A lucky few Norwich City season ticket holders are celebrating after they were picked out of a hat to attend Saturday’s clash with Preston.
The Canaries confirmed their Championship clash would be a pilot event, with 1,000 fans allowed back into the stadium for the first time since lockdown.
Thousands of season tickets holders applied for the privilege of being among the lucky few to return this weekend.
Among the lucky ones to land a precious ticket was claims handler Daniel Fisher, 35, from Sprowston, who regularly attended home and away games before the coronavirus pandemic hit. He was spending time with family in Scarborough when he found out he had been successful.
He said: “I’m so pleased. It was touch and go whether we would be successful in the ballot but to get the confirmation was a great feeling.
“I missed the Sheffield United game so my last one was away at Spurs in the FA Cup when we won on penalties. That was obviously such a high and we definitely didn’t think it would be that long until we got to go to a game again.”
Season ticket holders were allowed by the club to apply for up to six tickets for the match within their ‘bubbles’.
Mr Fisher’s success in the ballot means that the match will be a real family affair for him, as his fiancée Louise and her father and auntie will join him and his brother in the stands.
“There are usually 27,000 there and there will only be a few of us, so there is a responsibility there but we’ll do our best to make ourselves heard and to get behind the team as much as we can,” he added.
“I’m actually feeling really confident. I don’t want to get too ahead of myself but I think we’ve got a fantastic chance after a good win last week, and we’ve got a great squad too.”
Another lucky ballot winner was Daniel Emery, 22, from Lowestoft, who will see some of his family members for the first time in six months when he visits Carrow Road this weekend.
He said: “I was really nervous this morning and I knew it was a long shot. I didn’t get an email but I checked the ticket section of the website and it said I had one printed. I was buzzing.
“We’re going in a group of four. Going to home games was the only chance I had to interact with that side of my family and this will be the first time I’ve seen them in six months, so it will be a great chance to reconnect with people.
“There’s a huge social aspect to going to the game – it’s not just about the game. Hopefully we’ll get a great result to help make it even better, but it will be great regardless.”
Husband and wife duo Richard and Samantha Mason, both 48, also won a place in the ground – just a week after the latter received her season ticket after a four-year wait.
Mrs Mason, a specialist nurse in the NHS, is “a newly-converted football fan” and had still been regularly attending games with her husband since they moved to Norwich from King’s Lynn five years ago.
Mr Mason, a civil servant at the Department for Transport, said: “When we applied it was a unknown as to what the levels of applications would be. Some people will have chosen not to go of course, but there was no doubting for us.
“The club are doing everything they can to make people safe, and there’s a code of conduct they’ve sent out that we have to follow. If we thought that wasn’t safe to do so then we wouldn’t be going, it’s as simple as that.
“We’re lucky to be one of the first back into the ground. It will be strange.”
Those who missed out on tickets this time will be able to enter future ballots, while those lucky enough to attend the Canaries’ clash with Preston will be unable to apply for future draws until all season ticket holders have had the chance to attend a match, the club confirmed.
Have you been successful in the ballot for Norwich’s game against Preston North End on Saturday? Get in touch by emailing daniel.moxon@archant.co.uk
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