London: The Football Association have been accused of letting down ordinary fans after they announced Arsenal and Hull will receive just 25,000 tickets each for the FA Cup final on May 17.
The remaining 40,000 or so seats will be distributed to 17,000 Club Wembley members and the “football family”, including representatives of all 92 Premier League and Football League clubs.
Tickets will cost between £45 and £115 (Dh276 and Dh706), as in the two previous seasons, for the 5pm kick-off at Wembley. But many of Arsenal’s 45,000 season-ticket holders will be left disappointed. The club’s official travel partner, Thomas Cook Sport, are already selling a ticket and one night’s accommodation in a budget hotel for £799, while Arsenal plan to show the match on big screens at the Emirates.
Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis said: “We are disappointed many of our supporters and also those of Hull City will be unable to get tickets to the Cup final. The balance in the FA’s allocation system is not right.
“With the FA Cup final allocation at 25,000 there will be many disappointed Arsenal fans, who have supported the club home and away for years, who will be unable to get a ticket to this historic match.”
Hull did not sell around 5,000 of their semi-final ticket allocation of 32,000 as fans weighed up the cost of two potential trips to the capital in five weeks, but supporters of the East Yorkshire club will still face considerable expense next month.
An FA spokesman said: “As well as the 50,000 ticket split between the two finalists, approximately 20,000 tickets will be distributed to volunteers through the football family which includes counties, leagues, local clubs and charities. As the Cup final is part of the Club Wembley membership package, Club Wembley’s membership will also receive around 17,000 tickets.”
Arsenal are also angry with Premier League chiefs following the decision to put back their league visit to Hull this weekend.
The Gunners were due to face Steve Bruce’s side at 5.30pm on Saturday. But to ensure Chelsea have more time to recover for their Champions League semi-final against Atletico Madrid next Tuesday, they will now play in that slot while Arsenal will play Hull on Sunday at 2.05pm.
If the north London club had known of the switch earlier, they would have asked for Tuesday’s clash against West Ham to be put back until Wednesday to allow their players an extra day to recover from Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final win over Wigan.
The Emirates hierarchy are furious at the short notice of the rescheduling as supporters will have already booked travel and accommodation arrangements for the weekend clash.
Arsenal have been inundated with requests from fans querying whether the money spent on train and hotel bookings can be refunded since the league’s decision to move the game occurred just 10 days before the match.
