Coventry City Football Club and the Ricoh Arena have acted quickly to improve ticketing arrangements after a fiasco for Tuesday’s night’s game.
The Sky Blues’ match against Crewe Alexandra had to be delayed by 15 minutes due to large queues at the ticket sales and collection point.
After apologising to supporters, many of whom were left angry, the club met with Ricoh Arena staff.
The Sky Blues have now announced they will have access to the rubgy club Wasps-owned Ricoh Arena ticket office facilities throughout matchdays.
Coventry City says it means the club can now distribute tickets from five different tills and extend the amount of time for fans to buy and collect tickets on a matchday.
The ticket office will open all matchdays (weekends and midweek) at 9.30am with online ticket collections available from 11am before online ticket orders are taken off-sale at 12 noon.
The club will also employ more matchday ticket staff and open the cash turnstiles earlier to make it easier for supporters to enter the Ricoh Arena early.
CCFC chief executive Steve Waggott said: “We knew we had to act quickly after the pre-match situation against Crewe Alexandra and I believe we’ve found the solutions to the problems we faced.
“We met with Ricoh Arena staff yesterday who were determined to help us solve the issues and we’re delighted to now have access to Ricoh Arena ticket office facilities on a match-day.
ACL MD, Andy Gibb said: “It’s a priority for us to ensure an efficient ticketing operation is being delivered to Coventry City Football Club fans.
“Our onsite ticket office has recently been refurbished and has been designed to accommodate and enhance the speed and level of service to all fans.
“We appreciate the feedback received from fans and will be working closely with the staff at Coventry City FC to explore additional areas and elements of a match day experience that can be improved from a venue side of things.”
The club also announced fans will now be able to get Sky Blues tickets on non-matchdays from Coventry rugby club’s Butts Park Arena.
Mr Waggott said: “The club will set up our own ticket office at Butts Park Arena which means supporters will now be able to purchase and collect tickets throughout the week in a convenient location.
Coventry Rugby chairman Jon Sharp said: “We’re very happy to help another Coventry City sports club with what is an obvious and practical solution for all concerned.
“We welcome them to Butts Park Arena and we look forward to working with them.”
