Play-off final tickets limited for 'safety issues'

Tickets for the National League play-off final have been limited due to safety concerns as no trains will stop at Wembley Park station, transport bosses said.

About 30,000 Southend United fans were expected to want tickets for the game on Sunday, 1 June, but the club was told it could only sell 17,500 tickets.

Transport for London (TfL) confirmed the Jubilee and Metropolitan Underground lines would also be affected on the day Southend meet Oldham Athletic at Wembley Stadium.

In a statement on Southend's website, the club said tickets had "been limited to 17,500 per club, plus packages sold with coach travel included".

This was "in order to allay safety concerns relating to the pressure that Wembley Central station will be put under", the Essex club added.

United fans are due to travel to London following the Shrimpers' dramatic win against Forest Green Rovers on Wednesday.

Wembley Park station will be closed due to engineering works, which cannot be delayed or postponed, TfL confirmed, meaning more supporters would be using Wembley Central.

"We have been in communication with both sets of clubs and have asked them to inform their fans of the closures and to advise travelling by coach where possible," a TfL spokesman said.

The Shrimpers' said they had sourced 28 coaches which had taken the ticket number up to 18,900.

The club said: "Our focus at present is finding solutions to the problems we have been presented with and increasing our ticket allocation."

It added that if it can book more coaches to get to north-west London, then its ticket allocation could be increased, as it would mean those supporters would not be using the Underground.

"We will source extra coaches (which will enable us to sell in excess of 18,900 in any event)," said the Southend statement.

Last year's final where Bromley beat Solihull Moors had a crowd of 23,374.

Southend said they expected the attendance record to be beaten this year. That record was set in 2015 when 47,029 saw Bristol Rovers beat Grimsby, when the division was known as the Conference.

Former Southend, Nottingham Forest, Liverpool and England striker Stan Collymore has posted on X to say fans are being "unfairly punished".

He claimed the ticket limitation would "probably not be implemented would this be a Premier League or England national team game".

Addressing London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who has responsibility for transport in the capital, Collymore said: "Mr Mayor, as we have followed each other for some time on here, I'd be more than happy to set out a thousand reasons why it is important for both clubs to be fully represented at Wembley, and should only be afforded the same privilege as any club, namely to "fill the damn place"."

The Echo newspaper in Essex has started a petition "urging Southend United and Oldham Athletic fans to be given more tickets".

Southend start selling their ticket allocation to season ticket holders from noon on Saturday, with the general sale beginning at 13:00 BST on Sunday.

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