Ipswich Town to spend £1m on new PA system

Attempts at updating the current PA system had not worked, Mark Ashton said

Ipswich Town is to spend £1m on replacing its stadium's aging PA system ahead of next season.

Mark Ashton, the football club's chairman and chief executive, said the cabling for the existing equipment at Portman Road had become a "problem" and had not been improved with new speakers and other adjustments.

"The reality is we're going to have put in a complete new tannoy system," he told the club's digital streaming service, TownTV.

"It's going to be circa £1m, it's not a cheap project, but it links into atmosphere [and] communication with our supporters," he added.

The work would happen in the summer, he said, because machinery would need to be placed on the pitch of the Championship side, which is eyeing a bounce back to the Premier League.

Sections of the new system could then be removed and reintegrated "as and when we change the Cobbold stand", Mr Ashton added.

He has previously described expanding the two-tier stand as a "medium to long-term ambition", following an in-principle agreement to buy land behind the ground.