David Cardoza with a message to supporters who have tickets for the East Stand
Dear East Stand supporter,
As you know by now, the opening of the East Stand has been delayed a few weeks.
While it is common for such delays in construction projects of this magnitude, after all, I understand the stadium itself was two months late when it was built, it doesn't make it any less disappointing.
We were hoping to have the new stand ready and open for the first game of the season or shortly afterwards, so to have to wait until the end of September is frustrating.
These delays are outside of the club's control, but we know it is our job to say sorry.
We know a lot of you chose to buy a match or a season ticket in the East Stand for a number of reasons. We know you wanted to enjoy the new facilities and we are sorry you will have to wait a little longer than you should.
We know many of you like to go in the East Stand and enjoy the family area with your children and we are sorry you can't do that at the first few games.
We know disabled supporters enjoy watching games from an elevated level and again we are sorry you won't be able to enjoy that view for the first few games.
We will accommodate all supporters affected in the West or North Stands.
We know this not ideal, far from it, but it the best we can offer at the moment.
We understand we require the patience and loyalty of East Stand supporters and we know we need to make things up to those supporters.
When the new stand is open we will make a proper apology to all East Stand season ticket holders, so I can only ask for you to bear with us in the meantime.
I would also like to apologise that redevelopment updates haven't been as regular or as detailed as they should have been. With any building project of this nature, dates are changing all the time and we wanted to wait until we had a better degree of certainty over timings before making an announcement.
We are going through a necessary period of change that brings uncertainty and I know uncertainty is one of the pet hates of a football fan.
However, go through this period we must and we will come through it a much bigger, stronger club.
All of our plans are on course, and once again I must thank you for your patience and understanding.
We will contact East Stand season ticket holders when the stand is open to make our full and proper apology.
David Cardoza
Chairman