Carabao Cup game against Brighton

We offer our apologies for the delays in entering the ground on Tuesday night.

While tickets for the game had been available from 31st August, and on general sale for nearly two weeks, sales for the game jumped rapidly from the Friday prior and reached the all issued point at lunchtime on the day of the match.

This meant there were nearly 3,000 tickets for collection on the night. In addition, due to the current national security risk level, the police have directed that all supporters entering the ground are searched on top of the already established searching and tagging of bags.

The challenges for this game were that there were a higher proportion of people who do not come regularly to games attending, managing the collection of tickets, the new searching regime and time.

It is recognised that weekday evening games are always challenging on time as most people will have work or other daytime commitments. In advance of the game, the club consistently put out the advice to arrive as early as possible to avoid delays and advised supporters that there would be enhanced searching and included the information on how to use the barcode entry system.

There were more stewards outside the ground to implement searching than we have ever had, more matchday ambassadors in place than we have had so far this season, a new queue system at the ticket office and an early bird catering offer inside the ground. Turnstiles were opened earlier than last season at 6.15pm and we introduced the automatic loading of entry onto season tickets for this game.

Looking at turnstile flow rates and CCTV images, at 7pm there were no queues at turnstiles and the ticket office but only 10% of ticket holders were in the ground, compared to 25% for the same pre-match period at the Brighton Premier League game on the Friday evening before, when the weather was awful and the journey to the ground made more difficult.

By 7.20pm on Tuesday there were queues at turnstiles and the ticket office which were just about manageable but these continued to grow as more people arrived at the ground after that time.

We have to work within the tight stadium footprint and turnstile design that we have and we need to have full searching of supporters and, with another evening Carabao Cup game looming next month, we want to work to mitigate delays and improve the supporter entry experience within the framework of heightened security.

We are in discussion with Middlesbrough regarding pricing and have put forward the request to have kick-off at 8pm in order to allow a little more time for supporters to arrive and get in the ground.

We will put the game on sale on Wednesday 27th September with points drops designed again to give a long general sale period and as with Tuesday's game, we will only allocate a cup point for advance ticket purchases.

We will look at ways to better incentivise those supporters that can arrive early to do so and we are keen to get ideas from fans as to how this should look. Please email me on [email protected].

There will be additional stewards to search and we will try to refine the queuing system within the confines of the space we have, while we will enhance the level of targeted communication and instruction to supporters who are not regular fans so that they are informed and comfortable with the arrival and entry process.

In addition, we will start the recruitment of a Matchday Supporter Services team who will be dedicated to assisting fans with entry though the turnstiles, queue management and any ticketing issues so that stewards can focus on the safety elements of entry to the ground.

We need friendly and professional people with a cool head and if the idea of helping your club to positively impact our supporters’ matchday experience appeals to you, please email [email protected] with your CV or look for the job advert on the website for more details. We will respond with interview information and pay details.

We would ask supporters to assist us by purchasing your tickets at the earliest opportunity so that we can post them in advance and reduce collections on the day.

As far as possible please plan your arrival to give plenty of time to gain entry – allowing 30 minutes to collect a ticket, buy a programme and get into the ground will no longer guarantee you see the kick-off. If you don’t need to bring a bag our advice is not to do so and as you approach the search team if you can open your coat and have in your hand any items that might set off the scanning wand, it will help to speed up the process a little.

Ticket Touting

In the last few months we have been made aware of a small minority of AFC Bournemouth supporters who are selling their tickets above face value, for certain fixtures.

We would like to remind all supporters that selling any ticket above face value is strictly prohibited and we have updated our ticketing policy in this area to provide guidance to supporters with more information available at tickets.afcb.co.uk.

Our supporter focus groups were very keen that we introduce a sliding scale of sanctions to reflect the seriousness of the issue and we would advise all supporters to make themselves aware of the latest guidance in this area.

The ticketing policy is now published on the ticketing website.

Proud Cherries

Last night saw the launch event of Proud Cherries, AFC Bournemouth’s LGBT supporter group. There was a great turnout to hear Mark McAdam interviewing our captain Simon Francis and a talk from former club photographer Sophie Cook on her transition experience. Thanks to everyone who worked hard to set up the group and event.

For more information on the launch event, click here.

Fans’ Champion

It was brilliant to see Eddie Freak having such a good time as Fans' Champion on Tuesday night – he really enjoyed the occasion. Click here to see Eddie and please keep nominations coming so we can give other supporters a great matchday experience. Email [email protected] with your nominee’s name and why you think they should be a Fans’ Champion.

Thank you

We had two reported incidents of abusive language in each of the north and south stands on Tuesday night, one of which included homophobic language.

In both cases more than one supporter contacted us to provide useful information and, importantly, to express their aversion to such behaviour. In both cases temporary bans have been issued and I would like to thank those supporters who responded so positively to negative behaviour.