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SOUTH STAND INTRODUCTION SCHEME PRESS

Abbey Introduction Scheme an Outstanding Success

On December 30th, the South Stand of the Abbey Stadium will be
absolutely filled with new faces as the U's take on Burton Albion. In the
second of the matches that U's fans Will Jones and Mark Saywell have been
allowed to market on the club's behalf, the campaign in Cherry Hinton,
Coleridge and Queen Ediths has resulted in over 1500 residents and
employees from the wards applying for free tickets and there are still a few
days remaining for applications. Such is the response to the scheme it
is possible that some new fans will be allocated to blocks within the
Main Stand as the South Stand will be filled to the capacity granted on
it safety certificate. With the 1,051 attendees from the last 'South
Stand' game against Crawley Town on October 14th the total number of
people 'introduced' to the Abbey Stadium this season has now exceeded the
2500 mark a figure which dwarfs the average unmarketed home gate this
season.

Commenting on the success to date, joint initiator of the project Mark
Saywell said, 'The response has been amazing, but I'd be lying if I
said I was totally surprised. I'd personally been pressuring previous
boards at United for years to get involved in more active marketing of the
club and never had any real success, I know the same can be said of
Will. We were ecstatic when the current board granted us permission to run
the scheme in our flag ship South Stand. It takes a lot of our personal
free time, designing the leaflets, arranging the leaflet drop and then
administering the distribution of tickets but we both feel it is
crucial to the future success of the club to actually reach out and grab new
fans rather than waiting for future success and hoping that's enough to
encourage new people along. Cambridge city and the surrounding towns
and villages actually represents quite a large catchment area, the
nearest clubs who are really competing with us for fans such as Norwich,
Ipswich and the North London clubs are all oversubscribed on matchdays, so
by taking the right approach, I always had some confidence the scheme
would be successful for us. What is important is that the club takes
steps to follow up on these first approaches in order to maximise the
impact and retention of these newcomers.'

Will Jones added, 'You only need to look at what has happened at
Charlton Athletic to see the kind of model we're aiming at. 20 years ago,
they were a club of our size with a similar following but with a concerted
effort attracting new fans and making them feel valued has seen them
grow and be rightfully regarded as a Premiership sized club. Myself and
Mark are only able to promote 4 games a season as we both have full time
jobs, we had agreed with the club that for each game we'd look to get
500 new faces in, so to exceed our first season's full target in just 2
games is amazing. If we can carry on with that level of success in our
remaining allotted games this season, hopefully the gates will continue
to grow and with the extra income the club makes, we can once again see
Cambridge United rise up the league to where it belongs, but this time
with a level of support proportional to that success. In an ideal world
a similar scheme would be in place for every home game at the Abbey
Stadium.

The next two games that have been allocated to Will and Mark are the
home ties against Southport on Saturday 24th February and Tamworth on
Saturday 28th April. If you would like to help Will and Mark with the
leafletting or administration of the scheme or if you'd like to sponsor or
help arrange entertainment for the designated South Stand games, please
get in touch with either Will Jones on 07834 555408 or Mark Saywell on
07812 132111

'South Stand Initiative A Total Success'

United Chairman Lee Power was delighted with the outcome of last
month’s South Stand initiative and thrilled work was already underway for the
next game against Burton Albion on December 30th. "We've had the final
report which tells us the number of new fans who came along to the Crawley
match, the financial impact and the feedback we got from existing fans and
first-time visitors, and it was all good news. I couldn't be happier
with the outcome. Will, Mark and the other volunteers, along with support
from the football club, are working very hard to repeat this success for the
Burton game and we both endorse and commend their efforts”

In the second leg of the scheme 10,000 residents from the Cherry Hinton,
Queen Edith’s and Coleridge area of the City have been invited to the Burton
game on December 30th free of charge. Households, workplaces and
schools have received application forms/flyers in the past week and
applications have already started to flood in.

Will Jones commented "The response from residents to the club's offer
for the Crawley game was overwhelming and it looks as though we’ll be
getting a similar response from Cherry Hinton, Queen Ediths and Coleridge Wards
for the Burton game. It’s fantastic to see the South Stand full of
supporters, many of them youngsters. The atmosphere for the Crawley game was great and that alone made it all worthwhile. Everyone seemed to enjoy their
afternoon and hopefully some will get the 'live football' bug and be back for
more – we cannot wait to welcome a new sea of faces for the Burton game and do
it all over again."

The campaign for the Crawley game set a target of bringing 500 new fans
through the gates, but in the end it achieved more than twice that, with
over a thousand turning out. "The day was a complete success, with no
significant logistical problems and lots of new faces at the ground", said
Commercial Manager Heather Wilkanowski. "What's more, thanks to the
generous sponsorship of Nightingale Press of Royston and M&M Heating & Plumbing
Services of Cambridge, it didn't cost the club a penny.“

Lee Power confirmed that the initiative is the start of a long-term campaign
to people throughout Cambridge and the surrounding area. "We are very
serious about the club playing a really active role in the community;
we now have the IT Learning Centre up and running to support local education,
thousands of local school kids every term are involved with our Football in
the Community scheme, and through this scheme we hope to offer most
people around Cambridge the chance to come and enjoy a love football match at
their local club sometime over the next couple of seasons."

Lee concluded, "I want to thank Will, Mark and their team of volunteers for
all their hard work in putting this scheme together and making it work -
I've said it before and I'm sure I'll be saying it again, this club has the
most fantastic fans. We hope this ongoing initiative sends the message
out to everyone - you're all welcome at the Abbey Stadium."

Application forms for the Burton game are also available for collection
from the Abbey stadium Ticket Office on Newmarket Road. Only Cherry Hinton,
Queen Ediths and Coleridge residents, workers and their families are eligible
to apply.


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