CRYSTAL Palace co-chairman Steve Parish has revealed that he and other board members have been doing as much as they can to secure extra tickets for Palace fans after their allocation of more than 30,000 were snapped up within four days.
And he has questioned why one of the biggest games in the calendar year has been classed as a members' event.
"It's a shame it's a Club Wembley event because I think both clubs would have sold a lot more, and I think it's a bit concerning there might be empty areas in the stadium," he told Advertiser Sport.
"People will think the clubs can't sell out Wembley but I think there are around 20,000 tickets to which we haven't got access.
"What happened this year is through the Club Wembley package I think you get 10 or 12 events or something like that, but because the Community Shield game was moved they made the Championship play-off final a Club Wembley event.
"I know they had to put something in but it's a local event, it's not like a cup final where people will go anyway.
"Effectively, there are 20,000 personal and corporate tickets, and the ridiculous thing is that there are loads of them up for sale."
And the supremo admits the only way fans can get hold of a Club Wembley ticket is if they already know an existing member.
"The Club Wembley members are only allowed to sell them to other members, so if you know anyone who is a Club Wembley member, they can get their ticket from them," said Parish.
"There are loads and loads of Club Wembley tickets available.
"I've been on their website, but that seems to be the only route in for the fans now, to find someone with a Club Wembley ticket that doesn't want to go."For the full-page interview with Parish on the ticketing and his Premier League vision, you won't want to miss our 12-page Wembley pull-out in Friday's Croydon Advertiser.
And we also have Ian Holloway's exclusive column included.The contents of this article must not be reproduced without the permission of the Croydon Advertiser.
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