STOKE CITY have clarified the situation concerning Premium Seating prices in the countdown to Wednesday's deadline for their Early Bird Season Ticket campaign.

The Club have stressed that the £20.00 increase which comes into effect for next season was put in place when Premium Seating was introduced last year, but that initial increase was deferred for a year for those who were renewing their Season Tickets in those areas.

City have been contacted by Trading Standards following concerns raised by some fans that they are being asked to pay an increase in price for Premium Seats when the main focus of the Early Bird Season Ticket campaign has been on a price freeze for the 2010/11 season.

"The prices for Premium Seats were set last year and have now remained the same for next season, but what we did offer was to defer the additional cost to existing Season Ticket holders for the first season as a goodwill gesture," explained City's Chief Executive Tony Scholes.

"The introduction of Premium Seating last year brought us into line with many other Premier League clubs and an extra £20.00 is exceptionally good value when you compare this with the additional amounts fans have to pay at other clubs for the best seats."

He added: "We feel that the Club's ticket pricing policy has been very fair to our supporters since we won promotion to the Premier League and this has been backed up by the record-breaking sales for the current season and the fact that there has been an excellent response to the current Early Bird Season Ticket campaign which puts us well ahead of the same stage last year.

"If, however, there are supporters who are are unhappy with the Premium Seating policy, we can relocate them to other parts of the stadium and we are also prepared to offer a refund to fans who have already renewed their Season Ticket but wish to move to another area."