Bedford Town Football Club is delighted to announce that we will be opening our turnstiles for a limited number of spectators for the first time since the national COVID lockdown, following developments this week from the Government, Department for Culture, Media and Sport along with the FA.

Thanks to the efforts of staff and volunteers, we are nearly in the position to have fans admitted to the Eyrie once more. We are confident that the club is COVID secure, and final measures that we put in place this week will enable us to welcome you back on Saturday for our home fixture against Wealdstone. The FA have indicated that the club are required to host a ‘stage one’ event. We intend to do this on Saturday. Once this has taken place, the club will then reassess our COVID security and make a decision about whether we can progress to the next stage of fan entry recovery.

What fans need to know:
• Tickets for Saturday’s game against Wealdstone at the Eyrie will be on sale from Thursday until 9:30am on Saturday. This game is an 11:30am kick off. There are only 150 tickets available for this fixture. Once all tickets have been sold, the game will be deemed a sell-out.
• Tickets are priced at £10 for adults, £5 for concessions and under 21s, £2 for 10-15 year olds with under 10s FREE.
• All entry is via online ticket only, as this is the best way of fulfilling our responsibility for test and trace. There will be no admittance on the day via pay on the gate. All tickets must be purchased in advance from our online ticket store at: https://bedfordtownfc.ktckts.com/
• Tickets will be on sale at the club if you do not have access to the internet. You can purchase these in the Eagles bar between 6pm and 9pm on Thursday 20th August and Friday 21st August.

2020/21 Season Ticket Holders – There is no need for you to purchase a ticket for this fixture. All season cards will be activated for this game. All you are required to do is show your season card to the turnstile operator to gain entry. Please do not purchase a ticket for yourself.

Life Vice-Presidents – Any life VPs wishing to attend this fixture will need to obtain an eTicket from the club. This can be done by contacting james.smiles@bedfordeagles.net or visiting the club during the ticket sales window on Thursday and Friday as stated above. Any life VP that does not make prior contact for a ticket will not be able to gain entry to the fixture.

COVID Security: What the club ask of you:

Please do not attend the fixture, or come to the Eyrie at all, if you are suffering from any symptoms of COVID-19. These include a high temperature, a persistent dry cough or a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste.

Please respect social distancing when you are at the Eyrie. If you are travelling to the game with a member of your family or ‘bubble’, you are welcome to stand together. However, please keep a 2 metre distance from other supporters in the ground. We also request that you do not stand in a group of more than six, in line with government guidance.

You will be unable to access the side stand behind the dugouts. This area is going to be closed off and used by both benches as an overflow area for both teams to enable their substitutes to socially distance.

Please be aware that there are also changes to the bar and food. One way systems are in place and we are still discussing how these will be managed on the day. We will be updating you about specifics of this later in the week.

There will also be a large number of seats unavailable in the main stand, to ensure that you sit a safe distance apart from each other. Please respect this and do not move areas that have been closed off for safety.

As is normal, please do not stand on any yellow hatched lines. This is a COVID protection measure, as well as standard club safety.

The club will not tolerate anyone who is being intentionally disrespectful with regard to social distancing and COVID safety measures. Our volunteers have worked tirelessly over the summer to enable you to come back, and we request you respect them should they need to remind you of the guidelines we have to follow.

Should Saturday be the success we all hope it will be, the club will move to the next stage of recovery and place tickets on sale for our home game against Hitchin Town on Tuesday 1st September. An announcement about this will follow next week.

We know how much you are looking forward to coming back to the Eyrie, and we’re really looking forward to seeing you. Please remember to do it in a safe way, one that makes sure we can all continue to attend games.