IPSWICH Town's Chief Executive, Simon Clegg, admits that he is "conscious" of the threat of relegation that still hangs over Portman Road.

Carl Marston

IPSWICH Town's Chief Executive, Simon Clegg, admits that he is "conscious" of the threat of relegation that still hangs over Portman Road.

He also revealed that he has already studied the way other clubs have reacted to the blow of suffering relegation.

However, Clegg added that it was far too premature to consider the fall-out that would come with dropping into League One, especially with nearly a third of the season still remaining.

Town's current run of form, which equates to just three defeats in their last 22 league games, certainly does not suggest a team set for relegation from the Championship.

But Town are still not yet out of the woods.

"We need to recognise that we are still close to the relegation zone at this moment in time," admitted Clegg.

"I have given it some thought, and I have reviewed what other clubs, who have been relegated, have done if they've found themselves in a similar situation.

"But at this moment, with a third of the season still to go, it would be ridiculous to be thinking along those lines.

"Of course it's something that I'm conscious of and the provision is there in the brochure (season ticket brochure), if we found ourselves in that eventuality," added Clegg.

Last weekend, Town announced the news that they had frozen their season ticket prices for the coming season, although there is a provision enabling the club to reserve the right to review its pricing policy for all tickets, subject to league status.

But this provision is in place, more for the possibility of Town winning promotion to the Premier League, rather than suffering relegation.

A useful haul of seven points from four successive away games had seen Roy Keane's men make gradual progress up the table, to sit four points clear of the drop zone.

But they missed an opportunity to increase the gap to a healthy six points, between themselves and third-from-bottom Sheffield Wednesday, with their failure to win their home game against Bristol City last weekend. The match ended goalless.

"I'm not sat here with my head stuck in the sand," admitted Clegg.

"We've not had a good season. But we are hugely confident about what we can achieve during the rest of the season."

Town travel to play-off candidates Blackpool this Saturday, with Keane hoping that both his inspirational centre-halves, Gareth McAuley and Damien Delaney, can shrug off niggling groin