Oxford United Chairman Sumrith 'Tiger' Thanakarnjanasuth wrote the following notes for the programme against Morecambe:
Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another home game, this time a game against Morecambe, which offers us a chance to continue our excellent league form.
It will be interesting to see how many people come along to watch this game after we cut prices and made it a very attractive offer for supporters. If you are new, or it is your first game back with us after lockdown, then welcome and we hope you enjoy being part of live football once again.
It is very hard to make comparisons across divisions; we gained Sheffield Wednesday and Bolton this summer and lost Rochdale and Northampton, so it is very hard to talk in general terms about attendances, but when we looked at data for our attendances we saw that many supporters haven't returned since we could welcome them back.
People maybe expected huge crowds when restrictions ended, but as a club we were always cautious about that; we knew some people would be nervous about coming back to be part of a crowd after spending a year in isolation. We always budgeted and made allowance for that to happen, and our protocols and safety measures are still there to make sure that everyone can enjoy the game safely.
We want to remove barriers to coming to games and I hope let people get back into the habit of backing their team; the football we play has been very exciting and we want as many people as possible to enjoy it. Today we cut prices to just £10 and we hope a lot of you came to the game because of that offer. The risk is all ours: are we just cutting prices for people who would come to the game anyway? That would not be very helpful in what are tough times for football clubs too!
Happily, there has been a strong uptake on the tickets and that should help create another great atmosphere. We are always open to ideas and feedback, so please feel free to let us know your thoughts. I also want to thank season ticket holders for their understanding on this offer; it is a one-off and season tickets are still the best value way of watching the team.
Whether you're a season ticket holder, whether you come to most matches, or if today is your first game, we hope you have a great afternoon enjoying live football. We have a lot of home games in November, and we very much look forward to seeing you again.
And finally, I wanted to congratulate the team and the staff for the way they have responded while Karl has been away. To win all three games in his absence shows what a strong group we have, and I hope that now everyone is back in the dugout again, we can carry on this fantastic run we are on. Together.
Tiger
You can read the full programme online at www.matchdayfix.com/oufc