Portman Road work will not start 'in the midst of a season'
- Published
Ipswich Town's chairman and chief executive says he would love to increase the club's stadium capacity to 40,000.
Mark Ashton also revealed the club was considering an extension to the West Stand at Portman Road, with the Blues having already agreed to buy a large parcel of land to potentially expand the Cobbold Stand on the opposite site of the ground.
"It is on the to-do list but it is not top of the to-do list, I must be honest with you," he said.
"Why? Because I'm certainly not going to take a stand down in the midst of a Premier League season. That is just not the right thing to do."
If the existing Cobbold Stand is demolished, 750 season ticket holders and 3,000 away fans would temporarily be without a seat - but the club has a potential solution.
Ashton continued: "The next development there is the West Stand, which sees an increase in capacity of surprise, surprise, circa 4,000 people.
"So, when you take down the Cobbold Stand down, people don't lose their season tickets and they could move across."
Portman Road currently has a capacity of about 30,000.
Ashton insisted there is no timescale on extending either stand, partly because rebuilding the club's training ground is top priority.