Huge effort at the heart of fans’ return to Shrewsbury Town
Work to ensure Montgomery Waters Meadow is fit and ready to welcome fans back to Shrewsbury Town has been ‘colossal’, reveals supporter liaison officer Mike Davis.
Town staff have been meticulous in their planning in the hope of the safe return of supporters – and that was approved yesterday, with the green light for 1,000 to attend Saturday’s League One clash against Northampton.
Davis and SLO colleague Roger Groves have been at the heart of the many meetings, stadium walk-arounds and dossiers in preparation for the go-ahead.
Club safety officer Lawrence Ellerby has been instrumental in ensuring the stadium is ready. Town’s media staff, ticket office manager Martin Gaunt and head of finance Sue Pritchard have also played pivotal roles.
“It’s been colossal,” Davis said. “There have been meetings with the Sports Ground Safety Authority (SGSA), the Safety Advisory Group (SAG) and various others.
“We’ve worked very closely with the SGSA on safe standing so they know how we work and how much emphasis is put on doing things the right way.
“The plan Lawrence put together is superb. A lot of the credit goes to Lawrence, Brian (Caldwell) and everyone behind the scenes.”
But Davis feels the late and ‘out of the blue’ pilot offer from the government, four days before the fixture, was unhelpful. He added: “The government haven’t helped us out. In one way we’re grateful we can have a pilot but it’s been left very, very late. Trying to get everything sorted in such a small amount of time is really difficult.
“Before midday on Tuesday we had no idea they would allow pilot events. It came completely out the blue.
“We thought this game would be behind closed doors.
“Hopefully going forward we can get all our season ticket holders in. I feel sorry for those who can’t get a ticket.
“But it’s short-term pain for long-term gain, hopefully.”
The 1,000 lucky supporters will enter the stadium itself through the corner gates as opposed to turnstiles, similar to the system used during pop concerts.
All catering is outside of the stadium, with concourses only to be used for toilets.
There will be a soft ticket check at the main green gates on Super Blues Way, before tickets will be scanned in the corners.
Davis and fellow SLO Roger Groves will be in place to lend a hand with any issues that arise.
The club released the slogan SALOP – Stay socially distanced, Always wash your hands, Leave two-metres space (where possible), One bubble only, Please where your mask – for those in attendance.
“It’s going to be different,” Davis added. “But it’s the way we’ll get fans as quick as we can. We’ve been through it all to ensure we have everything covered to get fans back in.”
There are also differences for Shrewsbury players, who are not permitted to sit next to each other on the bench despite training together through the week.
The club received an 85-page document from the SGSA and EFL, much of which has been made into regulation by league officials.
Supporters who tried to order tickets on the club’s eTicketing site raised issues yesterday. The club say their online ticket partner Ticketmaster were working to resolve the problem, which was sorted a couple of hours later.
