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Wanderers have confirmed they plan to offer seats in all four sides of the Toughsheet Stadium to home fans this season, subject to demand.
A decision has been taken to move away supporters into the upper tier of the South Stand, which leaves the club free to sell seats in the lower tier for in-demand games.
With 15,777 season tickets sold, Wanderers are hoping they can build on last season’s average gate of 23,193 in League One. Brisk business has already been done on tickets for the opening home game against Wrexham on Sunday, April 18, despite some objections raised about pricing and the televised fixture being classified in the most expensive bracket.
Chief executive Neil Hart was pleased with the uptake of tickets and the improvement in the stadium atmosphere when tickets were offered to home fans behind both goals last season and now says demand will dictate what happens next.
“Back end of last season we trialled a few things, you saw the Portsmouth one where there was a centre line right through the middle, we did the Barnsley trial which was just the upper tier, and it was good to see both of them in action,” he told The Bolton News. “Both worked well and created good atmospheres.
“It does make a huge difference in this ground when we have the four sides, compared to 21,000 in three tiers and a little pocket of away supporters, but being in League One it is the reality of where we are at.
“The plan this season is that we are going to prioritise the away ticket allocation in the South Upper tier. We want to give home supporters the opportunity to buy in the South Lower, subject to demand, and we will deal with it on a case by case basis.
“We are in discussion with Wrexham at the moment, I can’t share the details of those discussions, but we have moved quickly to put home tickets on sale because we wanted to give our fans the most notice we possibly could to plan for it.”
Hart has not completely ruled out offering two tiers to away supporters in extreme circumstances, or if the demand falls significantly among home fans.
But he is upbeat that results and performances on the pitch can keep attendances as healthy as they have been for the last few seasons.
“The utopia would be that we have the South Lower full of home fans and the South Upper full of away fans, but whether we can achieve that or not remains to be seen,” he said. “There are lots of different factors which affect it.
“There were one or two games last year where we did achieve it, or very close to it, and that is where we have to aim. Let’s see how it plays out.”
Wanderers say they remain in discussion with Wrexham about their allocation for the opening home game but Barnsley were given 2,163 when their supporters were housed in the upper tier of the South Stand for the play-off semi-final.
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