SEASON ticket holders at Ipswich Town will have to buy their tickets without knowing if the club will be in the Premiership next year, it emerged today.

SEASON ticket holders at Ipswich Town will have to buy their tickets without knowing if the club will be in the Premiership next year, it emerged today.

It will be a dilemma supporters will have to confront if they want to take advantage of the club's ticket price freeze for next year.

ITFC pledged last April that season ticket prices for existing holders would be frozen for the season 2004/5 as well.

But to take advantage of that freeze, fans will have to sign up before the end of May.

That means they may not know whether they're paying for 23 Nationwide league matches . . . or 19 Premiership games.

Existing season ticket holders have until May 28 to guarantee their current seats for next season at the current price.

That's the day before the Division One play-off final in Cardiff.

Fans may know by then that the club will still be in the Nationwide league next year - but there is no way of knowing that they will definitely be in the Premiership because the final place will not be decided until the next day.

The club is also introducing a new under 11s season ticket in parts of the ground for the first time to attract younger fans.

This will cost £57.50 for the season.

The club is appealing to fans not to use credit cards to book their season tickets - although they will be accepted - because the administration costs too much.

However they are enabling fans to buy their tickets in three instalments by getting them to send post-dated cheques to cover the cost.

Chairman David Sheepshanks has written to existing season ticket holders appealing to them renew for next year.

The club will be putting up ticket prices after the end of May and for new season ticket holders.

Match-day ticket prices are also set to go up.

There are also new five and ten year season ticket deals on offer - but only a limited number.

And Mr Sheepshanks says the number of renewals will affect player sales during the summer.

"We plan to retain all our young guns and see them starring for Ipswich Town next season.

"However our ability to do that will, in part, be down to the number of you who renew or purchase season tickets," he writes.

N Will you be renewing your season ticket and what do you think of today's announcement? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk