As many of you will be aware, the club recently made some operational changes to how supporters exit the stadium on match days, which prompted a number of supporters offering direct feedback to the club.
As we progress on the pitch, and as the ever-increasing new compliance challenges become imposed upon us, our priority of keeping everyone safe and happy is becoming more difficult, leading us to trial new ways of doing things.
This season, in order to cope better with crowd congestion in certain areas, we implemented further security measures which ultimately led to supporters being delayed from their onward journey.
Having had the benefit of three home games, we now understand that this has caused frustration and inconvenience to many supporters. For this reason, we would like to apologise. We have listened to supporters and would like to thank those who have provided constructive feedback.
The lack of initial communication around this change and why we wanted to trial it is something that we will reflect on and learn from. Our change in procedure was made with the intent to, not only improve the journey away from the ground, but also make it a safer and more efficient route.
Upon reflection this is not the solution we had hoped for and, therefore, is something we have now reviewed.
Whilst supporter safety at Kenilworth Road will always be our priority, moving forwards, we shall be allowing supporters to revert to using the original routes provided. However, this would be done on the understanding that there is an acknowledgement by all supporters that this route through the Main Stand is reliant upon respect for your fellow supporters, keeping to your right hand side of the concourse as far as possible when using this exit, and being patient with each other so that the club is not forced to revert back to delaying exit at the end of home games.
Having made further changes in other operational areas of safety, the club is also looking to make further improvements in terms of training, matchday briefings and recruitment of professional and appropriate stewards – something which has been very challenging since opening up after lockdown.
Again, we would kindly ask for you to be patient and respectful to each other and Club staff who work hard to ensure you have a safe and enjoyable match day experience, whilst we undergo this process.
We thank you for your support and consideration.