Town will not be given any further tickets for the FA Cup third round tie at Aston Villa on Saturday 5th January. The Blues sold out the 2,900 seats they had taken for the game soon after they went on general sale yesterday.

Chief executive Simon Clegg told the club site: “Our ticket office manager, John Ford asked Villa whether it was possible for us to have some more tickets.

“We were looking for another 500 or so which we believe would have satisfied demand, but unfortunately Villa have said they are not in a position to do that, which we can understand as they are likely to have sold tickets to home fans in areas that potentially would have been used for us.”

Away clubs are entitled to 15% of the capacity of the home side’s ground in the FA Cup, but Clegg says Town would almost certainly have lost cash had they taken all the available seats given the terms on which they were offered.

“As John has explained previously, we took the maximum number of tickets we could on a sale or return basis,” he said.

“The next figure available was 4,800, rising to the maximum 6,000 and we would have had to buy those tickets up front. That would have left us open to a big risk of substantial losses if we had failed to sell those tickets.

“Our average travelling support this season is 646 and while we knew that the numbers of fans wanting to go to the Villa game would be higher than that, we believe taking the 2,900 available on the sale or return basis was the right option.”

Meanwhile, Scunthorpe manager Brian Laws is hopeful that on-loan Town striker Nathan Ellington is close to a return after a calf injury which has forced him out of the last two matches: “Nathan has done ever so well this week. He has progressed well and we are hoping he will be available for Carlisle this weekend.

“I will be very disappointed if he is not fit and ready and, if he is, we will have a bit more fire power up front."

Ellington, 31, has made one start and two sub appearances for the Iron so far, without scoring.

Photo: Action Images

MaySixth added 14:17 - Dec 19 I understand the club's position on this.
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hughesuk123 added 14:22 - Dec 19 anyone going to villa without tickets u need r1 or r2 north end we are going in the holt end so see ya all there coyb ........
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Facefacts added 14:25 - Dec 19 I might go and pay on the day. I would try to get in the main stand upper tier, or anywhere really, best to just avoid the Holte End (to the right of the main stand). Car parking is street parking nearby, sometimes you see kids around looking to get paid for 'looking after your car'. Slightly safer parking is to find a street the other side of Aston Park and then walk across the park that takes you straight up to the ground - it comes out at the main stand side of the ground. Aston rail station is also nearby, and you can get buses from Corporation Street (City Centre) to Aston as well if you travelled to New Street by train. Best ever visit to Villa Park, a 1-0 win, with Alan Brazil scoring the goal. TWTD

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gazzalovestown added 14:25 - Dec 19 needhamblues, some people can't afford to be a season ticket holder or can't go every week due to work commitments, but are still loyal fans !!!!!. I also thought that this problem was at the hands of ITFC but reading into it more it's quite obvious that it's Aston Villa that's at fault here. What would happen if for some strange reason that there was trouble between both sets of fans that are sitting in the same area of the ground, then where would the finger be pointed?.

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Bergholtblue added 14:26 - Dec 19 Some people are having a pop at Cleggy for this, but in my opinion he has done the sensible thing. 2900 tickets was the most that Villa would let him have on sale or return, the next level was 4800 and that was with payment up front. Even if he was guilty of underestimating the demand, one thing for certain is that 5000 ITFC fans will not be making their way to game. This is after all only Villa in the 3rd round, not Arsenal in the semi's. The problem is with Villa or even the FA who could force clubs to offer sale or return conditions on the full allocation.

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bigfatjoe87 added 14:37 - Dec 19 ive never really given out about but this is a disgrace. i look forward to watching the highlights in a half empty villa park (perviously a semi final venue). what does john ford get paid for exactly
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Essexnblue added 14:47 - Dec 19 I actually think that we have missed a trick here around potential loss, overlooking the wavering supporter. All previous Premier League cup trips have resulted in 5000 tickets being sold, thats when we had 16000 season ticket holders and 6000 who turned up at the gate. This year we have 13000 season ticket holders and 3000 who turn up at the gate. Now we are doing well the fair weather supporter is on the way back and where better to create a fantastic atmosphere to bring these wavering supporters than by going to Villa and playing well? When I enquired at 10-30 yesterday morning I was told that they had over a 1000 calls after tickets. So demand is there so why not take the 1900 more on offer and lose a maximum of 38k, if 8% of those who take the offer up return to Portman Rd then you will cover the potential loss. Typical cost thought that penalises the fans, does the club worry about players agents fees in the same fashion?

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brendanh added 14:48 - Dec 19 However Clegg spins it, this is idiocy. To not even ask Villa to reserve the option of 4800 in a 43,000 capacity stadium that will be half empty, so that in the event tickets are selling well we could snap them up is plain dumb. Because we showed no interest in having more than 2900, we allowed Villa to sell to home fans in these areas. Clegg's operational management is as bad as his transfer negotiations. No wonder this guy wasn't anywhere near the British Olympic Association during the Olympics. Couldn't run a car boot sale.

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Michael11 added 14:53 - Dec 19 So basically you have to have a season ticket (most expensive outside the prem) to have any chance of getting a ticket for big games. Not good enough ITFC.
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Lord_Mac added 14:57 - Dec 19 Needhamblue - It's not only people who can't go every week or who can't afford to be ST holders, but also people who want to go with friends who aren't season ticket holders and waited for general sale so they could sit together. In business you should try to fulfil the whole demand, not just a part of it. All those "part-time" or "fairweather" supporters are exactly the people the club needs to appeal to to convert them into ST holders. This is a great business opportunity turned down. The extra outlay is peanuts compared to what you can earn from building your fan base. Say they had taken 4800, an extra 1900 tickets. Cost at £20 per ticket is £38,000 (it's likely that the cost to the club would be less than the face value, but let's ignore that). They sell an extra 500 (club's figures, which I reckon are pessimistic). They've now sold 3400 tickets and they get the profit on that, say £8000. They are left with 1400 tickets, costing £28,000. So worst case scenario is a £20k loss. Now you have attracted an extra 500 supporters. Say you convert 10% of those to ST holders. Each season ticket holder is worth a grand a year and the average tenure of a season ticket is about 6 years. So that's 50 x £1000 x 6, which is £300,000. It's free money, because it costs no more to service an extra 50 season tickets than it does the ones you already have. So that's £300,000 on the bottom line for an outlay of £20,000. Looked at another way, to recover your £20,000, you would only have to convert 4 of the 500 into season ticket holders (less than 1%). It looks like a no-brainer to me.

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SpecialK79 added 14:58 - Dec 19 im sitting doug ellis upper block P9, for people interested where the away fans are sitting
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Michael11 added 15:24 - Dec 19 Just noticed this on the AVFC website so if we score i'd be very careful when dancing around!! 'ALL TICKETS SOLD ON THIS WEBSITE ARE FOR USE BY ASTON VILLA SUPPORTERS ONLY. ANY VISITING SUPPORTER CAUGHT IN POSSESSION OF A TICKET FOR A HOME AREA WILL BE EJECTED'
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shoopdelang added 15:30 - Dec 19 Many people getting the train up to Villa? I am looking at prices seems bloody expensive! Looking at around £80 return... Any advice on getting there is appreciated.
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shoopdelang added 15:32 - Dec 19 Micheal11 they will do well to eject everyone because it seems to me like there is alot of us going to be in the Villa end
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ITFC4daprem added 15:56 - Dec 19 Ridiculous Clegg out
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shoopdelang added 16:27 - Dec 19 R1 of the North stand lower now got my tickets for there. Anyone else getting tickets in there ??
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aj3wilson added 16:32 - Dec 19 Shoopdelang - I have 2 x tickets in R1
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JewellintheTown added 16:39 - Dec 19 @brendanh - How do you know Cleggy didnt ask for the option of extra tickets in the first place? Besides, isnt it John Ford dealing with this?
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HackneyBlue added 16:43 - Dec 19 Looks like my 3 tickets in home end will be cheaper than away end so some consolation there. Ref parking-if you street park beware of the parking lads that demand a small fee for watching your car,it used to be 50p probably a £1 -good idea to pay it.
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paulcooperisgod added 16:48 - Dec 19 I have 4 tickets in R1 north stand lower and I know of at least 6 other town fans with tickets in R1 COYB
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shoopdelang added 16:49 - Dec 19 aj3wilson good! Me and my mate are far left right next to the away section. I noticed when I ordered tickets there was quite a few tickets already gone in R1 next to the away section hopefully they have been bought by town fans. Hopefully there will be a few more town fans in there with us also
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shoopdelang added 16:51 - Dec 19 Good news paulcooperisgod glad to hear there will be at least a few of us in R1 section
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neilvanlimbeek added 16:57 - Dec 19 I live about 5 miles away - I'm buying tickets for a few of us on payday (Friday) !) will try get in R1
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aj3wilson added 17:00 - Dec 19 shoop & paul cooper - Good to hear - yeah i'm on the far left hand side near the front - look forward to it, especially as i'm from nearby and have detested Villa pretty much as everyone else has detested Norwich all their lives!
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brendanh added 17:11 - Dec 19 "JewellintheTown - How do you know Cleggy didnt ask for the option of extra tickets in the first place? Besides, isnt it John Ford dealing with this? " I know because, given this opportunity to defend his actions in this matter, he didn't mention it. John Ford is a middle manager at the club. Clegg hires and oversees him. If he's incompetent, then it's because Clegg has either mishired him or not given enough oversight. Either way, Clegg is ultimately responsible for this shambles. If there's trouble or many Town fans are ejected and miss the game after travelling so far, it's on Clegg's shoulders.

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