COLCHESTER United chief executive Tim Waddington says the club’s decision to freeze season-ticket prices is a reward for the fans’ backing last term.

U’s supporters helped turn the Weston Homes Community Stadium into a fortress as their team narrowly missed out on the League Two play-offs.

Only Doncaster Rovers picked up more points in front of their own supporters and Colchester fans responded to the team’s good form with attendances in the last eight games averaging nearly 4,800.

“I hope the pricing will be well received,” said Waddington.

“Pricing is always going to raise debate and it’s getting harder to juggle things, in that respect.

“But we’ll continue to hold prices as they are, which is difficult in a world where everything goes up around us.

“We felt holding the prices as they are was the right thing to do for our supporters and a bit of a reward for their backing, this season.

“It’s not only their support for the team, it’s also what they do when they’re here like spending their hard-earned money on things like food, drink, merchandise and shirts.

"We developed a strong business model a few years ago and it’s important that we stick by that.”

Waddington believes the club’s pricing structure can be held up as an example within football.

“We’ve developed what the stadium has to offer and we’re getting better at what we do,” he said.

“We’re leading the way among our peers but we’re striving to do more than that – we want what we have to offer to be held up as an example within football and we want a Premier League product, off the field.

"We don’t get everything right but we feel that we get most things right.”