IT was promotion – not relegation – that was discussed when Ipswich Town decided upon their season-ticket prices for next season.

The Blues may be just four points above the Championship relegation zone with eight games to play, but the prospect of dropping into English football’s third tier for the first time in more than half-a-century wasn’t even mentioned.

Prices have been frozen for the third successive year.

And instead of including a clause which would see fans pay less should their side drop down into League One, the club’s new joint managing directors – Ian Milne and Jonathan Symonds – have introduced a fixed-price three-year season ticket, such is their optimism that the club is about to finally go places.

“It’s written between all the lines here that the idea is to get promoted,” said Milne. “Everyone is working hard to get that, from the top to the bottom.

“Hopefully Mick (McCarthy) is here for years and years and years. And if he is then I think there’s a very good chance of promotion happening.

“We’ve all seen the statistics about how the team would be in the top six had the season started when he arrived.”

Asked about the decision not to drop prices should the club be relegated, he added: “We don’t like to talk about relegation around here – it’s the ‘r’ word!

“There is no reason why we should think about going down at this stage, especially after the last match (1-0 win over Bolton).”

– For more from Milne, see Monday’s Ipswich Star