Joint Statement with Shrimpers Trust

The Shrimpers Trust and the Oldham Athletic Supporters Foundation are dismayed at the news of a capacity cap for next Sunday’s Vanarama National League Promotion Final at Wembley Stadium.

Although Southend United and Oldham Athletic will be rivals on 1st June, both clubs are very much alike, as century-old institutions that are the heart of their local communities. Both clubs are poster children for the urgent need for a football regulator, with recent histories plagued with financial mismanagement, unscrupulous owners and scrapes with liquidation.

Both football clubs have come through their existential crises and are now on the up again, and this should be a celebratory moment for them and their communities. Under normal circumstances, next Sunday’s match would likely smash the current Vanarama National League Promotion Final attendance record. All supporters deserve the chance to cheer on their respective team at such a historic and potentially once-in-a-lifetime event.

Unfortunately, the excitement on both sides has been trampled on by the seemingly-amateurish planning of several key stakeholders around next weekend’s final.

We understand that the decision to suspend the tube line was taken long before our direct involvement. However, it feels like the mitigations are overkill. Wembley Central and Wembley Stadium stations remain open, with Bakerloo Line and Overground services stopping at Wembley Central and Chiltern Railways running extra trains through Wembley Stadium on the day, and buses are running.

Why has Wembley’s capacity been capped at less than 50% when there is still plenty of footfall capacity at other train stations? Why is it that Twickenham Stadium (capacity 82,000) can fully operate with only one train station servicing it, and both the Emirates and Tottenham Hotspur stadiums (capacities c.60,000) operate with two similarly close train stations?

Serious questions must also be asked of the National League. Why have this season’s playoff matches been scheduled so much later than usual? Why, likely with advance knowledge of the scheduled engineering works, was the playoff final booked for this particular day? How long ago did the National League agree to this ticketing plan, why was it not communicated earlier, and why was the potential for a big crowd not factored in?

Most importantly, we question the ability to execute on the prestige of a Wembley day out if capacity is capped. Wembley will be a shadow of its potential with a half-full stadium. This wouldn’t happen for the FA Cup final, or for the EFL playoff finals, or for a Taylor Swift concert. If it did, then a workable solution would be found. Why is the National League playoff final not being treated similarly? It feels like it is not cared about, and the entire sorry affair will become emblematic of a disjointed football pyramid, and of a national stadium increasingly disconnected from its primary usage - football.

We implore Brent Council and Wembley Stadium to understand the need for greater capacity, and for all key stakeholders to support both football clubs, the Shrimpers Trust and the Oldham Athletic Supporters Foundation in making next Sunday a special day for both communities, by finding creative and workable ways to raise the capacity cap.