Swindon v Bradford: City season-ticket holders will get FA Cup seats

BRADFORD CITY joint chairman Julian Rhodes has revealed how a desire to sell out Valley Parade for next month’s FA Cup quarter-final was behind the club’s reason to sell tickets without restrictions.
By The Newsroom
Published 24th Feb 2015, 06:39 BST
Bradford City's joint chairman Julian Rhodes.Bradford City's joint chairman Julian Rhodes.
Bradford City's joint chairman Julian Rhodes.

The Bantams had to shelve online sales on Sunday night after unprecedented demand saw around 17,000 tickets snapped up inside 24 hours as supporters took advantage of there being no limit on how many could be bought by individual season-ticket holders.

A small proportion of these have started to appear for sale on internet websites, much to the fury of other season-ticket holders who had been unable to guarantee their place at the club’s first appearance in the last eight since 1976.

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Since then, Bradford, who held back the entire North West corner along with other areas of Valley Parade, have moved to limit sales to one per season-ticket holder in person at the ticket office.

Rhodes said: “We used the same ticket procedure for Sunderland in the last round and that brought us a full house and a fantastic atmosphere.

“Gauging demand this time was difficult. No one at the club could say whether or not the Reading game being a lunchtime kick-off and live on television would affect sales.

“After the wonderful atmosphere of the Sunderland game, obviously we were keen for the ground to be full again.

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“Clearly, we under-estimated the demand, but we have been working with season-ticket holders to make sure they all get a ticket. That is our priority now.

“We fully understand the frustrations, but it can be difficult to second-guess demand. Against Aston Villa in the League Cup semi-final, we restricted season-ticket holders to two tickets each and the game failed to sell out.”

Reading have taken up the option of having the entire Midland Road stand after selling out an initial allocation of 2,709 tickets.

City are in action tonight at Swindon Town and have included in the squad Oliver Burke, a teenage winger from Nottingham Forest who has joined on a month’s loan as cover for Filipe Morais.

Last six games: Swindon Town WLWLLL, Bradford City DDWWWD.

Referee: C Berry (Surrey).

Last time: Swindon Town 1 Bradford City 0; April 21, 2014; League One.

Related topics:BradfordSwindonSunderlandReadingNorth West