We met again with the club on Wednesday to discuss the forthcoming sale of season tickets and to get more details on the restrictions in place for the return of supporters to Spotland.
Season Tickets and New Kit
The club have appealed for patience from supporters this weekend. It is not like any normal season ticket launch and it is highly likely that there will be lengthy delays at the ticket office at the weekend. Between the ticket office and the telephones, it is not physically possible to have more than 3 people being dealt with any one time. Given that there will be a new seat allocated for the Covid-19 restricted games, it will not be a straightforward renewal and each one will take longer to deal with than it would do ordinarily.
Season ticket sales for the Pearl Street and Main Stand will have to be done either in person or via telephone. This is because of the re-allocation of your seat for the restricted period. Only season tickets for the Sandy Lane terrace will be available online as no re-allocated seat will apply.
When buying your new season ticket, fans are asked to have their customer number to help speed up the process. This is the number that is on the inside cover of your existing season ticket. If in doubt, bring it with you.
With the number of season tickets available less than the number of season ticket holders last season, we have asked the club to give a regular update on the number of season tickets sold to alert fans if we are approaching a stage where they may sell out.
We again reiterated the need for a well-publicised window for any remaining tickets to be on sale for each individual match. Supporters will need to know when the tickets are on sale, rather than risk a situation where remaining tickets for all home matches are put on sale and snapped up immediately. For example, tickets for the home game against Team A will go on sale at 9:00 on Monday 28th September, tickets for the home game against Team B will go on sale at 9:00 on Monday 5th October rather than tickets for all remaining home games are now on open sale.
With the new kit also being released on Saturday, patience is again asked for with no more than 4 people being allowed into the shop at any one time. We’ve spoken to the Shop manager Dave Smith-Markl and he has advised that if any doubt, go for one size higher than you normally would.
Return to matches under restrictions
Everything that the club is putting into place for a return of supporters to matches is following the guidance that the EFL are giving out to clubs, and much discussion between clubs is also taking place. The club spent a lengthy amount of time talking through what will be expected and that plans that are in place, such as:
- The stadium has been divided up into small groups of 1’s, 2’s, 3’s and 4’s, and must be kept to household or social bubbles in line with Government advice.
- The Sandy Lane terrace will have markings of where people should stand.
- Facemasks will be expected to be worn anywhere which is classed as inside, and further clarification on this will be provided prior to 1st October Fans will be asked not to sing, chant or shout as this will increase the risk of spreading the virus.
- There will be restrictions on music being played, similar to what has been put in place at pubs as loud music can lead to people shouting.
- There will be hand sanitizers at each turnstile point.
- Supporters will have a specific turnstile to enter the ground and this will be made clear to them.
The guidelines that clubs must follow is changing regularly, sometimes on a daily basis, and anything that impacts on supporters will be published. As this is an ongoing process, any concerns should be flagged to allow those to be dealt with. The Trust are putting out a survey to gather fans opinions on returning to matches, and to pick up on anything that may not have been thought of. You can complete the survey here and it takes two minutes. This will allow us to publish the most comprehensive guide for supporters that we can.
Other matters
We discussed the plans for iFollow, and the discounts that will be available to Dale Family Rewards Club holders. At the time of our meeting, the EFL were involved in a vote on iFollow so nothing as of Wednesday could be put in place, but we’ll be following up on that early next week. We asked about iFollow being used for preseason friendlies with fans not being allowed in but we were told this would not be possible. The media team were looking at alternatives to this such as streaming live on YouTube but trials at other clubs had not proved successful. A second trial was being looked at, and the success of that will determine whether to proceed or not.
We enquired about the refunds for the remaining games from the 2019/20 season for supporters who had requested them. The club would start processing these refunds from the end of this week.
Action points
- Club to provide regular update on the number of season tickets sold
- Trust to launch survey regarding fans returning to matches
- Trust to continue to work with the club to provide information about fans returning to games and any possible implications
- Trust to ask the club again about the discounts for iFollow matches for Family Rewards Cards holders
- Club to start refunds for those who have requested them for remaining tickets from 2019-20 tickets
- Trust to follow up on non renewing season ticket holders being able to maintain their seat for 2021-22 season