Town's first home game of the Sky Bet League One campaign has been given the green light to host a pilot event allowing 1000 fans to attend the game against Northampton Town.
Following yesterday’s 11.30 am communication from the EFL asking for those Clubs wishing to be considered to run a pilot event on Saturday 19th September of up to a maximum of 1,000 fans which had to be requested by 2 pm we are delighted to announce that permission has now been granted this morning for Shrewsbury Town to be a pilot. We can therefore have up to 1,000 fans inside Montgomery Waters Meadow for Saturday’s opening home Sky Bet League One match of the season with Northampton Town FC.
A lot of work has gone in over recent weeks to ensure all four stands were ready to be open whilst adhering to the new guidance and social distance guidelines which would allow a crowd of 2,500-3,000 but with just 1,000 we have to quickly adapt our plans and get approval from our local SAG (Safety Advisory Group) to support our application.
Therefore for Saturday’s match, we will open the West Stand only to accommodate 1,000 supporters. Due to the very limited time constraints whilst we would have much preferred a fairer allocated staged process we have no option but to put all the available tickets available to all Season Ticket Holders, Sovereign members and Box holders for the West Stand on a first-come-first-served basis. We have also had to take into consideration that those season ticket holders etc who aren’t successful within the 1,000 will be sent a unique code by email to watch the live stream of the match free via ifollow and we need time to be able to facilitate this once the tickets are all taken and prior to the weekend. A staged process of sales would have delayed fans getting their tickets which they would need to get on the stadium footprint via the soft ticket checks and also delayed codes being sent to unsuccessful season ticket holders.
Within the West Stand we have made available varying sizes of bubbles with options of 1-4. Tickets will be available from 2 pm today (Wednesday) to ST Holders, Box holders, and Sovereign Members on a first-come-first-served basis. Due to social distancing, we can only operate with 2 windows at the Ticket Office so would encourage as many as possible who are ST holders/Sovereign members and Box holders to select seat(s) online at https://www.eticketing.co.uk/shrewsburytownfc/
We have a limited supply of wheelchair and carer tickets and these won't be available online and will be served on a first come first served basis from the Ticket Office.
We have been working with Ticketmaster and hope to have digital ticketing available where tickets can be sent by email to print out but also include the option within the email to add the tickets to your smartphone and store in your apple wallet etc
Brian Caldwell (CEO) commented on how he was pleased to be given the opportunity to host a pilot game but given the very tight time frame explained how he understands the frustration some supporters might feel should they be unsuccessful in obtaining a ticket.
“We’ve had to work with an extremely tight time frame so we have had no choice but to go with a first come first served basis as we just don’t have the time to ensure everyone is distributed a ticket for entry at the soft ticket checks to enter the stadium footprint. On top of that, we will then need to find out who wasn’t lucky enough to get a ticket so we can ensure they are sent a unique code by email to watch the live stream free on ifollow for Saturday’s game. However it's great that we can at least accommodate 1,000 season ticket holders, we won't be supplying eg players families etc with tickets as we want to maximise the number of season ticket holders able to get to the game’
“We were very surprised to be given this opportunity so close to the game with the recent extension of restrictions. However, we were always hoping to get the green light at some stage as so much work has gone on behind the scenes to make sure we can welcome some supporters back at the earliest opportunity.”
“ Recently the new guidance infers that all Clubs must do a pilot of around 1,000 fans prior to being able to move to a full stadium socially distant so the good news to anyone missing out on a ticket is that hopefully, we can get 2,500-3000 Season ticket holders in for our next home League match with Gillingham if our pilot goes well’
“I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all members of our Safety Advisory Group for assisting and supporting STFC with our application in such a tight timescale’
Further details:
- Sovereign members who have been successful with obtaining tickets can utlise the Club car park for this fixture and will be emailed a pass as part of their package. Spaces will be available at £10 on a first-come-first-served basis at the main club gates, subject to availability.
- Season ticket holders will be instructed to enter a payment card when obtaining a ticket online for the Northampton Town fixture but be assure will not be charged.
- There will be no town / shirehall shuttle bus on Saturday
- For fans wishing to watch the fixture but aren't able to obtain a ticket, once all 1,000 tickets are allocated we will then draw down a database of all Season ticket holders etc who haven’t been successful in obtaining a ticket and later in the week will send each one a unique code by email to the registered email address on our ticketing system. Please ensure that your email address is correct on our ticketing site https://www.eticketing.co.uk/shrewsburytownfc/ Simply log on using your details then go to ‘My Account’ on the top right-hand corner then ‘Update Details’ to ensure the correct email address is shown on your account
- Shrewsbury Town Football Club strongly recommends fans wear a face mask where possible when attending fixtures and require all people to wear a mask when entering internal areas (Toilets).
Please read the following steps to watch online via iFollow:
1. Visit club website - Visit the Shrewsbury Town website and search for the iFollow dropdown link on the main navigation bar, at the top of the page.
2. Click on 'Subscribe' - Hover over the iFollow dropdown link and click on subscribe.
3. Select the fixture - Scroll down to Match Passes, select the fixture that you wish to watch, and click ‘Subscribe Now’.
4. Sign up or sign in to iFollow - If you already have an iFollow account, sign in using your email address and password. If not, create a free account by clicking ‘Register Now’, completing the form, and clicking 'Create Account' at the bottom.
5. Enter your promo code - Enter your unique promo code sent to you by email into the box on the screen and click ‘Apply’ to activate your free stream. Your Match Pass will then be available for free. Please note you will still have to enter your card details in order to process the free match, but don’t worry, you won’t be charged.
6. Head to the match - Head to the match centre via either the website home page, or the ‘Next Match’ link on the iFollow dropdown before kick-off to tune in.
We would recommend that if you are wanting to watch the match on a smart TV not to use the internet browser on your TV as this has proven problematic due to the small processor in a smart TV. Therefore we would recommend having ifollow on a laptop and connecting it to your TV via an HDMI cable.