Bedford Town Football Club would like to thank the FA and Southern League for their statements and communication over the weekend. As many of you will have already seen, football at grassroots level has been given the green light, subject to several conditions being met.

The club, supported by our fantastic group of volunteers, continue to make sure that the Eyrie is COVID secure. We will, in line with requests from the FA, be publishing our COVID risk assessment on the club's website at some point before 15th August. We would like to encourage all spectators and visitors to the Eyrie to read this, before they attend any event at the club.

The FA have also requested that all clubs appoint a COVID Officer. We have taken the early decision to appoint Ralph Allen to this role, who will be assisted by James Smiles.

The FA have suggested a start date of Saturday 19th September for Southern League football and our entry to the FA Cup on Saturday 12th September. As much as we are planning for these dates, we would like to remind all supporters that these dates are provisional and could be subject to further change.

With these dates now mentioned, the club are proceeding with producing a preseason programme which includes fixtures throughout August and September. The government guidance and FA stance is that no spectators will currently be allowed in for preseason fixtures. Therefore, we kindly ask that supporters respect the need to stay away from preseason friendlies until the government instruct otherwise. We do hope that at some point in preseason, supporters will be able to attend a fixture to assist us with a test event in making sure the Eyrie is COVID secure. However, at this stage it is too early to indicate when this could be. With regards any other fixtures, including away games, we will update you via social media whether it is possible for fans to attend games on a game by game basis.

The club appreciate that as a whole, this is not a normal situation throughout preseason. We look forward to welcoming you back each year to our summer fixtures, and this is no more the case after the enforced break we've suffered this year. However, the club remain committed to supporting the guidance laid out by the government and FA to ensure that fans are back in all grounds at the earliest, and safest, opportunity. We know our supporters will back this.

We look forward to welcoming you back as soon as is safe.