Brian Caldwell reflects on Town's pilot fixture with Northampton Town.
Shrewsbury Town Football Club were delighted to welcome 1000 Salop fans back to Montgomery Waters Meadow for our Sky Bet League One fixture with Northampton Town.
To the Club’s delight, the pilot event was a resounding success with the fans able to watch their team in a very safe and secure environment.
The Club received extremely positive feedback from SGSA (Sports Ground Safety Authority) who gave the Club 10 out of 10 and are happy to support us moving to full socially distant stadium - subject to government approval.
The SGSA felt we had totally complied with their guidance. As well as this, the Head of Security at the EFL and reps from the Safety Advisory Group were all in attendance and all were very happy with the conduct and operational planning of the club as well as the compliance from our supporters.
The Club were pleased that around 95% of fans complied with face-covering guidance and going forward, the club hopes to see all fans (where possible) wearing masks at future fixtures to ensure crowd safety and guidance compliance.
Brian Caldwell was very pleased with the outcome and was delighted to have received club-wide praise for the work that went into the day.
“We were all pleased that the day went ahead with no issues. The fans were fantastic and everyone complied with our code of conduct perfectly. Hopefully this paves the way for Town hosting further events with even more Salop supporters in attendance.
“Everyone around the Club worked hard to ensure the fixture was a success, Safety Officer Lawrence Ellerby deserves great credit for his meticulous planning and all staff at the Club including the Ticket Office, Matchday Stewards and our SLO’s all played their part to make it such a successful pilot. We have also been very pleased to receive so much positive feedback following the event from the regulatory bodies and also our supporters who were in attendance. The SGSA will now support us going forward looking at more games and bigger capacities hopefully being able to open all four Stands - subject to government approval.
“I would like to say a massive thank you to all of our supporters on behalf of the Chairman, Board of Directors and all staff at Shrewsbury Town Football Club for representing us nationally in such an exemplary manner -every one of you played your part in making the pilot the success it was"