Wembley Stadium Prepares For New Record Attendance For Nonleague Soccer

Forbes

2 days ago

The Vanarama National League season will come to a close on Sunday, June 1st, as Oldham Athletic take on Southend United in the promotion final with the two teams doing battle for one place to return to the English Football League ahead of next season.
Build-up for the game has largely been occupied by controversy over ticketing arrangements, with the National League initially advising Wembley of an expected attendance of 40,000, before knowing which two clubs had qualified for the final.
There was a surprise in that these two sides reached the final, Southend only securing their playoff place on the final day to finish seventh, while Oldham finished fifth and were 23 points behind their semifinal rivals York City in the league standings. They are also the two sides with the highest average attendances in the competition.
This caused challenges with the ticket limitations, impacted by engineering works on public transport lines servicing the stadium. That is despite Southend United stating that, "we believe that more than 30,000 Southend fans will want to attend Wembley, and that Oldham will want to take something similar".
Should both clubs sell out their ticket caps, as is expected, it would mean a new record for the Promotion Final game at this level, which currently stands at 47,029 and was set in 2015 when Bristol Rovers beat Grimsby Town on penalties at Wembley Stadium.
Both clubs have gone on to sell above their initial capacity of 17,500, with further tickets available exclusively if tied to a coach package. Oldham has sold 20,832, while Southend has gone even further to sell 28,852. As such, a new record looks likely to be set at Wembley with neutral tickets also sold.
This is in spite of fury from supporters of both clubs, who have faced great uncertainty and pressure to secure tickets. "Under normal circumstances, next Sunday's matchw ould likely smash the current Vanarama Nataionl League promotion final attenance record... Unfortunately, the excitement on both sides has been trampled on by the seemingly-amateurish planning of several key stakeholders around next weekend's final," a joint statement from the Shrimpers Trust and Oldham Athletic Supporters Foundation reads.
"We question the ability to execute on the prestige of a Wembley day out if capacity is capped. Wembley will be a shadow of its potential with a half-full stadium," the statement continues. "This wouldn't happen for the FA Cup final, or for the EFL playoff finals, or for a Taylor Swift concert. If it did then a workable solution would be found. Why is the National League playoff final not being treated similarly?"
Southend United confirmed as much on Sunday, when they issued a statement explaining that, "the current allocation of tickets does not come close to reflecting the scale of demand from our supporters, and as things stand we will almost certainly sell out our allocation (of tickets without a coach package) today – resulting in disappointment for tens of thousands of supporters, many of whom have followed the club through thick and thin".
The Shrimpers revealed that 1,000 tickets sold within 20 minutes of going on sale in the final batch listed on Thursday night, with some fans still yet to secure their ticket.
Both teams have improved as the season has gone on and have been able to beat teams who finished above them in the league to take up their places in this final. As two former members of the English Football League, both of whom have undergone financial struggles and secured new ownership in recent years, this game is crucial to the future of both clubs.
'Play-off games are cup games so anything can happen. What you've got to do is come out the right side of results and we've managed to do that,' Southend coach Kevin Maher, who secured promotion for the Shrimpers as a player 20 years ago in the playoffs, said. 'We've been stronger in the second half of the season, in terms of the number of points we picked up. So that tells you more about us as a team and where we've got to as a squad.'
The Blues only brought in new ownership, under the leadership of chairman Justin Rees, in the summer of 2024, and the new ownership, a consortium of largely local businesspeople, could secure promotion in their first season at the helm.