Town have announced that they are closing early bird season ticket sales a day prior to the planned deadline as they’re already set to go beyond the 21,000 cap.

Chief executive Mark Ashton told TWTD recently that he was looking at setting a cap of 20,000 for 2023/24 season tickets so that the club still had seats remaining for matchday tickets and away allocations.

That figure was revised up to 21,000 as season tickets sold fast but, assuming all existing season ticket holders renew their seats, that cap is now set to be surpassed and the club has decided to close early bird sales with immediate effect rather than at the planned 5pm Friday deadline.

As well as reducing the availability of matchday tickets, selling too many season tickets also impacts the budget with the cost of a season ticket seat cheaper per game than a matchday ticket.

The window for current season ticket holders - this year's total is around 17,970 - to renew their seats remains open until Friday at 5pm as planned, while those on the interest-free Direct Debit scheme are not required to do anything as their seats will automatically renew.

The 21,000-plus season ticket total is the highest in the club's history, topping the figure of around 19,000 which bought seats ahead of the 2002/03 campaign following the completion of the new stands.

Photo: Matchday Images

Fatboy added 13:39 - Apr 13 Incredible support.
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MickMillsTash added 13:53 - Apr 13 Smokers corner at the top of Churchman's is not full but most other sections have limited numbers of seats left, Im surprised there are 8K left.
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Westy added 14:09 - Apr 13 Great support but think the original deadline should have honoured. People have busy lives and expect there are many who had intended to do this Friday (tomorrow) who will now miss out. If it means that the 21,000 is passed slightly, so be it. I renewed mine yesterday but had tomorrow in mind as the deadline and could have easily left it a day or two longer. Would this deny an existing season ticket holder from now renewing?

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Guthrum added 14:20 - Apr 13 Westy - closed a day early for new purchases, not renewals.
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ArnieM added 14:31 - Apr 13 Absolutely bloody awesome! COYBs 💙
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blues1 added 15:05 - Apr 13 West. Try reading the story. Clearly states that the original deadline for renewals still stands. Yes, people are busy but how long does it take to go on the website and renew? 5 minutes? .and if any do miss out, then thats their fault for leaving it until the last minute surely. Hopefully, everyone gets theirs sorted in time tho.
4

pennblue added 15:17 - Apr 13 Giving the attendances of this season, it is clear these numbers could be a lot higher still in future seasons. I would love this club to get to 60,000 and be able to compete with Arsenal / Tottenham. It is definitely possible, people travel all over the country/world to follow other clubs. We just need investors to be in it for the long haul.
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BotesdaleBlue added 16:03 - Apr 13 I think you are getting into the realms of fantasy there Jones -I mean pennblue. :-)
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Karlosfandangal added 16:20 - Apr 13 Pennblue I do agree with you but can never see it happening as town record is 38010. The football town played in the 80's was out of this world, Town in 81 were the best side in Europe. Seeing how fickle town fans can be a Town need to be playing better football than the 81 team
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GenericIpswichMan added 16:38 - Apr 13 Absolutely incredible numbers!! Testament to the feel-good factor surrounding the team and the quality of football the team now produces. Let's just hope that it will be Championship Football which we are all served up.
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pennblue added 17:25 - Apr 13 Karlosofandangal I am just looking at West Ham that have gone from 40k -> 60k pretty easily, and look at clubs like Brighton who used to get 8k at the Goldstone and now get 30k regularly. If the club is doing well, and competing at the top level, it attracts people, that is why we have such a large fan base due to the success of the 81 team etc
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Karlosfandangal added 17:58 - Apr 13 Pennblue Good point and possible. I watched the 80's team as part of the crowd which were similar to today. Which when you think we had a team of internationals at playing top division football it's possible Town may get lot bigger numbers. But I can also remember losing 0-2 at home to Stockport in division 2 and part of a 8000 crowd. I wonder where those 20000 fans went as Town were playing some nice football. I hope the fans that are watching town now will still watch Town when we are not at the top end of the Championship and slowly building a team that can push for the Prem. It would be amazing to see that record broken in my life time

2

Durovigutum added 18:11 - Apr 13 I've been away, I was going to buy Friday afternoon, now I'm not…
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SitfcB added 20:32 - Apr 13 Westy- anyone with an existing s/t can still renew until 17:00 tomorrow, those that pay by DD automatically renew also. Ashton did tell everyone to be quick!!
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Westy added 21:12 - Apr 13 We already need a bigger stadium.
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Pendejo added 21:14 - Apr 13 Fantastic and Dammit in equal measure, was thinking of applying, now it's too late. Hey ho COYB
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CaptainPugwash78 added 21:27 - Apr 13 Perhaps it's time to bring back standing sections to increase capacity
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Fat_Boy_Tim added 22:14 - Apr 13 Standing sections (or safe standing) don't increase capacity. It's basically the same capacity but you have a rail to sit on instead of a seat. The area taken up by the rails is almost exactly the same as the seats so it doesn't allow price reductions either.
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rgp1 added 22:25 - Apr 13 Phil has a story somewhere in the archives where 27000 applied for a season ticket last time we got to the premier league. Therefore is it not reasonable to assume the club could top a 40k crowd if the facilities could accommodate it?
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Blue_In_Boston added 07:36 - Apr 14 Disagree with Blue1, closing it early is just not on. If your flight or train is leaving at 5pm today you would be a little miffed if you arrive on time to be told, sorry it left yesterday....
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terryf added 07:50 - Apr 14 The stadium needs a lot of modernising as it stands and the owners will need to see if the present support is maintained probably over three or four seasons before they would consider any restructure. A 40,000 seater state of the art stadium is a nice dream though.
1

ChrisFelix added 14:31 - Apr 14 I have looked at the crowds for the Robson period & other than Man U & the Budgies they were never sell outs. I think that with sucess our brand of football would see crowds of 30k most home games. Especially when we play teams with good travelling support. It continues to amaze me how the Budgies continue to sell out their ground. Might struggle a little next season

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