Peterborough United aim for 10,000 season ticket holders within 10 years as schools initiative gives club a considerable cash boost

And they believe their hugely successful schools initiative will be the key to boosting the club’s attendances.

The club are visiting twice as many schools this season and offering free coaching to youngsters.

On Monday, July 29, Posh had sold 3,977 season tickets for the 2019-20 League One campaign – an increase of 422 on the same time last year.

Posh co-owner Dr Jason Neale said: “Given Portsmouth, a city of comparable size to Peterborough (205,400 residents v 196,640 residents, according to wikipedia), in the same league have sold 14,500 season tickets for 2019-2020 then we believe it should be feasible to get to 10,000 season ticket holders.

“This merely means adding around 500 to 700 new season ticket holders each year for 10 years.

“We have achieved this year’s increase with a combination of player investment and supporter engagement, specifically our team exceeded the target of visiting 75 schools and gave out thousands of free tickets to kids to attend with an adult, many of whom bought additional ticketsand memorabilia.

“We also added the ‘First Team Experience Day’ which saw around 200 kids coached by manager Darren Ferguson and his staff.

“This coming year we are expanding the schools initiative in two ways.

“Firstly, the club will visit 150 schools or more, putting on a fun assembly with our rabbit mascot and giving out match day tickets to kids.

“Secondly, our youth academy will visit 75 of these schools to provide free coaching across the Peterborough region and, ultimately, the wider area of Cambridgeshire.

“The ‘First Team Experience Day’ will be replicated and we are looking at further initiatives to get us to that 500-plus goal per year.

“If you are in a school and want both an assembly and a coaching session then please contact the club.

“One other key item, of course, is that the drive to 10,000 season ticket holders will coincide with the redevelopment of London Road or a new stadium.

“It’s worth noting that in the 2018-2019 season the schools initiative added around £100k of revenue and has led to a 10% increase in revenues for the 2019-2020 campaign.”

The Posh schools initiative involves members of the club’s backroom staff travelling to local primary schools with popular club mascot Peter Burrow handing out free tickets to matches and generally engaging with fans.

The Peterborough Telegraph revealed today (July 31) the club and Peterborough City Council would be signing a ‘stadium purchase heads of agreement’ before the League One game with Ipswich Town on Saturday, August 17.

The sale would then be formally completed around eight weeks later.