Last Day for FA Cup Final Tickets? And ‘No’ to Villa Park Screening of Game

Unnecessary Desperation?

Despite tickets not projected to sell out until Wednesday at the earliest, today saw a bit of a panicked rush with several Villans queuing through the night to get to the front of the morning’s queue. The queue at one point reached around 300 bleary-eyed Villans. Did they know you can buy tickets online on the club’s website?!

Still, there seemed to be a good spirit in the queue by all reports, with some fans even bringing a couple of disposable barbecues.

Interestingly, it was reported by the Birmingham Mail that four Villa matchday staff had to queue for tickets too. Which seems a bit harsh, when you consider how long some of them have worked at the club.

The Mail reported:

Among the 300-strong line were 4 members of Villa’s own staff.

The four had been there since 9am and looked set to have a three-hour wait to get their hands on the prized tickets. All four work on matchdays only and none were prepared to be named, for fear of reprisals.

One of them said: “We’ve all worked here for between 15 and 21 years every matchday.

“But we get no special treatment or discounts – all they’ve told us is that as long as we’re in the queue today we’re guaranteed a ticket.

“We’re not impressed but what can you do?”

Online Tix

Instead of taking a day off work, many other fans took the easy route booking off the internet while either in bed or at work (at least get paid for booking tickets!).

In the morning though, the club’s website was up to its usual tricks with it crashing frustratingly at the final basket stage or resetting and putting fans back into an online queue.

Later though, with the morning rush over, it was by far the easiest way to grab a ticket, booking criteria permitting, as the phone lines were largely engaged for most of the day.

The Final Day?

So will the booking criteria go past the 7+ booking history criteria of Wednesday? Well, looking at the below seat map, there’s a chance.

All through the period of the sale of final tickets, there’s only ever been a few blocks on sale at a time.

Availability at 11pm Tuesday 12th May…

The blocks in green were released later in the day today (Tuesday), as they weren’t an option to fans buying in the morning.

If you were to see the seating map on Tuesday morning, it looked like there was fewer tickets left than the one above shows.

There’s been no official word that it will sell out Wednesday, it’s just expected to, so people with a 6+ booking history might have a slim chance.

No Big Screen

Unfortunately, there’s some bad news for Villans hoping to catch the game with other fans at Villa Park on the day of the final.

It seems that after reviewing the possibility of beaming back the FA Cup final to Villa Park, so fans could gather and watch it on a big screen (as Arsenal fans will do at the Emirates), the club have decided it will not be possible.

As MOMS mentioned previously, the club have a few prior commitments on the day. A company has hired the pitch (no idea who) and also there are a couple of weddings planned on the day. There were also concerns about the coaches to Wembley (although surely they will have departed well before to cause any issues).

The chances of the club hosting a screening event anywhere else were very slim, as they would have to pay costs in hiring a venue.

This seems like a missed opportunity and could only have had long-term positive knock-on effects too, as well as being a great event for fans and the club on the day.

If you’re still searching for a ticket, all the best with it. Don’t spend silly money and keep your eyes on the official Aston Villa Facebook page as sometimes people offer up face value final tickets due to a change in circumstances.

UTV

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