SAME OLD STORY
Millwall have angrily accused the Football Association of damaging the FA Cup because they have given Manchester United thousands more tickets than them for next month's showpiece final.
The First Division club are furious that the FA are breaking with normal practice by abandoning the usual 50-50 split between the competing clubs. United are to receive 27,000 seats while Millwall will have only 21,400 in a controversial deal that will be unveiled this week.
FA sources stressed that they had no choice after South Wales Police told them last week to implement 'unusual security arrangements' to ensure that hooliganism does not blight the match.
Millwall chairman, Theo Paphitis,
'We are very disappointed that the FA have reached the decision to award Manchester United a significantly higher allocation of tickets for the FA Cup final than Millwall. Whilst acknowledging that Manchester United are a massive club with a huge fan base, this decision undermines the very spirit of the FA Cup.'
'We are very disappointed that the FA have reached the decision to award Manchester United a significantly higher allocation of tickets for the FA Cup final than Millwall. Whilst acknowledging that Manchester United are a massive club with a huge fan base, this decision undermines the very spirit of the FA Cup.'
The FA point to the huge disparity in the two teams' average gate - United's is 67,500 while Millwall's is around 10,000 - and the fact that Millwall sold only 21,000 of the 30,000 tickets they were allocated for their semi-final against Sunderland at Old Trafford last Sunday. United declined to comment. While they will get more tickets than their opponents, the split in their favour still means that only around half of Old Trafford's regulars can go, whereas Millwall's allocation will be more than twice their average home gate.