Ipswich Town have lost a High Court claim over who should pay for policing outside their Portman Road stadium on match days.
The club had claimed it was unlawful for Suffolk Constabulary to charge for ordinary policing on the public highway and it was not entitled to charge for the provision of "special police services" on these occasions.
The club's lawyers asked Mr Justice Green to make a declaration in their favour over their claim for more than £200,000, which relates to policing between 2008 and 2013.
However, Suffolk Constabulary countered with a claim that the club owed it £96,000 in unpaid invoices for the policing of the public highway on Portman Road and Sir Alf Ramsey Way, where the gates and turnstiles are situated, and which are the subject of a traffic control order by the local authority.
It said that the test of whether the land was "owned, leased or controlled" was the correct one for determining whether it was carrying out special police services and that the club controlled the public highway.
Ipswich said the correct test was whether policing was conducted on public, as opposed to private, land and -- in any case -- they did not "control" the public highway.
On Friday, at London's High Court, after a hearing which was only concerned with liability, the judge granted Suffolk Constabulary a declaration that it was entitled in law to recover the costs of policing the ground outside the club from Ipswich.
He said that, from the facts, the services provided by the police within the traffic control order area amounted to special police services and they were entitled to impose charges.
Any application to appeal and the issue of the amount payable will be heard at a later date.
The case comes three years after West Yorkshire Police lost its appeal over payment for policing at Leeds United's Elland Road ground.