Phil SumblerIt is a bitter sweet moment when your reach Wembley for the game that could earn you a place in the Premier League but then you realise that only 3,951 of your fans will be able to see the game which is the dilemma that Swansea City and Brentford woke up to this morning as they started their preparations in earnest for the “richest game in football”
The game will be played in a stadium with a capacity of 90,000 with just 10,000 spectators present due to the current government guidance and more than 20% of those tickets go to corporate guests and guests of the EFL which makes the reduced capacity doubly hard to bear.
There is no easy solution for either the Swans or Brentford who have taken very different routes on their ticket allocation but ultimately will both end in a position where they know that many fans who would want to be in attendance miss out because of the low ticket numbers.
Brentford in particular were hugely critical of the decision particularly when you factor in that more than 20,000 people attending the FA Cup final last weekend at the same venue and the FA wanted to host the Champions League final next Saturday with a similar sized crowd which does beg the question why the restrictions could not change for a weekend which traditionally is the biggest in the football league calendar.
A statement on the Brentford official website was clear in their view as they posted details of how their fans could get hold of tickets and it read “In line with the Government’s current Covid-19 restrictions, Wembley will have a maximum 10,000 capacity for this match. This means there will be fewer than 4,000 General Admission tickets allocated to each finalist.
“We have been in communication with the FA and the EFL to find ways to maximise the Club’s allocation and we are extremely disappointed with this outcome. We at the Club feel it is unjust that only one week ago, more than 20,000 fans were admitted to The FA Cup Final and advanced discussions were taking place for Wembley to host the Champions League final with a similar number of fans attending.
“We find it incredulous and unjustifiable just two weeks later, the Championship Play-Off Final will be restricted to just half of that number. The 12 Sky Bet Play-Off Semi Finalists wrote to the EFL and FA last week pleading for an increased capacity, but to no avail. We want all Bees fans to be at the Final and it is disappointing that so many of you who would want to be there, will not be able to attend.”
It will be doubly painful for Brentford who have reached their second successive final with the last one played behind closed doors and clearly they have joined forces with everyone to try and get the decision overturned and it will always be disappointing that it will not be the case.
There is some hope of additional tickets though as Brentford also confirmed “Discussions are currently taking place with the EFL to make approximately 750 more tickets available to the finalists. If the Clubs are able to secure these additional tickets, we will provide our fans with further information on how to apply for these tickets early this week, it is likely these tickets will go into a ballot.”
