Norwich City billboard torn down by Ipswich Town fans

A billboard advertising Norwich City's new home kit has appeared in Ipswich. Picture: ADAM HOWLETT (Image: Archant)

The sign has been put up on Ranelagh Road a few hundred metres from the town’s train station, although not on the route fans would take when walking to Portman Road.

The billboard shows players with fans with the slogan ‘Battle Ready’ in the bottom left corner with details on where to get hold of the strip.

But already unhappy Town fans have attempted to remove the artwork by ripping the poster from the sign.

The post attracted dozens of comments on our Facebook page yesterday, including from Paul Giddings who said: “It won’t last 2 minutes there!”

Dan Lowe posted: “Gone by tomorrow that’s for sure”, while Nev Rudland said: “What is it advertising. A new comedy show.”

It could be the advert is playful retaliation for a mobile billboard advertising Ipswich Town’s kit which appeared at Carrow Road in 2014 following the club’s relegation from the Premier League.

A photo showing the trailer was posted on the official Ipswich Town Twitter account at the time with the words: “Welcome back & see you very soon! #itfc #ncfc”

Town fans had also planned to fly a flag over Carrow Road to ‘celebrate’ the club’s return to the Championship, but the plane was grounded due to bad weather.

A spokeswoman for the Canaries said: “Norwich City recently launched the ‘Battle Ready’ campaign to promote our new replica kits across East Anglia.

“However, the appearance of the advert on a billboard in Ipswich was an error by the company who supply this service to us and we’ve asked them to remove it. As always we look forward to the next East Anglian derbies with excitement and in the right spirit.”