'An awful lot of work to do' - Portman Road projects for Premier League return
- Published
There are just nine weeks to go before Premier League football returns to Portman Road, but are Ipswich Town ready for it?
The club's head of operations, Rich Carpenter, has been speaking to BBC Radio Suffolk about the 90 projects that have been started since the end of the Championship season.
"There about 30 new projects just because we are in the Premier League," he said.
"The most noticeable changes will be the new television studio and floodlights. But we have also had to increase the away capacity to just under 3000 and put in safe standing.
"There is an awful lot of work to do to bring the stadium up to speed because we have not been in the top flight for a while.
"We started planning this work in December, so we were ahead of the game and the Premier League helped us talk through those plans."
But where is the money coming from?
Carpenter says although the building work has to be done to meet Premier League standards, Ipswich "are being very careful" with the budget to not overspend.
"The money is largely coming from investment into the club," he added. "But also there is the money from the Premier League as well.
"In terms of the facilities you have to provide, it is very tough. It was well documented what Luton Town had to do last season to Kenilworth Road and we are having to do pretty much the same thing."
