Due to the limited capacity we have in the away section during redevelopment of the ground, a lot of matches over the next three seasons are likely to have to be all-ticket for away fans for safety reasons.

But whilst a match can be all-ticket for away fans, if we are admitting cash at the home turnstiles there is a good chance of visiting fans, who travel on the day, paying to get into home sections of the ground, which poses a security problem.

To get round this we would have to do one of the following:

1. make it all-ticket for everyone, which is not ideal for the Club as it would hamper our crowds or
2. come up with some scheme where we produce a membership card so that holders, who are genuine Cambridge United supporters, can turn up at the turnstiles, show their card and be allowed to pay on the gate. Anyone else who hasn't got one would unfortunately not be able to get in, whether they are a Cambridge United supporter or not.

A membership scheme would help the supporters and help the Club in the potentially difficult situation that we're going to find ourselves in over the next two to three years while we are doing the redevelopment.

The card will be free of charge and there will be no need to produce a photograph. All that supporters will be asked to do is fill out an application form with their personal details. We will then issue a card, which will be valid for two or three seasons.

All card holders will then need to do is turn up on a game, which has been designated all-ticket for away fans to get admittance. The card will not be required for normal games, but supporters would have to buy a ticket for games that are all-ticket for both sets of fans, e.g. Peterborough, regardless of whether they have a card.

The membership scheme is to help us and the supporters, as a Club, find a way of not having our supporters needing to buy tickets for every home game.

Secretary Andrew Pincher commented: "We are going to have games that are all-ticket for away fans, but where there is no need for us to do it for home fans. The scheme will mean that home fans can get in on the day safely in the knowledge that they aren't going to be standing next to 50 or so fans from other Clubs who have infiltrated other areas of the ground.

"It's a one-off application, but if the games were all-ticket, people would have to come back week after week after week to buy their tickets, which is inconvenient for them. It'll cause us a bit of extra work to start with, but in the long run it will hopefully ensure that we get better crowds.

"Although the final details have yet to be confirmed, we will certainly be trying to make the card as widely available as possible. We hope to issue 7,000 to 10,000, so if people might come on the off chance they should fill in the application form - it won't cost anything."

We will be publicising the scheme as widely as possible, such as including forms with season tickets for regular supporters to pass out to members of their family and friends who might want to come along. We will also be issuing forms at our home pre-season games.

"We want to do it so it's easy for our supporters, Pincher continued. "So they haven't got to worry about getting tickets for every game.

"We want to publicise the scheme as widely as possible. We would like to encourage the involvement of the Supporters Association and the CFU to help us promote the scheme within their local areas. We want to make sure as many people as possible are aware of the scheme and why we are doing it. We want people to join it whether they come to one game, two games - we need as many people to carry a card as possible. It's not for any purpose of showing ID or a 'big brother' exercise. It's just a temporary measure during the redevelopment of the ground.

"We will publicise it as wide as we can, but the onus is on people to see the information and act upon it.

During the redevelopment, the advice is to check availability of tickets for every game. "We'll know the situation for the first half of the season with the next few weeks and publicise that as much as possible," said Pincher. "But please check the situation for specific games. But don't forget, a membership card will not get you into an all-ticket game."

Current season ticket holders and concession book holders do not need to apply.