New Notts County owner Alan Hardy has been hugely busy since taking control of the Meadow Lane club, parting company with John Sheridan as manager and appointing Kevin Nolan in his place.
One of the reasons given for Sheridan’s departure was for an 'appalling' rant at a fourth official which certainly points to the new man at the helm wanting to do things differently from the football norm.
Off the field there was also an instant impact to Mr. Hardy’s decision to cap ticket prices at £20 for the first match of his reign.
A Nottinghamshire derby against Mansfield, with a big travelling support, provided the perfect occasion to generate some momentum and a crowd of over 11,000 responded.
The offer was repeated for the next home fixture against Crawley and more than 5,000 watched a vital 2-1 victory for the hosts.
Next up, Notts host Cheltenham in League Two on Saturday 11 February and tickets have been reduced to £12 for Adults, 60+ and 18-21’s, £5 for Under-18’s, £3 for accompanied Under-16’s (in the family stand) and free for Under-12’s.
Alan Hardy told the official club website: “With excellent vocal support in our recent matches against Mansfield and Crawley, we have seen the players respond with two very impressive displays.
“We want the same again against Cheltenham which, when you look at the league table, is the biggest game of our season so far.
“The supporters play a huge part in our success and, by offering £12 tickets, I hope to see them turn up in their droves to help the players earn what would be a massive three points.”
Notts County featured quite regularly on these pages in Shaun Derry’s early days as manager when there were a number of positive initiatives on matchday and season ticket prices.
As my own club Coventry City have shown, however, when there is upheaval off the field then sometimes the smaller details become easy to forget and engagement with supporters gets lost in the fog of what is happening elsewhere.
I don’t know if that has been the case at Meadow Lane but it is certainly a fresh start under Alan Hardy and one that will hopefully usher in a period of slow but steady progression for the Magpies.
No comments:
Post a Comment