Thomas hopeful all Cobblers season ticket holders will return in October

Cobblers chairman Kelvin Thomas is confident that the club will be able to accommodate every season ticket holder when fans are allowed back into the PTS Academy Stadium, possibly as early as October.

Discussions are currently taking place between all the relevant authorities in a bid to return supporters to grounds as early - but also as safely - as possible, with pilot events being held by snooker and cricket.

It is thought that the majority of grounds will be able to operate at 30 per cent capacity when they open again to allow for social distancing, although it might be a while until the return of away fans.

The fixtures were released on Friday morning and with Cobblers set to host rivals Peterborough United on October 10, Thomas hopes the plan to get fans back into grounds by then will come to fruition.

"We actually haven't had an update on it but there's a lot of work going on in the background with the football league and within the club," he said.

"The club are working very, very hard on our plans but the assumption remains that the September games will probably be behind closed doors.

"Clubs will get an option as to how they want to stream their games and one option will be to give season ticket holders access to free streaming and that's something we'll definitely be taking up if it's available for the first few games.

"Then, in October, we're hoping to have fans back in a controlled manner. The club will send out a survey next week to talk to our season ticket holders in regards to the bubbles. The indication is that people will be able to sit within their bubbles. So if there's a family of four, they can sit together.

"I wouldn't say we're expecting it but we're strongly hoping that all of our season ticket holders will be able to into games when they're allowed to return.

"To be honest, we probably don't expect every season ticket holder to want to go to the first few games because some might want to wait and see, so part of the survey will cover that.

"The assumption is that fans won't be sitting exactly in their usual seats but I think people will understand that and they'll trust the club to try and get them as close as possible to their existing seat.

"It's hard to control that with the bubbles but all of the assumptions remain in place and we know it's going to be different but our overriding principle is to get as many fans back into the ground as is safe to do so.

"We want to get fans in, not just from an income perspective but also from an atmosphere perspective. I think a lot of it will be confirmed over the next couple of weeks as we get closer to the start of the season."