Last Wednesday’s match against Norwich city saw the very welcome return of supporters to Kenilworth Road for the first time since last February.
Each of our one thousand ambassadors came back through the turnstiles, and followed our new safety measures diligently. In doing so, those who attended helped us demonstrate to the safety authorities that we can open up further, and allow the maximum of 2,000 supporters into the ground as allowed by central government for regions coming under tier 2 restrictions.
We would like to thank supporters’ group leaders for filling out the feedback survey, which was very positive – and provided some additional insight to operations on the day.
Moving forwards, supporters will be split into three ‘bands’ – band A, B and C. Each will be allocated matches to attend on a rotational basis. Wherever possible, matches will be allocated so that Saturday afternoon and midweek evening matches are spread fairly across the supporter-base. If you are a season ticket holder, you and your group will remain in the same ‘band’ until further notice.
We are now looking ahead to forthcoming fixtures. Colleagues in the ticket office are very busy allocating seating and in the next 24 hours, we will be emailing ‘Band A’ supporters to invite them to our match on Saturday against Preston North End (3pm K.O). The email will contain your invitation, along with the arrival time, stand and turnstile to report to on the day.
The pilot match was very useful in helping to inform some changes including longer entry times to allow for screening, stricter arrival time windows and some changes to social distancing measures inside the stadium. For reference, arrival times on Saturday will be one of the following 25-minute slots:
- 1:30pm - 1:55pm
- 1:55pm - 2:20pm
- 2:20pm - 2:45pm
All season ticket holder ‘group leaders’ should by now have informed us of their household / support bubbles. If you have notified us that you are to attend on your own or in small groups (of 2, or 3 supporters for example) and are able to link up with other members of a household support bubble (taking into account government guidance) to form a group of up to six other season ticket holders, please let us know. This can help us maximise capacities.
Due to the logistical challenges this process involves, once your ‘band’ has been assigned and the matches allocated for that band, we will not be able to make changes.
Please note that the ticket office telephone lines will be closed until Friday to enable to team to focus on the complicated task of allocating the seats to allow for social distancing. If you have a query, please contact the ticket office by email on ticketoffice@lutontown.co.uk.
Please take a moment to read our dedicated ‘Return to Football’ information page on our website: https://www.lutontown.co.uk/covid. This area provides all of the information you will need to know prior to attending.
If you have not already done so, we would recommend adding ticketoffice@lutontown.co.uk and newsletter@lutontown.co.uk to your email address book and safe senders list – to try and ensure that important emails arrive.