TRANMERE Rovers' chairman Mark Palios has praised the generosity of fans and players who have raised £9,000 for a scheme giving disadvantaged children the chance to watch football at Prenton Park.

It emerged this week that donations from individual fans have brought in £3,000, which inspired a £3,000 donation from the Supporters Trust and a further £3,000 from the club's first-team squad.

The money is enough to buy 300 tickets for youngsters who might otherwise be unable to attend games.

Mr Palios hopes local businesses will ge involved, with the aim of making 500 season tickets available throughout the current National League campaign.

Tranmere officials and Tranmere Rovers Supporters Club are to start talking to organisations and charities about finding the most suitable recipients of the tickets.

Those tickets could be rotated among different children on a match-to-match basis, rather than allocated to individuals for the entire season.

Mr Palios said: "I've always been proud to be chairman of this club and the generosity of the fans doesn't surprise me.

"The fans, to some extent, inspired this whole thing.

"Fans who managed to buy season tickets for the club found that they couldn't make it to the game, so chose to contribute the season ticket back to us. We gave that to Claire House.

“When I saw a number of fans doing this I thought we could expand that out.

"The strength of this club is that it is already rooted in the community. We have seen everyone rallying around the scheme.

“We went to the Supporters Club and they volunteered to raise another 100 season tickets. The Trust, who work very closely with us, volunteered to raise 100 more.

"When I spoke to the players for their bonus negotiations, they also agreed to raise the cost of another 100 season tickets.

"I feel that is part of the effort to bring the players closer to the fans and the fans close to the players.”

"When I was a youngster I had a brief period in a foster home and I know what disadvantaged kids are like.

"Not every kid is going to get a ticket for the whole season. 

"We want to make sure the right people are coming to the game and will be working through the practicalities.

“Some kids may come to watch us twice in the season. Some of the tickets will have to go to carers and people who bring the kids to the game.

“The scheme will be putting an extra 500 fans on the Kop, adding to the match day atmosphere and helping us to build the fan base of the future.”

People who want to apply for the tickets should email supportersclub@tranmererovers.co.uk with details of who the tickets are for and other evidence that will support their application.