FA stitch up Millwall

Last updated : 11 April 2004 By Neil Andrews
Millwall Football Club have reacted angrily to the Football Association's decision to allocate just 21, 400 tickets to The Lions for this season's FA Cup Final in comparison with the 28, 000 allocated to Manchester United.

In a heavily worded statement on the club's official website, Millwall gave their response:

"We are very disappointed that the Football Association has reached the decision to award Manchester United a significantly higher allocation of tickets for the FA Cup Final than Millwall.

Manchester United have been allocated 28,000 tickets and The Lions 21,400 for the Final on 22nd May.

We are especially disappointed that having been invited to a meeting last Wednesday, and then informed that it had been cancelled, we discovered that this meeting had indeed taken place without us, and that the decision to inform us of the cancellation was infact an 'FA strategy'.

It was at this meeting that the decision regarding ticket allocation was evidently made.

We are dismayed at the conduct of the FA in this matter.

Whilst acknowledging that Manchester United are a massive club with a huge fan base, this decision undermines the very spirit of the FA Cup.

The oldest and most respected club competition in the world has a proud tradition in which the underdog has the opportunity to meet the big club on an equal footing.

For Millwall, and our supporters, this is a 'once in a lifetime' experience - the club's first FA Cup Final in our 119 year history.

Having taken 47,000 supporters to Wembley in 1999 for the Auto Windscreens Shield Final, it is clear that the demand for tickets from Millwall would not be met even if the distribution were to be split equally.

Moreover, Dennis Wise and the team deserve to receive equal backing from the Millwall fans as Alex Ferguson and his players will receive from United supporters.

We have begged the FA to reconsider their decision and have asked that we be present at any future meetings concerning the FA Cup Final.

In our view, it is not too late to reverse a decision in which fairness and the spirit of this great competition has been sacrificed."