Welcome back to the Amex for our first Friday night fixture of this new season. We, of course, extend our welcome to the players, officials, and supporters of Sheffield Wednesday for their first visit to our new stadium
Your support, home and away, in the opening weeks of the season has been magnificent and tonight we will set another attendance record at the Amex. Contributing to tonight’s landmark is the fantastic support for our visitors, so thank you to the Owls fans for making the long trip south on a Friday afternoon and adding to what should be a great atmosphere.
This week you may have seen that we have launched the first of five newly created four-game match ticket packages which allow supporters who cannot commit to a season ticket to purchase a batch of games spread across the season. There will be four more packages launched in the next few weeks and these are available on general sale – regardless of loyalty points or previous booking history – and give Seagulls fans the unique opportunity to purchase the same seat for a selection of Albion home games spread across the season before the individual fixtures are on general sale.
The first package includes tickets to watch our home games against Birmingham City (29th September), Nottingham Forest (15th December), Derby County (12th January) and the last match of the season, against Wolverhampton Wanderers (4th May). Those who purchase the four-game package will also receive the relative loyalty points for all four games immediately, which will prove beneficial when purchasing tickets for high-demand away games and
for FA Cup fixtures throughout the 2012-13 season.
We have also been able to make available a limited number of new season tickets around the Amex Stadium. We kept a small number seats back, just in case of any teething problems as we opened the new areas at the start of the season. Now we are up and running and we are satisfied things are working well, the ticket office has been able to make this small number of new season tickets available at a pro-rata price. The ticket office has been contacting those supporters who are on our season- ticket waiting list (in priority order) and will continue to do so. A very small number of these new season tickets may go on general sale, but the best advice to interested fans is to get on the waiting list.
Tonight’s game also sees the launch of our first early-bird food-and-drink offer, with discounted packages for supporters purchasing before 7pm. We will also have a post-match offer, to encourage you to stay behind afterwards, let the queues clear, and watch the match highlights and post- match reaction over a drink and a late evening snack.
In a busy week, tomorrow sees the launch of a special shirt amnesty, aimed at our younger supporters who have perhaps outgrown their old Albion shirts or switch to wearing a Seagulls shirt instead of another club’s jersey! We are offering parents the chance to bring in those old shirts, and we will give 50% discount (on sizes up to under-10) in return. The old shirts will then be distributed by Albion in the Community – either to raise funds via their Sports Dreams store, or via their global programmes in Africa. It all kicks off at the Amex tomorrow, so please pop down and take advantage of the offer.
You may have read in the press this week that the club has been approached by the organisers of the 2015 Rugby World Cup, about the possibility of a match being held here at the Amex during the competition. We are in on-going discussions and, although nothing is finalised, it is another glowing endorsement of our wonderful stadium to potentially be part of such a prestigious international sporting event.
Finally, on a more sombre but very important note, as football fans we welcomed this week’s news of the outcome of the Hillsborough report.
I hope it will finally give some closure and peace to the many families affected by the tragic events on that April afternoon in 1989. Tonight we will all have an opportunity for a moment of quiet reflection.