Nine weeks have passed since Sutton's 2017-18 season ended in the disappointment of a Vanarama National League play-off defeat, but this Saturday Coventry City visit the Knights Community Stadium for the opening friendly of the new campaign, the second consecutive season in which they have provided the opposition for the first game. Coventry had rather more play-off success than U's last season, beating Exeter at Wembley to regain their place in League One, former Sutton striker Max Biamou scoring twice in the semi final defeat of Notts County to end a successful first season after his move from the KCS. Max will be in the Sky Blues' squad tomorrow, while U's fans will see the return of Dan Wishart and Charlie Clough to Sutton colours as well as a debut for Dale Bennett.
Admission prices are £10 for adults, £5 for concessions and £2 for juniors, and the game kicks off at 1pm because, as we all know, there is the small matter of a World Cup quarter final at 3pm, and everyone is welcome to watch the England v Sweden game in the refurbished club bars afterwards, with 55'' and 65'' HD TV screens in the Times Square Lounge and Players' Bar. The bars will open before the game tomorrow at 11am.
Season tickets for the new season will be on sale tomorrow at the usual table just inside the Gander Green Lane turnstiles, where Adrian will also accept members in to this season's Strikers Are Key scheme.
A reminder that West Sutton station is closed tomorrow. Sutton station is open but trains are liable to alteration and timetables should be checked before travelling. Alternatively supporters can use bus route 413 which passes the ground, from Morden or Sutton.
IMPORTANT NOTE TO SPECTATORS
Following lengthy discussions, please note the following match arrangements that will need to put in place for the 2018-19 season in order to comply with the requirements of the safety and licensing authorities:-
ALL standing spectators are required to view matches from behind the crush barriers. This means that nobody is allowed up to the pitch perimeter fence or on the flat standing areas. We do realise that this is a significant change to what we are all used to and we apologise for any inconvenience that this may cause, however we would ask everyone to respect this requirement and cooperate with the match stewards if asked to move behind the barriers. We are investigating solutions to resolve this issue but, until we can put measures in place, we do ask for your cooperation.
Furthermore, we will have to make changes to the way we manage the players' tunnel and these changes will be implemented for the Chelsea game on 21st July, more details on this will be provided soon.
Once again, we apologise for having to make these changes but are sure everyone will understand why and will cooperate with polite requests to comply with the amendments.