Southampton FC refunds fans after St Mary's entry delays
- Published
Saints fans were left queuing outside the stadium and missed part of the game
Southampton FC has promised to refund all general admission ticket holders after hundreds of fans were left queuing outside St Mary's Stadium.
Fans complained at missing up to 30 minutes of the opening home game of the Premier League season at St Mary's - the first with a full crowd after Covid restrictions were lifted.
The club said a new system to scan tickets took "significantly longer" than in testing.
It has apologised to all fans affected.
The Premier League tie against Manchester United on Sunday was the first competitive match played at the stadium since lockdown restrictions on crowd numbers were lifted.
Social media posts showed queues still outside the stadium as the 14:00 BST kick-off approached, with fans complaining of "long lines" of supporters and others describing the entry as a "shambles".
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Tim Milligan from Titchfield said he arrived at the stadium to find "queues back to every approach".
"The concourse was just thick with people all round the stadium," he said. "The queues were moving very slowly.
"It was all very well mannered. What people were saying is that the club should have sent people down the queues to tell us what was going on."
He eventually got to his seat 15 minutes into the match, which ended in a 1-1 draw.
Fans were still queuing in huge numbers to get into St Mary's Stadium as kick-off approached
A Southampton FC statement said the entry delays were "unacceptable".
"Our initial assessment is that the scanning of tickets took significantly longer per person than we experienced in our recent pre-season matches and our own behind-closed-doors testing.
"Today's ticketing and entry issues were not the start we wanted to the 2021/22 season from a fan experience point of view.
"We know you have waited 16 months to be at a full stadium of Saints fans getting behind the team and today's issues will have tainted that experience for a large number of you."
It also apologised for a delay in some season ticket holders receiving their tickets.
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