Maybe a bit premature but if we beat Everton and were drawn to play Chelsea in the semi or final at Wembley?

Could we ; sell tickets for their half of the stadium and donate the money to Ukraine relief?

Maybe they would allow us to play Conor G in the match

Edited by Vincehair (12 Mar 2022 11.56am)

Edited by Vincehair (12 Mar 2022 11.56am)

I think that's an interesting question. Correct that the game is at Wembley and under the auspices of the Football Association so Chelsea wouldn't be involved in the administration or generation of any revenues. The issue for the FA would simply be ensuring that Chelsea didn't benefit financially from participating in the game. That would appear simple on paper, but it's not. To sell tickets to Chelsea supporters (even if the income in theory wouldn't go the club itself), they'd presumably need to integrate with Chelsea's IT infrastructure (lists of members, season ticket holders, etc.) and, in all likelihood, dovetail with Chelsea's ticketing platform regardless of where the revenue ended up. All that is complicated, and at least provides an opportunity to ignore the rules so a lot of monitoring would be required.

I'd guess option 1 is what's suggested above; sell to Chelsea supporters but send the money from ticket sales to Ukraine. As noted, it would take some administrative effort to do that. Option 2, simpler to administer, is simply selling the entire stadium to Palace and/or neutrals, some of which of course would be Chelsea supporters but not buying through their club. That, however, would raise security concerns. Option 3, and I wouldn't be surprised if it hasn't at least been considered, would be to throw Chelsea out of the Cup though I think were that step being taken, we'd know before the quarter-final and not after. One thing I can guarantee; the FA are probably desperately hoping Middlesborough win this weekend.

Edited by sydtheeagle (15 Mar 2022 4.35pm)

Sydenham by birth. Selhurst by the Grace of God.

A bit premature we have to beat Everton first. How many times has a team involved in a relegation battle managed to get through to the FA Cup semi finals ! Don’t count on an easy game. COYP

I reckon it's nailed on that Boro win this weekend. There's no way the FA want the possibility of a half empty stadium for their showpiece.

It's more complicated than that. To formally sell tickets to Chelsea fans, they'd have to integrate their IT systems with the clubs systems so as to be able to access lists of members, season ticket holders, etc. In all likelihood, they'd need to access Chelsea's ticketing platform too. That may be (probably is) forbidden under the terms of the license so even if Chelsea aren't selling the tickets directly, their systems would need to be accessed to sell them indirectly.

Of course, you could say they could make the tickets available to the general public, knowing that the vast majority would be bought by Chelsea fans. That approach bypasses the issue above. But the problem there is would the police allow it, knowing that while 75% of the tickets would likely be bought by Chelsea supporters, any rogue Millwall, West Ham, or any other fans who fancied causing trouble could easily buy the rest? I suspect the answer to that is "no".

I'm not saying the problem is insurmountable but it is a problem and the answer probably isn't as straightforward as you make it sound.

Sydenham by birth. Selhurst by the Grace of God.

surely if they won and progress to the final, and win - even if no money is exchanged, they are a better club because of it and adds value, it's a weird one - they want to punish RA then they should in theory (I don't agree with this mind) expel the club from the league, their very existence is due to RA, they won so much, due to him, surely he isn't doing it just for a hobby, there is an agenda, a motive to him being owner... he sucked up huge debt too... but if his club is what it is because if his corrupt ways... then they should be disqualified.

It's a weird one as a few clubs - as the HF have shown, are owned by questionable characters - I mean, the World Cup this year... no one really puts sanctions on them, how many deaths now?

This was once a quality forum....