The 2020/21 Sky Bet Championship season is days away from starting and Brentford will kick-off their campaign on Saturday. It was announced last month that our opening fixture, away to Birmingham City, will be live on Sky Sports on Saturday, 12 September, and will kick-off at 12.30pm. We have also been informed that our next two league games – at home to Huddersfield Town on Saturday 19 September and away to Millwall on Saturday 26 September – will not be televised.

Those games, and others for the time being, will be behind closed doors with no fans allowed. Fans will have seen that pilot events are being held at other sporting stadia to allow spectators with the aim for limited numbers of fans to be allowed to attend games from October. We are hoping that welcoming Brentford fans in to our new home is not far away and will continue to keep fans updated. We are not, however, in a position to make an announcement about specific numbers at this point.

Decisions on how many Bees fans can access games will be made by the local Safety Advisory Group. Fans will be allowed to sit next to others within their ‘social bubble’ at the new stadium which will maximise the number of supporters in the ground whilst still maintaining social distancing.  A social bubble is currently defined as “a maximum of six people from no more than two households”.

We will be asking Season Ticket Holders to confirm their social bubbles shortly, please keep a close eye on Club communications as we will really need your assistance in maximising the number of Bees fans we can accommodate in our new home. Given the limited numbers of fans involved for the reduced capacity games, this will only be open to Season Ticket Holders who have paid in full by 31 August this year.

The recent announcement from the EFL included details of a new flexible framework that will ensure league games are either available for broadcast or streaming whilst access to matches is restricted. As announced earlier this summer, a plan is being developed by Brentford FC for the 2020/21 campaign that delivers what fans want – access to The Bees - and minimises the need to issue refunds, helping to protect our Club. Further details will be announced very soon.

The update from the EFL did, however, give us some information that fans can act upon now. We know that our game against Birmingham will only be available on Sky Sports. Supporters that want to watch this game will only be able to do so on Sky Sports or Now TV. This will be the case with every away weekend game that is selected for live broadcast. More details on how to watch can be seen here.

The EFL will be utilising iFollow to give fans access to as many Championship games as possible. New iFollow codes will be issued for the 2020/21 season and there are some new rules around its use, so supporters will need to be prepared. This applies whether you are a Season Ticket Holder who wants to make use of any arrangement the Club and EFL put in place or if you want to buy on a match-by-match basis, where available.

The Club will make an announcement of our offer, plus alternatives, as soon as possible but can confirm that all Season Ticket Holders and Premium Seat Holders will be sent an iFollow code for our game against Huddersfield Town on 19 September. This will be the case whatever decision is taken regarding our offer for the campaign. This code will be sent early next week. Please note, the deadline to pay for Season Tickets was 31 August and only those paid in full by this date will be considered as Season Ticket Holders for the 2020/21 season (Please note, this excludes our Premium Seat Holders who pay for their seats in a different way, more information will be sent to them shortly).

In order to assist the Club as we go through the coming period, fans are asked to take the following actions now:

There will be a further announcement on the Club’s offer to 2020/21 Season Ticket Holders in the coming days. No tickets or places at matches are available to book yet but we ask our fans to be ready as this will be sent by email to Season Ticket Holders in the first instance.