Chief executive Paul Barber paid tribute to Albion fans after the successful staging of Saturday’s friendly against Chelsea.
A crowd of 2500 watched the first game with supporters at the Amex for six months and they went home happy after Pascal Gross scored an injury-time penalty equaliser in a 1-1 draw.
Barber said: “We’re delighted – it went as well as it possibly could have.
“Credit to our fans. They followed the guidelines, listened to requests from our stewards and, even at the end, when they stayed on to listen to the managers’ pitch side interviews on our stadium screens, they remained in their seats and observed social distancing.”
Senior officials from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) were in attendance, and the club will now feed back their observations as further test events with spectators take place over this weekend and during September.
Barber added: “One small issue that did come up for a few people is that a lot of children do not have photo ID, which we requested when purchasing tickets to help with track and trace. But we know that we can trace children through their parents so that is something to consider for future iterations of the guidelines. It’s important for us to provide positive and negative feedback to the DCMS on everything that happened today to help other events run even more smoothly as we move forward.
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“Our match has been the start of a progression towards larger attendances but there always has to be a first step which is why today was important, not only for us but for the whole of football, the wider professional sports industry, and indeed for other live events with spectators.
“It was also about us testing public confidence to come to a live event, but the feedback I have already received from our fans is that they enjoyed it - and most importantly felt very safe.
“I’d like to thank the Secretary of State and his team at the DCMS for granting us permission to stage today’s event with fans present, and also thank our staff who have worked very hard indeed, particularly since we got confirmation on Wednesday, to help make the event a success.”