Attendance record on cards

Will the last person to leave Shrewsbury please turn off the lights, writes

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That will be the message as what appears like the entire county town is heading towards Wembley Way today.

The twin towers may have gone but the new arch is firmly in place - and the new stadium is proving a massive attraction to Shrewsbury and Bristol Rovers supporters as they prepare to begin a record-breaking play-off weekend bonanza.

The highest ever attendance for a play-off final in the Football League basement will be smashed today.

The existing record was set exactly a decade ago when 46,804 witnessed John Frain's last minute goal give Northampton a 1-0 victory over Swansea.

But there are hopes of a crowd approaching 70,000 on Saturday with Shrewsbury backed by a blue-and-amber army of 25,000 and Rovers expected to be backed by around 40,000.

The lowest play-off final attendance for the bottom division came in 1998 when Colchester defeated Torquay 1-0 in front of just 19,486.

Meanwhile, Town and Rovers could have their name by another record.

The highest aggregate for the three finals over the Bank Holiday weekend is 184,263 in 1998-99.

But that looks sure to be smashed this weekend with crowd of at least 65,000 expected for all three finals, with Monday's Championship showdown between West Bromwich Albion and Derby County already sold out.

League chiefs have been frustrated though, by the number of 'Club Wembley' seats that will remain unclaimed for all three games.

Wembley Stadium has approximately 14,400 'Club Wembley' seats (together with around 2,000 further seats in Executive Boxes) out of the 90,000 capacity, all of which have been sold for multi-year periods to Club 'Wembley debenture holders'.

Membership of 'Club Wembley' includes tickets to a number of guaranteed events at the Stadium (including the FA Cup Final, Carling Cup Final and England matches) as well as first option on tickets on a series of other events, including the Play-Off Finals.

But Wembley National Stadium Limited has not allowed unclaimed tickets to be put on general sale to fans due to a lack of adequate segregation within the Club Wembley area, including the concourse access.

Andy Williamson, Chief Operating Officer of The Football League said: "We are hugely disappointed that Wembley has been unable to find a solution to this problem in the time available and that these seats cannot be sold to genuine fans that have not been able to get tickets.

"Nevertheless, we will continue to press Wembley to put plans in place to address this issue for all future Football League events."