Anderson goes into detail on everything Sky Blue in his Swindon Town PUSB match-day programme notes...
Good afternoon and welcome to this afternoon’s game against Swindon Town. I'd also like to extend a warm welcome to all of the Directors, staff, and supporters from Wiltshire.
Ten games to go! While it’s already been a very positive season for us, it’s so important that we take the opportunity we’ve given ourselves and mount a real promotion challenge to get to the Championship. It was great to get a win against Blackpool, especially after the poor run of results, and the team really battled it out in the end.
It’s also been great to see the form of Marc-Antoine Fortuné over the last two games – to me, it highlights the importance of our entire squad. I’m have a feeling there will be a few more players who will come to play an important part between now and the end of the season.
I know I have already mentioned it many times this season, but the support at Blackpool was very special. It’s one of the longest trips of the season and to see over 3000 travel up for the game and turn it into a home game really helped the side, especially in the difficult final stages as we were playing with ten men. It goes without saying that your support will be crucial in the promotion run-in, and that’s why we announced our ‘Final Countdown’ offer this week.
The Final Countdown offer will see the final three home games in April priced at just £50 for adults and £15 for children. In Millwall, Bradford City, and Sheffield United, we face three teams who will definitely be in the play-off picture at the end of the season, so your support will be vital in the side getting the points we need in those cup finals. I’m sure plenty of you will take up the offer, and I can’t wait to see a bumper crowd for those three games.
Off the pitch, continues to be busy for the club. As you might have seen on the official website, the club has advertised several job opportunities with CCFC over recent weeks, as we expand our off-field activities to keep pace with the progress we’ve made on it this season. The accounts highlighted the need for the club to increase and improve our commercial performance and the expansion of that team will help drive those future revenues.
I’m pleased to mention that Sky Blues in the Community launched a new ticket scheme this week. The new scheme is aimed at local football clubs and community groups to support the team at a reduced rate. We’ve seen so many sports clubs and groups visit the Ricoh Arena this season, and it’s been fantastic to formalise this offer. I’m hopeful that many groups will take advantage of this in the future.
Finally, I attended the CCFPA committee meeting recently, as the club looks to work with our former players association more closely in the future. I firmly believe that the success of the Legends Day this season against Bury showed the potential of a close and working relationship with our former players who play such an integral part of that special day in our calendar, and I’m making steps to ensure that this continues well into the future.
This season, the former players have been visiting the Family Zone and it’s made a great addition to the match-day experience as parents and youngsters get to meet the former players and legends of this club.
PUSB,
Chris Anderson