Club adapting ground to new safety rules
STANLEY’S managing director David Burgess has provided an update for supporters as the club prepares for pre-season fixtures and the League One campaign beyond that.
All of the friendlies will be played behind closed doors and away from the Wham Stadium.
And he revealed that, while the Reds are prepared to host League One games without fans in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, they are also planning for the Government’s go-ahead to allow supporters into the stadium.
It will mean adapting the stadium to meet new safety guidelines, but the club is working to satisfy the requirements.
In a statement on the club’s website, Mr Burgess said: “I just wanted to give you all a quick update as to what is going on in and around the club.
“The players are now back in training and are at the stage of including contact into their daily routines.
“It’s a whole new way of working at the moment with temperature tests, sanitisation, PPE and social distancing all being part of their daily routines.
“The new signings - Cameron Burgess, Tom Allan and Ryan Cassidy - have settled in really well and already look excellent signings from what we have seen of them in training.
“We begin a series of behind-closed-doors friendlies over the next couple of weeks with strict government Covid-19 guidelines on playing a friendly match without spectators. John Coleman and his staff have arranged six friendlies to prepare for the new season, none of them will be held at The Wham Stadium.
“The administration and office staff currently remain on furlough until we have a clear picture of fixtures and fans re-entry into the stadium.
“The club shop is open every Monday from 10am-1pm for merchandise and items can still be ordered online via Plastic Box Shop.
“We are currently working though Government guidelines and necessary planning on playing matches without spectators and also with spectators.
“We will have to adapt the stadium to be able to meet the required standards, including adding temporary changing rooms, specialised zones for the match day players, coaches and medical staff, zones for the press and admin staff and zones outside the stadium for parking and stewarding needs. All of these need to be in place and sanctioned before we can play a game.
“The Sky Bet League One fixtures are being released on Friday 21st August at 9am and all our initial planning is based around no supporters being allowed into the stadium until 3rd October at the earliest.
“As soon as the fixtures are released and we have solid news on when supporters will be allowed back into the stadium, we can then look at season tickets and how we can ensure Stanley supporters receive the best deals for their money.
“We will need to look at how many games are likely to be played behindclosed-doors and work out a season ticket price accordingly. IFollow may also be an option to build in to ticket prices while the stadium remains spectator free and this is something we are looking at.
“Once we are allowed fans back into the stadium, it is likely that it will be at a socially distanced and significantly reduced capacity based on calculations by the relevant authorities.
“We will need your support when this happens to ensure we meet the required rules and regulations, which in turn will help a speedy return to full capacity.
“All details on when this will happen will be circulated at the earliest opportunity to give Stanley supporters as much information as we can, when we can!
“We are getting Government-driven information through and learning on a daily basis what we need to do health and safety-wise leading up to the start of the new season. The support and patience through the summer months and lockdown from all Stanley fans has been really appreciated and welcoming.
“We will update you as soon as we can do and hopefully it won’t be too long before we can open the turnstiles and get everyone back into the stadium for live football.”
‘We will look at how many games are likely to be played behind closed doors and work out a season ticket price accordingly’