Town chief executive Simon Clegg has revealed that the club will cover fans’ travel costs to the Blues’ next away game at Blackpool as an apology for Saturday’s 7-1 thrashing at Peterborough United. The 546-mile round trip to Bloomfield Road on Saturday 10th September is the longest of the campaign.

Clegg said: “I have decided that the club should carry the costs of the supporters’ coaches for the Blackpool game — however many that will be — as a show of our gratitude to our fans after enduring last weekend’s defeat at Peterborough.

“It says something about the support this club is fortunate to enjoy that a vast majority of the 1,300 fans who made the trip to London Road were still there at the final whistle having endured a humiliating last 60 minutes of the game.

“Speaking to the players and the manager, I know they were personally embarrassed and dejected, but they also felt bitterly disappointed as to how badly they had let our loyal fans down.

“Watching your team lose as well as win is all part of being a football fan and it’s not a decision we have taken lightly, but we feel this one-off gesture is the right one and I know Paul and the players are right behind it as well.”

Manager Paul Jewell added: “We’re all hurting this week, but the people I feel most for are the supporters.

“Every other weekend they make long journeys and pay a lot of money to support us on our travels and we are letting them down. We need to improve; not just for our sake, but most importantly theirs.”

Supporters wanting to take advantage of free coach travel to Blackpool need purchase their match tickets from the club’s Ticket Office prior to midday on Tuesday 6th September.

Photo: Action Images

Surco72 added 09:15 - Aug 25 Really good gesture from the clubs to understand how we are feeling . And to the still moaning minority ,we werent asked to pay double when we beat Doncaster by 6 so whats the diffenece ?
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Wallingford_Boy added 09:17 - Aug 25 Very decent gesture and people who are moaning are a bit thick really.
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cornishnick added 09:25 - Aug 25 Can he pay my petrol from Cornwall? And perhaps a night in the B&B?
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MaySixth added 09:26 - Aug 25 I went on the train from London. What happens to me?
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hulltractor added 09:27 - Aug 25 Paul73....... I also travel long distances to games but wouldnt even dream of asking for my money back. Crap game, crap result but you pays your money and take your chances. We put 6 past Donny last season, didnt see many offering donations to the club as a result. I think its a grand gesture and good luck to those who benefit as a result. I just hope the players take a long hard look at themselves instead of their ever increasing bank balances and give the PR crowd something to cheer against Leeds. I think most will take a defeat Saturday so long as their is a marked improvement in the performance.

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omuircheartaigh added 09:34 - Aug 25 A decent gesture by the club. But really the blame should lie with the players. If the players do indeed feel "embarrased and dejected", perhaps they could have paid for the coach?
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OrkneyBlue added 09:40 - Aug 25 I kind of get SOME of the frustration but I think its important to remember this is a general apology to ALL fans and not just those who attented Pboro, although I guess the thinking was that those who were at Pboro were more likely fan who would attend away games, to show how sorry they are. As most have said they didnt have to do it and to be honest, what gesture could they do that would include every single fan!?

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bluenut added 09:43 - Aug 25 Couldn't agree more with RexCarr and ThurstonGarage. I too made the sad trip to Peterborough last weekend and think that Mr Waste of space Clegg's offer is a cop out. It may well be a "nice gesture" but as ThurstonGarage pointed out no way near realistic to the £26000 spent by loyal fans last weekend. Way should other fans who didn't go to the Peterborough shambles benefit from this. I for one won't be able to make the away trip to Blackpool so won't benefit from this at all. These players and Clegg need to get in the really world and realise how much loyal fans spend on matches home and away in these hard times. Alot of people making these journeys only urn in a year what the players get paid in a week! I know someone will make the comment of "you should support your team through thick and thin" but what i witnessed last Saturday was a disgrace. There may well have been some shocking refereeing decisions but not even they can cover over the lack of effort and commitment shown by the players. I don't expect to get a full refund from the Peterborough game as i am a loyal supporter but surely Mr Clegg if you are going to make a gesture to fans surely it should be to the ones who made the trip! Rant over!! Up the Town, Bullard for Captain, Murphy and Chops up front, goals galore!!!!!!!

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Whymark4_Lazio0 added 09:46 - Aug 25 There's an old saying that's VERY, VERY true (with some slight amendments) :- "You can keep most of the people happy, most of the time .... but you can't keep all of the people happy, all of the time". Nice gesture Simon, it's not perfect .... but what is? Thanks.
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ITFC4daprem added 09:48 - Aug 25 Would t a refund be better and Blackpool travel could't they have the Leeds game cheep tickets and 2 for 1 would get a better attendance, getting the fans behind us and getting a result and putting moral and confidence up
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BYRNE_16 added 09:54 - Aug 25 Oh there are some people that aren't always happy! We as supporters and fans make a choice to go to home and away games. No one is forcing you to spend 100's of pounds supporting the club every season. If you choose to do this every season then thats YOUR choice. You should know by now what your likely to get with Ipswich Town. There will be high and low points. The club could have been complete snobs and done nothing about it. Be grateful and happy that they did this. Thank You Clegg for this nice gesture. Now lets start turning these results around and get back to winning ways! COYB's!

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ITFCson added 09:57 - Aug 25 It may seem a nice gesture, but its just a pi$$ take and quite insulting. As someone wrote...their is only likely to be a handful of coaches go...costing the club £1-2k maybe. Clegg has thought about how he can make the club look good without it costing much. Most who went to peterborough wont be going to blackpool and clegg knows that, he is just mugging us off. Id rather they just done nothing than this. A free ticket to Leeds would of been the best idea...increasing the attendance in a game where we are likely to see the numbers drop would of benefited fans and club alike.

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thechangingman added 10:12 - Aug 25 On the one hand, this seems like a positive gesture (albeit a VERY cheap one!) from 'the club'. On the other it seems rather ironic. So, the club admit that Town are a total shambles at the moment and to honour the fans who pay £1,000's to watch them they're offering them a chance to watch an almost-certain thrashing for free. Hmmm, let me think about that one...

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itfcjc added 10:17 - Aug 25 Thanks I'm taking the coach let's not get stuffed again
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paul73 added 10:17 - Aug 25 Hulltractor.....id never ask for my money back...its what I spend my money on...following ipswich....rough with the smooth...but why should supporters who happen to live outside the catchment area miss out...ill be at blackpool regardless.
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OrkneyBlue added 10:39 - Aug 25 This isn't a rant, as I've already said I do understand the frustration of those who were at Pboro and may not be able to take advantage of this offer, and maybe there is an argument for some kind of offer for the Leeds game and I certainly believe that the players should do something, donate wages to charity or something . But, for example, I forked out extra cash to upgrade Sky so I could watch the game should I asked for that to be refunded? Or a couple seasons ago I was at Barnsley away on a very wet and windy Tuesday night, as I remember it was nearly called off, we were shocking got gubbed 4-1 should've been more so should I have got my match ticket refunded, the same for me when I was at Norwich and Swansea at the tail end of last season?...and countless other trips!!!! For me as a fan I was as pi$$ed off that I had forked out hundreds of £££'s on flights etc but that's just part and parcel. My point is, EVERY single Town fan was hurt by Saturday if they were at the game or not so what can they do to try to include those who were at Pboro but not alienate those fans who were equally as hurt and maybe also spend £1,000 plus a season?

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Toepunt added 10:40 - Aug 25 Anybody know the allocation for Blackpool game? Suppose it's 2000, that would require 34 coaches. If the price per coach of £500 suggested in a previous post is correct then thats potentially a £17,000 offer from ITFC. The offer's been made and it's now up to the fans to fill the seats! Taking the pi$$ would have been offering free travel on a Tuesday night to a London game, not to the game furthest away on a Saturday!

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ShefTractor added 10:45 - Aug 25 Good business decision. Encourages more ticket sales, which would have been minimal after last week's results.
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Upbeat~ added 10:47 - Aug 25 It's a good gesture, an acknowledgement to the fans. Whether or not everyone can take advantage of it or not isn't necessarily the point, I'm just glad the club's held its hands up.
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Joshua_Is_A_Blue added 10:51 - Aug 25 the amount of teams that would have just said sorry and got on with it are countless, we got humilliated against a team we should of beat. we can blame everyone under the sun but in the end if we push hard wwith the new signings we've got and we make the playoffs, which is very much an easy ask at this stage of the season.... we will look back and say "we made it here even after such an awful start to the season" something to progress from, cant learn without getting an ar$e kicking once in a while... all i can say is, book it off, even if your staying the night use it one way, they are offering, USE IT. and say thank you.

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Suffolk_n_Proud added 10:52 - Aug 25 It is a good gesture, don't know why people are moaning so much saying how about a free ticket to the leeds game, that is just stupid, they'd be expecting something everytime we lost, losing and winning is part of the game, deal with it
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Suffolk_n_Proud added 10:53 - Aug 25 It is a good gesture, don't know why people are moaning so much saying how about a free ticket to the leeds game, that is just stupid, they'd be expecting something everytime we lost, losing and winning is part of the game, deal with it
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jas0999 added 11:15 - Aug 25 Good that the club have apologised.
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blueoff added 11:36 - Aug 25 Thanks can you buy me a wristband for pleasurebeach as well ta
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osborne1nil added 11:36 - Aug 25 Perhaps, (however unlikely) if Town won 7-1 some of the supporters who expect a refund will happily pay the club and extra amount. It is football and is a nice gesture of the Club to offer anything but to start offering refunds on poor performances would be crazy. As Mark posted, the best result is getting players in who are proud to play for Town and make a difference, they seem to be doing just that so can hope the results follow.

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