Order restored at Priestfield as Gills fans dash for Wembley tickets
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Order seemed to be restored at Priestfield on Saturday after the
chaotic scenes in the first few hours of tickets for Wembley going
on sale on Friday.
The majority of season ticket holders secured their places at
the home of football on Friday - which meant people who left it
until Saturday morning were waiting for around an hour at the
most.
That was in stark contrast to the previous day when a mad dash
for play-off final tickets left supporters queuing for several
hours.
Season ticket holders grouped together requests - with
some buying for up to 150 fans
in one go for the clash with Shrewsbury next
Saturday.
Preistfield laid on more staff to deal with the rush, a measure
which slashed queuing to two hours by late afternoon,
according to Gillingham's chief executive Mark Jones. At its
height, fans were forced to wait up to six hours for the
sought-after passes.
Mr Jones described the reaction as "overwhelming", and said it
was unacceptable that people had had to queue so long.
He said: "It always overwhelms us. You try to judge it, but we
are so pleased people want to support Gillingham at Wembley."
Audio: Chief executive
Mark Jones tell of the steps taken to beat the queues
A total of 38,000 tickets have been released to Gillingham, and
Mr Jones believed they would soon all be sold - with no further
tickets available after that.
Fans not holding season tickets will be able to buy match
tickets from 3pm on Saturday. The queuing time is expected to go up
then.
Chairman Paul Scally would even be manning the phone lines, Mr
Jones said.
Friday, May 15 2009
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