Crystal Palace criticise decision to opt for evening FA Cup tie at Brighton

Crystal Palace have expressed dismay at the decision to play their FA Cup third-round tie at Brighton & Hove Albion on a Monday evening, and frustration that their allocation of tickets will again be dramatically reduced for the derby fixture.

A safety advisory group, comprising representatives from Albion, Sussex police, other emergency services, transport providers and other partners had sought a lunchtime kick-off, only for planned engineering works on the Brighton mainline to prompt them to opt for Monday evening. Although that has allowed BT Sport to televise the game, Palace have insisted they could have provided their fans with free coach travel to negate the impact of the rail issues.

The south London club expressed concerns upon the publication of the Premier League fixtures over the plan to play the clubs’ first derby in more than four years on a Tuesday night. There were flashpoints outside the Amex Stadium last week as away supporters – some, according to Brighton and Sussex police, without tickets – attempted to gain entry, causing the gates to be closed with up to 300 fans locked out and eventually marched back to Falmer station and on to trains to London.

“We’re surprised and disappointed that our FA Cup match against Brighton has been scheduled for a Monday evening,” said Palace in a statement on Friday. “We raised concerns about playing the league match between the two clubs at night, as there have been previous issues when we played evening games in the Championship, but felt we were presented with a no-option scenario. Given the events that occurred, we assumed that this time what we considered to be good sense would prevail and the game would be scheduled as an early daytime kick-off.

“We are also disappointed that our ticket allocation for the FA Cup match has again been restricted to 2,000 when we should be entitled to more than 4,600 tickets under normal FA Cup rules. We completely understand the security concerns around this match and the safety of all supporters must be paramount. It’s for that very reason that we felt the best and most obvious solution, as is the case with most other big, highly charged derby games, would have been a lunchtime kick-off, combined with a bigger ticket allocation to cater for the overwhelming demand from our supporters, many of whom will again be left disappointed.

“We were told that the incidents which took place at last month’s league match were caused, in part, by fans with tickets colluding with un-ticketed fans to force entry into the stadium. While we understand there are issues with trains on the Sunday of the FA Cup third-round weekend we have offered to provide free coaches to negate this issue, also allowing supporters to be dropped and picked up from designated drop-off and pick-up points.

“We strongly believe that the very small minority who misbehave and create disorder should be punished to the full extent of the law, thereby deterring others. Instead, it’s our view that the many decent and law-abiding supporters are being punished by being deprived of the opportunity to enjoy supporting their team.”

Sussex police, who apologised on Thursday for initially suggesting away fans had attempted to enter the ground with “knives and knuckledusters”, were the subject of a second Freedom of Information request from the Palace fanzine Five Year Plan on Friday as the group seek to ascertain whether ticketless supporters had, indeed, attempted to gain entry into the stadium at last week’s fixture.

The police referred back to its meetings with the safety advisory group “that guides such decisions throughout the season” when determining the kick-off time. “The preference for this fixture was a lunchtime kick-off over the weekend, but planned rail engineering works on the Brighton mainline would affect travel and prevent Palace fans from taking advantage of the special train service, which worked well before and helps with the smooth access and egress of supporters to and from the stadium,” said a spokesman.

“With regard to the ticket allocation, this again was a decision made with the support of the safety advisory group. The timing of the match has created an opportunity for TV coverage, which means fans unable to obtain tickets will be still be able to see the game live on television. We are now working with everyone involved to focus on a safe and enjoyable match for everybody attending.”