“The fans choosing not to refund their season tickets saved the club from serious financial trouble,” said ex-Cheltenham Town FC press officer Richard Joyce.
Joyce was working at the club when football was brought to a halt, five years ago, and Joyce said, “It was an unprecedented time and for them to do that was incredible.”
“We were due to play Cambridge United on the 14th and me and a colleague were planning on going down the night before to stay in Cambridge overnight.
“We didn’t book anything as there was always a chance of it being postponed with more and more players contracting Covid-19. Luckily we held off and later that day we were told it would be cancelled.”
The COVID-19 pandemic forced leagues across the world to postpone fixtures indefinitely, leaving clubs, players, and fans in despair. For Cheltenham Town, the timing couldn’t have been worse. Sitting fourth in League Two and chasing promotion, Michael Duff’s side were in excellent form. But as the country locked down and Whaddon Road fell silent, uncertainty gripped the club’s chances of promotion.
“When the football restarted which was the play-offs in June we went to Northampton Town and we had to do everything at a distance, there was no changing room access and press conferences post-match were done with the manager several meters away. TalkSport were holding a fishing rod-like stick with a mic on the end of it.
“It was unique but it was completely unprecedented. No one had ever experienced it before in football, particularly modern football, so everything we did was essentially all brand new.
The initial postponement was expected to last only a few weeks, but as cases rose, it became clear football would not be returning anytime soon. For a lower league club like Cheltenham, where match day revenue plays a crucial role in financial stability, the shutdown created serious concerns financially.
This moment was massive in which the supporters, played their part. Many continued to support the club by choosing not to refund their season tickets, as well as purchasing a cardboard cut-out of their face, to be displayed when games returned behind closed doors.
“The cardboard cutout idea was a brilliant campaign that raised tens of thousands of pounds for the club, the other big one was the season ticket money. Fans donating that back to the club because they loved the club and wanted to keep the club going.
“It was nothing quite like going to the game but through their season ticket they would still have access to watch online on I-Follow, so that was nice to know that they still had a way to support from their sofas with their faces dotted around the ground.
The club were crowned champions behind closed doors in 2021, fans flooding the streets of Whaddon to try and catch a glimpse of the players after feeling the joy, of promotion to the third tier of English football, for the first time in 12 years.
“For those supporters who went that night, a bit of relief, really, to finally actually get a little bit of a glimpse of these people who they’d been watching on the screen all season, it was nice to have that moment with the fans, as they had been showing their support online all season.”
Champions @CTFCofficial pic.twitter.com/3J82nQpVVj
— Kyle (@KLGibbo) May 8, 2021
