Arsenal have been slammed for a rule-breaking decision made for the FA Cup third round tie against Manchester United.
The two giants of English football met in the pick of the third round fixtures at the Emirates Stadium, with neither wearing their traditional colour of red in line with the hosts’ ‘No More Red’ campaign.
But fans watching on the BBC noticed that although the game would be a shoo-in to be a sell-out, there was a large section of empty seats in the stadium.
The block of red seats were visible in the upper tier but there was a more complex reason for why they were empty.
FA Cup rules stipulate that away fans are allowed as many as 9,000 fans but United were only given an allocation of 8,000.
According to Mike Keegan of the Daily Mail, this decision was taken due to “safety concerns”.
Unhappy with the move, United made a number of pleas to receive the additional 1,000 but were unsuccessful. They then suggested that the remaining tickets be given to families and children linked to their own charity but issued a complaint to the FA after no progress was made.
A final idea proposed by United was to hand over tickets to emergency service workers and people involved in grassroots football projects – only to be told they was not enough time to make it happen.
As a result, the seats next to United’s away section were left unattended.
