INTERVIEW: We're trying to keep an open mind

Chef Executive Nigel Clibbens on parking at the ground.

He started by saying: “We've had more talk about parking than we have about pricing.

“With the main car park behind the flood bank, in the past when the weather has been good we've had plenty of parking. When our gates have been lower we've had plenty of parking. When we've had fewer sponsors we've had plenty of parking. When we've had no fan zone and a buzz around the fan zone we've had plenty of parking.

“As we've developed and made improvements in certain areas and got better in certain areas, it's created other problems around the place. At the same time, last season we looked at trying to create a training pitch out here. Which basically meant that the car park to the rear became permanently out of use. Not available at all, even in good weather. That hindered us a lot.

“As we sit here now, we've taken the very cautious and conservative decision not to sell match day parking full stop at this point. In case, by the time we get to the season, with all the developments that's going on, we're having to disappoint people who’ve paid and we can't accommodate them.

“We're trying to keep an open mind on what we're doing with the parking. Just give us some space, we'll see where we go. The intention is that we want to bring parking back on stream, but we don't want to bring it back on stream and then find that we can't accommodate the people. We have had instances last season where we sold season tickets into the car parking space that we had.

“Adverse weather and increased demand meant that they didn't have the best experience of parking in mud and all this kind of stuff. We don't want to repeat that, so just ask that fans bear with us a bit. We are looking at trying to increase the car parking that's available. We do get the issue and we're trying to make some improvements to it. Just one or two other stories to touch on really.

For the 2024/25 season, blue badge parking will be available on a first come, first serve basis as per usual.

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