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Robert Elstone

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Robert is Everton's Chief Executive.

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Almost 1,000 FIRST TIME junior school season ticket holders

Goodison is a hive of activity in the close season and the pace of all those jobs and ‘things to do’ accelerates as we approach our opening game.

It’s now starting to move very fast! Our maintenance team, our groundsmen, our electricians, our builders, our decorators, our caterers, all have their ‘feet to the floor’ making sure we’re ready for the big kick-off, live on Sky against the Premier League’s most successful team. With the windows open, I can hear them working to this immovable deadline. We can feel the excitement of the dawn of a new season.

We’re excited about many things, not least excited for the 977 first-time season tickets holders in our new under 11s category. I am sure we can all remember how good that first season ticket felt. Getting that book in your hand was the ultimate prize. And how good will it feel walking up to Goodison on a summer’s evening, under the lights, to watch the Blues take on Manchester United? It doesn’t get any better.

These junior school-aged fans are part of an overall increase in season ticket holders on last year, across all categories, of over 1,350 and a direct reason why junior season tickets in total are up 20% on 2011/12. It feels almost like a new generation has arrived and I am sure you share our delight in such numbers.

And some ticketing improvements to look out for

Few areas are scrutinised like ticketing – just ask Lord Coe, which is why we are constantly looking for improvements in this most crucial area of our operation and why we’re pleased to report:

1. Away tickets will be available to buy online very soon
2. Fans will be able to buy home match tickets in Everton Two and at TicketQuarter in Queens Square from mid-September
3. A new ticketing platform for mobile devices will be launched next month
4. We’ve listened and simplified away ticket allocations reverting back to straightforward away match purchasing history
5. We’ve landed a new partnership with the leading ticket exchange business, Stubhub, which will allow you sell your season ticket on the odd occasion you can’t make it to Goodison. Please check out how it can work for you and use it.

Some of you will also know that we’ve written to all non-adult (concessionary) season ticket holders asking for proof of age and I’m pleased to say the response has been excellent. We’ve done it for a couple of reasons – to help us improve communications and ensure the right fans get the right information and also to make sure fans are paying the right prices, the latter being something I know, from speaking to many of you, we all want to see. If we are diligent on Monday night checking tickets, bear with us.

And finally, just a reminder, the Auto-Cup scheme is once again in operation for the new season, allowing season ticket holders the opportunity to ‘pre-order’ their seats for any home Cup games we have here at Goodison. Season ticket holders can join at any time by contacting the Fan Centre on 0871 663 1878 and pressing option 2.

We know ticketing really matters and that’s why we keep looking to improve. And, as we consistently say, you can measure our performance better than us; tell us what we can do better; tell us what you’d like us to do next.

Here’s to a great Monday night!