Town given fewer tickets than Luton for play-off
HUDDERSFIELD Town’s full allocation of just over a thousand away tickets for the first leg of their Championship play-off semi-final tomorrow sold out within hours - but opponents Luton Town could bring up more than twice that many to the John Smith’s Stadium for the second leg on Monday.
The imbalance has come about because of EFL rules over how many away tickets need to be allocated for each leg of the semifinal. The minimum number is set at 10 per cent of the stadium’s maximum saleable capacity or 2,000 tickets, whichever is the greater.
The smallest ground in the Championship, Kenilworth Road has a capacity of just over 10,300 - hence their allocation of 1,032 tickets to Town.
The John Smith’s Stadium is more than twice as large, with their record attendance for a football game being set at 24,169 when Town took on Leicester City in the Premier League in September 2017.
The 10 percent figure only takes regular areas of the ground into account (no press or corporate boxes), meaning Luton’s allocation comes in at 2,336.
Town could have opted to lower the Hatters’ allocation to 2,000 in line with the regulations but would still have been unable to sell the seats left over to home fans due to the need to keep the two sets of fans separate.
The Terriers are also charging less to watch their home leg, with all tickets priced at £20 for adults and £10 for concessions (over-65s and under-18s). Luton have, meanwhile, charged £32 for adults, £21-24 for concessions, £6 for under-17s and £3 for under-10s. However, all ticket money raised from the four play-off games - including Sheffield United and Nottingham Forest’s clash in the other semifinal - is put into a centralised pot and distributed equally between the four clubs.
THE EFL have reached a decision over the use of VAR in the Championship play-off semi-finals.
It was reported last week the clubs then still in with a shout of reaching the play-offs had been approached over whether they would welcome the use of video replays to aid refereeing decisions, and that the response had been overwhelmingly positive.
However, it has now been confirmed VAR will not be in use for either semi-final, with Huddersfield Town facing Luton tomorrow and Sheffield United taking on Nottingham Forest on Saturday, with the second legs being played on Monday and Tuesday.
Whether that may change for the final at Wembley is currently unclear.
VAR has been used in the Premier League since 2019 and while it has not been without its issues or difficulties, clubs have generally been supportive over its continued use. It has not yet been implemented at any level of the EFL.
The technology has also been used in FA Cup games played at the homes of Premier League grounds, meaning both the Terriers and the Blades have played games this season with VAR in effect. Town came from behind to beat Burnley
2-1 at Turf Moor in the third round, while Sheffield United lost
3-0 away to Wolves at the same stage.
Blades boss Paul Heckingbottom said last month he would be in favour of introducing VAR to the Championship, while Town counterpart Carlos Corberan said he would not be opposed to it.