IT'S been another action-packed week at The Racecourse that has seen the arrival of new players, two hard fought games at Eastleigh and at home to Notts County and the transfer window closing on Tuesday evening.

Everybody has been working flat out to welcome Reds back into the stadium and it has nothing been without its challenges.

Opening a stadium for the first time in 500 days raises any number of long dormant issues and I want to pay tribute to the matchday staff for their efforts to get everybody in and out safely.

It took 202 days from takeover to see a crowd in the Racecourse Ground for a League game with 5,454 in attendance, of which 5,000 were supporting the Red Dragons.

It was that level of support that attracted Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds to the Club, and we know it is only going to increase with the WrexRent Stand opening, and tickets available for general sale.

Neither Rob or Ryan were ever going to able to attend this particular game, which of course wasn’t supposed to be the first home game of the season.

They are both desperate to get to a game at the earliest opportunity, but their schedules aren’t as fluid as the fixture list appears to be or changes to Covid-19 protocols.

Speculation of their potential arrival seemed to reach fever pitch on Monday but they never ‘failed to tun up’ as was suggested in the media, as they were never coming to the game.

As we look to take the club's appeal beyond the traditional catchment area this type of comment is detrimental to what we are seeking to achieve, as it suggests that a commitment was not kept, something than cannot be levelled with any justification at Rob or Ryan.

The image of the club to potential new audiences is so important and was the reason why we decided to erect the massive banner in front of the Kop.

It takes a long time to educate those new followers of the Club of all the nuances around our history and often, it is less relevant as the focus is on the future not the past.

Now we have our squad set and I think the fans that made the journey to the ground on Monday night and those watching at home will have been enthused by the performance against one of the best teams in the league.

Next up is Southend and I am sure that Phil and the lads will be going into it buoyed by the performance and support from Monday night.

Roll on Saturday!