Blues fans will enjoy a slicker and more enjoyable matchday experience following the club's announcement that access control will be in place at St. Andrew's in time for the start of the 2009/10 season.

Supporters attending home games will benefit from the installation of Ticketmaster's state-of-the-art access controlsystem AccessManager, which includes the following benefits…

 · No more vouchers to tear out - one all encompassing card

 · Easy to carry - card easily fits in your wallet or purse

 · Easy and efficient to use at the turnstiles

 · Card can be kept for numerous seasons. Renewals can be done to the same card via the telephone/internet/post - less trips to the ticket office

 · A lost season ticket can be stopped immediately - less fraud

 · Less likely to be damaged or lost - more robust than a season ticket book

 · Loyalty points scheme for away games and cup matches

Access control will be in place throughout the stadium, including hospitality areas, and the investment is yet another of the pledges to supporters made by the Blues Board of Directors in the New Year.

Ticketmaster's access control system AccessManager will be installed at St. Andrew's over the summer.

Non-season ticket holders who book seats online will be able to print their tickets at home via Ticketmaster's TicketFast®service and present them at the turnstiles, providing a much simpler booking and access process.

Blues' Managing Director Karren Brady says: "When the Board made our pledges to the supporters in January we said we would work hard and invest to make their matchday experience more enjoyable.

"Having already started work on bringing undersoil heating, a new pitch and a big screen to St. Andrew's in time for the start of the 2009/10 season, access control adds to the list of the many things we are doing to achieve exactly that."

A new tannoy system, being installed over the summer, is another pledge to supporters and will help improve the matchday experience and atmosphere.

And the pledge to bring more of the club's history and heritage to St. Andrew's is being honoured with the renaming of the Railway Stand as the Gil Merrick Stand after one of Blues' biggest legends. The move was announced at half-time during the last home match of the 2008/09 season - with the man himself proudly listening to the news from a VIP seat inside the stadium.

The Olympic Gallery is to be renamed the Gil Merrick Upper and the Railway Lower is to be known as the Gil Merrick Lower from now on.