponsor for Ipswich Town

The new deal will run for the next three seasons

A Suffolk software company has been announced as Ipswich Town's new shirt sponsor, in what the club says is the biggest sponsorship deal in its history.

Stowmarket-based Halo will be replacing the previous sponsor - Suffolk musician Ed Sheeran.

Sheeran's logo for a recent tour had been on the shirts for the last four seasons and the singer is a minority shareholder in the club.

Ipswich chairman Mark Ashton called the new contract a "record shirt sponsorship deal for the club".

He added that, unlike many other top clubs, Ipswich had "no intention of moving towards a gambling sponsor".

"We're proud to be working so closely with another Suffolk business which shares many of our values," he said.

A £2m deal in 2018, under Town's previous owner, with an online gambling site angered some fans.

Figures for the new deal have not been made public.

Ed Sheeran's Mathematics Tour has been advertised on the kit

The sponsorship covers both the men's and women's first-team kits and will run for three years.

On the new sponsorship, Sheeran said: "We wanted to keep it Suffolk; we wanted to keep in local."

Halo's chief executive Paul Hamilton said: "It's an honour to follow Ed Sheeran as front-of-shirt sponsor, having been sleeve sponsor during the last two seasons."

The business provides workflow management software and calls itself a "privately owned, founder-led team".