Southend MPs keep pressure on for more play-off tickets
Labour politicians in Southend-on-Sea say they will "keep the pressure on" to persuade Wembley Stadium to release more tickets for the National League play-off final.The allocation for the Blues and opponents Oldham Athletic have been increased to 21,500 tickets each, not including packages that include coach travel.But two MPs and a council leader said they "continue to implore [Wembley] to allow more fans into the ground".The stadium says it is concerned about safety and has pointed out that no London Underground trains are stopping at Wembley Park station due to engineering work.
The two Southend MPs Bayo Alaba and David Burton-Sampson, together with Southend-on-Sea City Council leader Daniel Cowan, said they had been "working hard over the weekend trying to build support for our campaign to increase the ticket allocation".In a joint statement, they said: "We will continue to push for more, as we want to ensure the final allocation is meaningful and maximised."
Southend United said it was told the capacity was increased for both clubs because extra train services had since been scheduled for Wembley Central and Wembley Stadium stations.The club said it was confident it could sell more than 35,000 tickets."We are still pushing all stakeholders to think creatively and to find solutions that can safely increase the capacity further," a club spokesperson said.Former Southend, Nottingham Forest, Liverpool and England striker Stan Collymore posted on X, to say he had spoken to the Mayor of London's office about the issue.The mayor's office was hopeful that supporter capacity would be upped to at least 60,000 following the next safety meeting on Tuesday, he told his followers.
A Wembley Stadium spokesperson said "the safety and security of fans" was of "paramount importance".The engineering work at Wembley Park could not be moved to another weekend, they explained.Transport for London said it had arranged for more Bakerloo line trains to serve Wembley Central.Chiltern Railways will be putting on extra services to Wembley Stadium.The final is due to kick off at 15:00 BST on Sunday.
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