Brentford Football Club has made alterations to the ticketing arrangements for the pre-season friendly against Scottish Premier League Champions Celtic next month.
The Glasgow side, who reached the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League this season, will visit Griffin Park on Saturday July 20.
The game will kick off at 3pm, subject to police confirmation, and will be Brentford’s highest profile pre-season match for a number of years.
The Club has received correspondence from supporters in the form of emails and comments via social networks about the arrangements first announced last month to make the Brook Road Stand exclusive for Brentford supporters with tickets on open sale for the other three sides of the ground.
Those comments, and a statement from independent supporters’ group BIAS, have been read and the Club can now announce changes to the plans.
The Brook Road Stand and The Bill Axbey Stand, on the New Road side of the ground will now be for CELTIC SUPPORTERS ONLY.
The BIAS Stand, at the Ealing Road end of the ground, will be for BRENTFORD SUPPORTERS ONLY.
The Club will be selling seats in The Bees United Stand, on the Braemar Road side of the ground, to BRENTFORD SUPPORTERS ONLY FOR A TWO-WEEK PERIOD.
Seats in Block B and Block D of the Braemar Road side of the ground will go on sale first with seats in the paddock towards the Ealing Road end of the ground also on sale.
Should there be sufficient demand; The Bees United Stand will remain for BRENTFORD SUPPORTERS ONLY.
But if sales for this part of the ground are slow, the area at the Brook Road end of the stand will go on General Sale.
Ticket prices will remain the same.
Advance ticket prices will be as follows:
Seats £25
Seating Concessions £20
Standing £20
Standing Concessions £15
Concession tickets will be available for those under the age of 18 and those aged 60 and over.
No other concessions will be available.
All tickets will cost £2 more if purchased on the day.
TICKETS FOR THE MATCH ARE ON SALE NOW.
Brentford FC Chief Executive Mark Devlin said: “The primary reason for the 2013 pre-season programme was for the team to have the best build-up possible to the new season.
“We managed to get a Championship side, Millwall, and a Premier League side, Cardiff City, to visit and sought an even bigger challenge.
“Clubs of the stature of Celtic – one of the best 16 in Europe last season – will only play friendlies for a fee and if their expenses are covered.
“This is a substantial cost to the Club and we had to set out a business plan to ensure we could play the game, give Manager Uwe Rösler and the players the best build-up to the season possible and not lose money.
“The initial decision to make three sides of the ground open all supporters was to give us the best chance of selling out the game.
“Previous history had suggested there was not a great demand from Brentford fans to attend pre-season friendlies at Griffin Park and with the high prices – necessary to cover the costs – it was felt this demand would not rise.
“It was hard to gauge how many Brentford fans were likely to attend this game.
“Crowds for pre-season friendless, even those against Premier League sides, local rivals and for testimonial games for long serving players have not attracted big crowds.
“However, given the correspondence we have had on this issue over the past week it appears we underestimated the demand.
“We have listened to the supporters.
“No-one at Brentford FC is intransigent.
“If we have got something wrong and can put it right we will do.
“I hope to see two sides of Griffin Park full of Brentford fans on July 20 and that it is an afternoon to remember.”
Tickets are on sale now for the match and a decision will be taken next week on whether to keep The Bees United Stand exclusively for Brentford supporters.
Allocated seating will be in operation for the match.
Mark Devlin added: “We still need to achieve a crowd of 9,000 for the match and we hope Brentford supporters will help us reach that figure.
“The cost of the match was a key factor in the ticket pricing set for the match but we feel it represents good value for the opposition.
“In order to ensure we look after the Club’s loyal fans, we dramatically reduced admission prices for the friendlies against Millwall and Cardiff.
“To sit and watch all three friendlies – all against teams higher in the football pyramid than Brentford – will cost £45 while to stand it will be just £30 for the three.
“Juniors and Seniors can attend all three games for just £17.”
Tickets can be bought from the Ticket Office at Griffin Park now.
Tickets will be sold for The Bill Axbey Stand and The Brook Road Stand to Celtic supporters.
Tickets for The BIAS Stand and The Bees United Stand will only be on sale to those who have bought tickets for Brentford matches before - this includes Season Ticket Holders and members of Bees United, BIAS and The Brentford Lifeline Society.
The Ticket Office, based at Griffin Park, is open from 10am until 4pm Monday to Friday.
Tickets can bought in person or ordered by telephone on 0845 3456 442 – option 4.
They are also available online from the new ticketing website here.