Young Ipswich Town fans now have the perfect place to hang out on matchdays, prior to cheering the Super Blues on to victory.

Ipswich Star: Ipswich Town striker Frank Nouble, left, Lisa and Patrick Lewis from Souce One Consulting, and Blues skipper Carlos Edwards, open the new Junior Blues RoomIpswich Town striker Frank Nouble, left, Lisa and Patrick Lewis from Souce One Consulting, and Blues skipper Carlos Edwards, open the new Junior Blues Room (Image: Archant)

Members of the Junior Blues club will be able socialise in the ‘Junior Blues Room’ which was launched on Tuesday at Portman Road.

Situated in the lower-tier of the Co-operative Stand, and formerly the ‘Blue Arrows’ club shop, the room contains the latest video game consoles, along with other activities, and has been opened following a club survey of its younger fans.

Club captain Carlos Edwards and the nominated Junior Blues captain Frank Nouble, an extremely popular figure among the members, who attends all the group’s events, were at the launch.

“I like seeing the young fans enjoying themselves before a game at Portman Road and I am really happy that the Junior Blues Room has been opened,” said the Town striker.

“I enjoy interacting with the Junior Blues members, especially because I have a younger brother who I always looked after when I lived at home.

“When I was young, I linked up with my friends at my local community stadium, but it’s good that the kids get to come to a football stadium at a young age.

Ipswich-based Source One Consulting, who provide kit sponsorship for the club’s under-15s team and are Town’s official office furniture supplier, Norfolk’s Signs Express, and the Co-op, provided the furnishing.

Source One Consulting Managing Director, Patrick Lewis, a lifelong Town fan and former ballboy at Portman Road, said: “I am Ipswich born and bred, came down here in the late Seventies, watching the likes of John Wark and Mick Mills.

“Having had the business for 12 years, we wanted to give something back and it’s a pleasure to be involved.

“It’s great to have this link between the players and the young members, the kids love it.

“There was nothing like this when in our day. You got in cheaper through the turnstiles for games and, as an eight, nine and 10-year-old in the summer holidays, you were able to watch the team training on the practice pitch from behind a fence, but that was about it.

“As an academy sponsor and the club’s official supplier of office furniture, it’s nice to keep close links and everything under one roof.”