Chairman's Update

As the new season draws closer I feel it is important to update you as to how the club is progressing.

At present, we know under government guidance we will have at least 1,000 supporters allowed within the stadium. The club has already submitted an application to increase that capacity to 2,000 supporters given we had run 5 very successful test events last season. In the knowledge that social distancing will be reduced in the weeks to come, we do not feel this is ambitious, but a more realistic expectation.

We know that this will be extremely welcome news for our supporters and will give you all more comfort in purchasing your season tickets. We hope you will all have great confidence in returning to the stadium on the success of our test matches with fans last season. Although we are looking forward to welcoming our supporters back, it is important to remember that there will still be some physical distancing, which we anticipate to be around 1 metre, but this will, in the short term, impact on where people will be seated in the stadium. We can not guarantee that the seat you want will be the seat you sit in initially, but we will endeavour to keep Jailend season ticket holders in the Jailend stand and the same for the other stands- again this will be a short term issue.

It is important for us to understand that there will still be nervousness around returning to stadiums for some supporters. With that in mind we will still be running the Virtual aspect of our season ticket- guaranteeing coverage of all home league matches through RCFCTV- where physical attendance is not possible. We are delighted again to be maintaining the high standards of our virtual coverage which we feel was one of the best in the league last campaign, with Rory Hamilton, Stephen Craigan and Jamie Lyall all returning to present the coverage along with the return of our production partners QTV and Stream Digital. The feedback we have had on RCFCTV has reiterated to us that we made the correct decision to provide a quality product for our supporters at a time of great challenge.

I also want to address the wider aspects of the club. Since the end of last season our leadership team have been reviewing and evaluating all departments and we have made various changes and improvements in order to continue delivering firstly, a club that our fans can be proud of, and secondly a club capable of competing within the top level of Scottish football. This has included looking at our football operations, recruitment, medical and commercial departments, and we are now in a position where we feel stronger in each of those areas.

A lot of our supporters I understand will be wondering about recruitment of new players. I encourage all of our supporters to bear with us- it is important that we recruit in the right way and take our time to ensure that we bring the right people to our club. There will be some recruitment news this week, but our recruitment strategy is reliant on being a bit more patient and ensuring that we do as much research and due diligence as we can. If we all support this way of recruiting we will undoubtedly see the fruits of our labour going forward.

Finally I want to touch on season tickets. We have been encouraged by the early sales of our season tickets and to see the volume of supporters who received a discounted season ticket through their StaggiesArmy memberships- also to see the uptake in kids season tickets that come free with all StaggiesArmy kids memberships. It is imperative that for the success of the team going forward we have as many people behind us as possible and every supporter we can get in to the stadium gives us a greater chance of achieving that success. Given the impacts of COVID-19 we have also re-introduced our finance option to allow supporters to pay up the cost of season tickets. This has previously been a popular option for supporters and we are delighted to again be able to offer this service after such a challenging time. All information on season tickets and the finance options can be found on the links below.

As a club, it is important that we understand the varying situations of our supporters so please, if you have any questions, queries or concerns contact us directly on 01349 860 860 or email info@rosscountyfootballclub.co.uk where our team will be happy to help.

From speaking with supporters, season ticket holders and StaggiesArmy members over the past few weeks it is clear we are all looking for normality to come back sooner rather than later. We are no different. However, it is important we still do as much as we can to stop the spread of COVID and make sure we all get our vaccinations so that we can best protect ourselves and others.

I look forward to seeing many of you sooner rather than later when the new season kicks off.

CLICK HERE for all the information you need on Season Tickets for 2021/22

Roy