Brighton take tickets off sale as fans shun Chelsea train nightmare

The Magic of the FA Cup, eh? An 8pm kick off and the potential for total chaos on the trains at full time have seen such low demand for the FA Cup tie against Chelsea that Brighton have taken a number of tickets in the upper tiers of the Amex off sale.

Only the five front rows of the West Upper and eight front rows of the East Upper are now available to buy. The ticketing website was down for several hours on Monday evening as the club reacted to slow sales for the fourth round tie against the Blues.

Monday morning saw sales open to season ticket guests, the final window in the process. Window one allowed season ticket holders to buy their own seats. Window two was season ticket holders wanting to move seats. And window three was all MyAlbion+ Members.

But with nearly 8,000 seats remaining unsold even after season ticket holders could drag four mates along with them, the club have decided to act.

Removing seats will enable them to consolidate those who do buy in the same areas, rather than having a sparse crowd spread over the entirety of the vast West Upper.

It remains to be seen whether those tickets for Brighton against Chelsea now removed will go back on sale should there be a sudden surge in demand between now and the game.

The Albion not getting close to an FA Cup home sell out is pretty unusual based on the last five seasons. Games against Championship opponents West Bromwich Albion and Frank Lampard’s Derby County in 2018-19 were both within a couple of thousand of a full capacity stadium.

League Two Grimsby Town visited in 2023 and the Amex was sold out. Tickets for that one cost the same £25 as the Chelsea game.

A quarter final, the novelty of facing opponents Brighton last played 19 years earlier and a sensible kick off time made it a popular fixture.

Sheffield Wednesday visiting the Amex in 2019-20 is the only time an FA Cup crowd has dipped below 23,000 since 2014. And that can be partly attributed to the disdain Glow Up Graham Potter showed to cup competitions.

Many Brighton supporters were put off by the prospect of buying a ticket, only to turn up and discover Potter playing an Under 12s team. As happened in the League Cup against Aston Villa earlier in the campaign.

There are no such concerns about the sort of XI which Fabian Hurzeler will send out against Chelsea. The lack of demand can therefore be pinned straight at the 8pm kick off caused by ITV.

And just to rub further salt into the wounds, the game is not even being shown on the main ITV channel. It is shoved to ITV4/ITVX. Probably sandwiched between repeats of Judge Rinder. Well worth inconveniencing thousands of Albion fans for.

If Brighton against Chelsea ends up going to extra time and penalties, those with tickets who stay until the bitter end will potentially still be at the Amex as late as 11pm.

Night games are notoriously bad getting away from the Amex by train. Not many people stay for a beer afterwards and so the queue can take over an hour to clear.

A 45 minute wait at Falmer Station would mean not getting back to Brighton until close to midnight. For those needing a connection up the Brighton Main Line towards London, the last train departs at 00.02.

Miss that and it is either a taxi home or a night in Molly Malone’s killing time until the 4.24am on Sunday morning. We have all been there…

The last game at the Amex which kicked off at 8pm and went all the way to penalties was England Women beating Spain in the quarter finals of Euro 2022.

It was absolute carnage afterwards. Many gave up waiting for a train and instead walked the four miles back to Brighton.

The fun and games of getting away from Falmer Station if penalties are needed against Chelsea will be multiplied by the increased number of visiting supporters. And it being Chelsea.

FA Cup rules state away clubs are entitled to 15 percent of capacity, meaning up to 4,500 Blues fans joining the bundle at Falmer.

Good luck to whoever is policing that queue with Chelsea supporters desperate to get on a train back to London. Many of whom will have been on the piss all day.

And based on previous experience of playing them at the Amex, will be more than happy to dish out homophobic and other abuse to anyone and everyone.

Train issues are of course nothing new for Brighton fans. Whenever problems are raised with the club, the stock response is usually: “It is down to the train companies”.

You get the impression that all the while the Amex is selling out, the club are not overly fussed about working to improve transport to and from the Amex.

Other than by building a new Fanzone to try and better stagger departure times from Falmer. Which also helps the club make money with many more £6.50 pints and £3.50 bags of Starburst being purchased.

Said Fanzone is still a great investment by the club. And it should help reduce the number of people trying to all leave at the same time for lunchtime and afternoon weekend games.

But it is unlikely to make much difference for night kick offs, after which most fans just want to get home. That is true of a 7:45pm start and 9:45pm finish. Let alone a potential 11pm finish thanks to extra time and penalties.

To put every seat in the stadium up for sale, Brighton must have been relatively confident of selling out tickets for the Chelsea FA Cup game.

And you can see why. Winnable tie. One of the biggest clubs in Europe. A team there has been a bit of needle with in recent times thanks to Potter, Billy Reid, Bjorn Hamberg, Bruno, Ben Roberts, Paul Winstanley, Marc Cucurella, Robert Sanchez, Moises Caicedo, etc, etc, etc…

But there is only so much pain on the trains Albion fans are willing to take. Not getting back to Brighton until gone midnight and potentially being stranded appears to be the line.

That the Chelsea game is nowhere near selling out will hopefully prove a wake up call for the club to do more about the train situation.

As for those who have got their tickets. Pray that it ends in 90 minutes, one way or another.