A Wembley Final: But Only Half Full?

(Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)

On April 5^th Luton Town and Scunthorpe United will face each other in the Johnston Paint Trophy Final at Wembley. The Hatters are currently rooted to the bottom of League Two, facing relegation from the Football League for the first time in their history, while Scunthorpe are trying to bounce back into the Coca-Cola Championship.

But even with Luton’s plight the fans of the club have got behind the club and bought nearly 38,000 tickets for the final. The allocation of tickets given to Luton is the largest given to any club side for a fixture at the new commercial Wembley—and the club feel they could sell a lot more but are being denied further allocations on grounds of safety.

With Scunthorpe having sold around 12,000 tickets this would leave around 40,000 empty seats at Wembley with a prospect of the final being played in front of a half full stadium—Luton are desperately trying to get their hands on a further allocation of tickets as they believe there is a demand from the people and fans of Luton, but with the Football League and the Wembley safety advisory board feeling the empty seats are needed to provide adequate segregation between the two sets of supporters

All three Police forces concerned with the event, Bedfordshire, Humberside, and the Metropolitan, have stated they see no problems with additional tickets being offered to the Hatters fans as there has been no previous rivalries between the clubs.

This leaves us with the prospect of a final being played in front of a stadium only half full which could affect the atmosphere inside the ground. The Football League's main charge is to attract new supporters to the game and try to increase attendances within the Football League, but with a show piece event such as the Football League Trophy turning away fans from empty sears seems a little silly as with the credit crunch in full swing and clubs looking to maximise income for the bleak times ahead, the prospect of the income that could be generated by theses additional supporters would definitely help fill the coffers of both sides giving them some additional financial breathing room.

With Luton fans set to wear orange and create a large sea of the colour in the stadium, it will certainly brighten up the occasion and hopefully become a springboard for the future.

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