The Chairman and now stand-in Club Secretary told Sky Blue World: "I had certain options, we discussed them and one was to see if we could play our first three games away from home, it's not ideal but what can we do in a situation like this?

"Second, is to ask the team we are drawn against if we could reverse that fixture, and the third option is to play at Highfield Road or somewhere else.

"Now thinking about it, if we'd had a poll, which I would have carried out for the supporters to take part in, is that if we couldn't have got Highfield Road ready after the Elton John concert on Saturday night, then it is playing it at another ground.

"I'm sure whilst we had the end-of-an-era game our supporters would be less inconvenienced if they came back to Highfield Road, rather than going to their famous away game at Villa Park."