Town's pledge to the fans

The idea came as a result of recommendations from the Football Task Force, under the instigation of former MP David Mellor, and all clubs are required to present such a document to the Football League by the end of the month.

It contains the club's policies on racism, tickets, accessibilty and new kits.

Town's chief executive Pete Rowe, who drew up the original copy of the report, hopes that it will give fans a better insight into club guidelines.

He said: "The main aim of the document is to outline our policies on certain issues and every club in the League is instructed to complete one by the end of November.

"It is a public document and we believe that we are the first club to have submitted such a report. We have set these aims out for what we want to do and they will be independently audited every year.

"It's a great thing which will tell supporters the standards that we have set for the club."

Clubs will all have different components to their statements but many, such as not changing the team strip for two years or the percentage of tickets available to non-season ticket holders, will be common in the majority of cases.

Rowe said: "Some of the things listed are already part of the Football League rules, but some are not.

"I drew up the plan and the management team went through to look at the details on Monday. We now have a finished document and we hope that it will be helpful. We believe that we can take this forward."

Rowe praised the relationship the club has with the supporters' club and the shareholders, and hopes that the charter will help forge stronger links not only with these groups but with the local community in general. He said: "We already have a very well-organised and well-run supporters club. We are often asked to contribute to their meetings and we are more than happy to continue doing that.

"We want to improve and have a good working relationship with the fans and the shareholders."