Albion will introduce changes in the Club’s operational practices in a further response to the coronavirus health crisis.
The Club will be stripping back its activities to support efforts to protect the health and well-being of players, staff and supporters.
From tomorrow (Tuesday, March 17), The Hawthorns will be operating with a skeleton staff and the stadium megastore and ticket office will be closed. Wbatickets.co.uk and Shop.wba.co.uk will be operating online and the ticket office will also be available by telephone on 0121 227 2227, Monday to Friday, from 9am until 5pm. The Club's Merry Hill store will also be closed from Tuesday.
The Albion Foundation, who also released a statement on Monday, will reduce its staffing operations to a skeleton level and will encourage work from home wherever possible. It will continue to deliver to schools and in the community for all but the more vulnerable groups until government guidelines change.
In line with Friday’s statement from the EFL, which suspended its football competitions until April 3, these changes will remain in place until then but subject to review at that point.
Mark Jenkins, Albion’s CEO, commented: “Clearly, we are in unprecedented times which will bring challenges for us all.
“But I want to reassure both our staff and supporters that the Club is soundly positioned to emerge from this period ready to resume normal operations, whenever that may be.
“The health and well-being of our staff and supporters is uppermost in our thoughts and as a result we have taken sensible precautions to try to protect their welfare.
“Where possible we are making plans for our staff to work from home and have already instigated protocols to reduce engagement between players and supporters for their mutual well-being.
“We are in a time which none of us have ever experienced before and it would be silly not to concede there are challenges ahead. But equally I have no doubts that our Club will overcome the difficulties.
“In the meantime, on behalf of all of us at Albion, I can only send our best wishes to all of our supporters and urge them to heed the best advice available and stay safe and well while we all cope with this global emergency.”
For health information and advice, head to the NHS website, while the government's recommendations can be found here.