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It may be the international break, but that doesn’t stop club football fans from looking ahead to their upcoming games, and Oxford United fans will be hoping they can still make it to Hillsborough to face Sheffield Wednesday.
A promising start to the season has turned into a bit of a nightmare for Oxford United, who have flirted with relegation a little too much of late.
Gary Rowett’s side picked up a vital three points last weekend in the Championship, and now sit in 18th place in the table with 42 points from 38 games.
That should be just about enough to keep them up, as long as they scrape some more points in the final eight games of the season.
One tough test still to come is a trip to S6 with Sheffield Wednesday the opponents, but that game was very nearly a lot more difficult for one ludicrous reason.
Sheffield Wednesday send tickets to wrong Oxford club
Clearly, the people behind the scenes at Sheffield Wednesday had a lot on their mind this weekend, with a crushing Steel City derby defeat, which has left the Owls with little to play for this season now.
With the big local derby distracting everyone in Sheffield, it’s understandable that whoever is in charge of dishing out tickets for away fans at Hillsborough has managed to send the 4,000 ticket allocation for Oxford United to the wrong club.
The U’s head to Hillsborough on April 12, but all of their tickets ended up with Oxford City instead. City compete in the sixth tier of the EFL, in the National League North.
They took to Twitter/X to share the funny story of how they ended up with the tickets, writing: “A big thank you to Sheffield Wednesday for the delivery of 4,000 tickets for your game vs Oxford United.
“To the intern at the Hillsborough ticket office, don’t worry, we’ve all been there! U’s fans, don’t panic. We’re delivering 3,997 of these to Oxford United after lunch.”
It’s an easy mistake to make. Thankfully, the recipients saw the funny side of it and it sounds like the tickets (or most of them) will eventually end up in the right place.
One thing’s for sure, struggling Oxford United will need all the support they can get when they play Sheffield Wednesday. That away crowd could be the difference between winning and losing, and ultimately, survival in the Championship.
Hillsborough is huge, but it’s limited by attendance rules
Hillsborough stadium is actually one of the biggest grounds in the second tier, with a capacity of 39,859 being second only to Sunderland’s Stadium of Light, which can house a whopping 48,707.
However, Wednesday’s average attendance this season is sixth in the league, with 26,502. That’s less than Coventry City, rivals Sheffield United, Derby County, Leeds United, and the Black Cats.
The problem for the Owls is, their ground has been limited by The Sports Grounds Safety Authority (SGSA), after complaints from Newcastle United fans that they were overcrowded and crushed during an FA Cup tie in 2023.
In light of this (via The Guardian), Sheffield City Council said: “Regarding capacity reduction, we can advise that the Upper West Stand now has a further reduced capacity of 2,400 (down from 3,200 as a result of the recent review) for a stand with a holding capacity of 4,194.
“The Lower West Stand now has a further reduced capacity of 1,300 (down from 1,500 as a result of the recent review) for a stand with a holding capacity of 2,366.”
Until that issue is resolved, Sheffield Wednesday will never be able to fill their impressive ground.