Looking Forward to the FA Cup Final

Tomorrow sees the English FA Cup final being staged at the 'new' Wembley Stadium - I'm not sure for how long we have to call it the 'new' Wembley but call it that we must it seems.

The capacity at the stadium is around the 90,000 mark - so plenty of tickets, you would think, for all of the regular supporters from the finalists Chelsea and Everton, who each have an average home attendances of around 40,000.

Wrong. Each club has received an allocation of just 25,000 tickets with the remainder going to Club Wembley 10-year season-ticket holders and 'people involved in the grassroots game and the football family'.

The way cup final tickets are allocated has always troubled me - surely the day should be about the 2 clubs involved, their supporters, not corporate sponsors or committee members/volunteers from clubs and county FA's with little or no direct connection to the finalists. The argument that's previously been put forward is that it's an opportunity to say thanks to the people that donate their own time and efforts to make the game what it is.

Fine, I don't have a problem with this argument but I don't feel it should be at the expensive of the supporter who goes week in week out. The 'football family' members can be thanked so many other ways - a dinner at the county or national FA or a letter of thanks from the FA for instance. If it must be an invitation to a Wembley game how about spreading the invitations across the FA Cup Final, the League Cup Final and the Community Shield?

The FA Cup Final is rightly regarded as a unique sporting event and, as such, I can't help but feel that more than 56% of the attendance should be made up from supporters of the two teams.