Tickets Going Fast

Ticket office manager Steve Kitcher says that demand for both home and away fixtures has increased in the final run in to the season.

Saturday's fixture with Sunderland sold out nearly two weeks ago, Aston Villa and Middlesbrough tickets are going fast, the last home match of the season against Chelsea is a sell-out already, and demand for all the remaining away fixtures has noticeably increased.

All 3,200 tickets for the match at St Mary's against Southampton on the 5th April sold out within days of being available.

Tickets for the Bolton game go on sale this week and are also expected to be snapped up quickly.

Steve is keen to stress that, contrary to rumour, the club have taken all the tickets they can.

"The allocation offered for the Bolton Wanderers fixture was the maximum offered to any team for a league fixture," he confirms.

"The Premier League handbook states that the home team must provide either 3,000 tickets or 10% of the overall ground capacity.

"The Reebok holds 28,000 but the actual allocation will, in fact, be slightly over 2,800.

"Some people seem to think that we are able to request the same number of tickets as many teams have done for certain cup fixtures, but in fact the rulings are completely different.

"Due to the importance of this fixture we are exploring the possibility of screening the game at Upton Park, though obviously are priority is the actual fixture itself.

"Any decision to screen the game has had no effect on the size of the allocation we have received and anyone who thinks otherwise is ill-informed."

Meanwhile, Oadby Town, who were beaten 4-0 by West Ham in the FA Youth Cup earlier in the season, could yet be back at Upton Park - this time with their first team.

They stand between Brigg Town and a place in the FA Vase Final at Upton Park in May and play the first leg at their Leicesthire home on March 22 with the return clash at the Hawthorns a week later.