Blues manager Paul Lambert has said he has given owner Marcus Evans his thoughts on next year’s season ticket prices, which are expected to be announced at some point in the next month.
"I’ve spoken not just about that but I’ve spoken about everything, the community, everything because I could see it was dwindling, the whole thing was dwindling,” Lambert said.
"I never felt the connection with the supporters when we first came in and the town being the way it is, everything that was going against it.
"You’ve got to get the fans back to the club. We thought we have to get the supporters back, who have been absolutely brilliant for us, and that’s why I try and get to as many supporters’ function as I can, I try and get there because I need to know what the feeling is and bring them back.
"Get in the schools if we can and get the younger generation back and I think that pays dividends when you see the crowds that are coming, 100 per cent the ticket prices that we spoke about it, but I can’t force that, I can give a recommendation and what I think.
"The more people you get in your stadium, the better for everybody - for the support, for the atmosphere.
"I get so many letters from people coming back to watch the games now. We might not win the games but at least it’s exciting and the atmosphere’s great, and that’s what you want. That’s exactly how you want it.
"Whatever happens on that pitch, if I’ve paid £30 a ticket, I wouldn’t want to come and just be negative to a team and sit there and not enjoy it, I want to go there and have a great time.
"I want to go in the North Stand and jump about like a lunatic and do all those things because I paid the money for it.
"And to get the younger ones in and to get the Blue Action group [playing their part], it was important , it was absolutely vital to do it and the atmosphere since we’ve been here. You’ve seen it before, it’s been absolutely brilliant, I can’t thank them enough for the support they have.
"I’m pretty sure Marcus will do everything he can to help that side of it. I can only recommend my thoughts and my ideas and hopefully I’m pretty sure, everything going alright, that it does change because we need them we need the support.”
Would Lambert be prepared to take what could potentially be a hit on his transfer budget to help increase crowd sizes via cheaper tickets and in turn improve the atmosphere? "I would rather play in a full stadium and go with the young ones here, guys that I know, guys that I know what I’m going to get from them, guys whose mentality I know, guys I know I can trust and their identity with the club and the supporters. That’s important to me, that.
"And get as many people as we can through the gate because I can’t stress it highly enough, the fans are absolutely vital to us and I think they like coming to the game or the stadium. If they didn’t we wouldn’t be getting 23,000 when we’re bottom of the table, you just wouldn’t get it, albeit with the ticket prices were down.
"I think they enjoy the excitement of the games. As I say, we might not win and everybody’s disappointed when we lose, all those things, but they’re coming and if that’s the case and you said to me, ‘Listen, we go with young players to get the identity back to the club’, then it’s not a problem because this club has to get back its identity and it has to get the support back.
"We’ve done everything we can to try and bring them back and you can see the reaction of them just by actually reaching out to them, that’s important for me to understand.”