TIM Waddington insists a ‘sensible’ approach is the best policy for Colchester United when their supporters make a welcome return to the JobServe Community Stadium.

With the big kick-off just over six weeks away, the EFL have stated that they are hopeful of full crowds returning for the restart with restrictions set to be lifted by the Government on July 21.

Colchester announced their ticket plans for the 2021-22 League Two season last week https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/sport/19377381.colchester-united-release-ticket-details-new-season/, with chairman Robbie Cowling stating that their match permit system was ‘extremely safe but was also very robust and very flexible’.

Colchester’s first home game of the season is against Northampton Town, on August 14 – and Waddington has stressed that the U’s have had to be cautious in their approach, given the changeable circumstances of the pandemic.

Waddington said: “Fans’ safety and comfort has got to be paramount.

“We’ve got a lot of fans who will be nervous about coming back to the ground for the first time and we want them to understand the measures that we’ve got in place and the fact that we’re treating their safety as a priority.

“Our take on it is that it’s going to be much easier to scale up from the position we’ve taken than it would be to scale back, from that starting point.

“If we’d have got the wrong position, it would be really hard work reversing things.

“There’s obviously hassle and aggravation for the fans if we have to start reversing things but equally, there’s cost and implications for the club as well if we have to do that.

“It’s the sensible approach – it’s not the approach that any of us would really choose but I think it’s the right one and one we have to go with.

“Caution has to be advised because there’s no way any of us on earth would have ever foreseen the level of restrictions and shutdowns that we’ve had to endure for the last 16 or 17 months.

“It’s way beyond any contingency we’d have ever considered – way beyond it.

“We’ve effectively been stopped and I think we’re cautious, because we’re nervous.

“We’ve seen this Delta variant and the Delta plus variant now starting to come in and I wouldn’t be 100 per cent certain – and if we’re not 100 per cent certain, we can’t go out and sell a product that we can’t deliver.

“It would be too easy to just go out and sell tickets as normal and I don’t think that’s the right attitude or the right strategy, personally.

“I think we’ve got to be mindful of fans and be mindful of what the Government might impose on us.”

Meanwhile, Waddington says he cannot wait for the new season to start after the League Two fixtures were announced https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/sport/19395295.colchester-united-travel-carlisle-league-two-opener/

The U’s face a 630-mile round trip to play Carlisle United in their curtain-raiser on August 7, in Hayden Mullins’ first game in permanent charge.

Colchester then follow that up with back-to-back home games against Northampton Town (August 14) and Mansfield Town (August 17).

There are then trips to Oldham Athletic (August 21) and Rochdale (August 28), to complete their opening month.

The U’s host Leyton Orient on Boxing Day and also entertain Bradford City at the JobServe Community Stadium, on Easter Monday.

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Waddington said: “This is about as good a set of fixtures I’ve seen in the years I’ve been looking at them.

“It’s great to have a home game against Leyton Orient on Boxing Day.

“It’s a good-sized local team who play good football and will be pushing for promotion, I would imagine.

“I think it’s one for our fans to get excited about and I’m certainly excited about it and looking forward to that one already.

“Boxing Day football is massive and you get fans, casual fans, fans who aren’t particularly Col U fans but they live in Colchester.

“They’ll come to games and it’s a great family occasion – people really enjoy coming to the Boxing Day fixture.

“It’s a great day out and I’m really hoping that we can capture the imagination of those residents who are new to this part of town and get them involved and across to the ground.

“We’ve also got home games on Easter Monday and the May Bank Holiday – they’re the three dates that I look for and they’re all home fixtures, so I’m really pleased with that.

“The fourth day I really look for is the opening fixture and it’s a bit disappointing not to have a home game first fixture but it seems to work that way for us over the years, unfortunately.”