LIVE Thousands of Oldham Athletic fans descend on Wembley for huge promotion showdown
Thousands of Oldham Athletic fans are converging on London today (June 1) as the club bids to earn promotion back to the football league.The Latics take on Southend United at Wembley in the final of the National League play-offs, which kicks-off at 3pm.A win will mean promotion to League 2, after three years away. In 2022 the club claimed the unwanted honour of becoming the first former Premier League side to drop into non-league football.But a win would cap a remarkable turnaround in fortunes under their new owner, charismatic local businessman Frank Rothwell, who took over the club in the summer of 2022.After a fifth-place finish, they beat Halifax 4-0 at Boundary Park and swatted aside York City, who finished third, 3-0 in front of a delirious travelling support at the LNER Community Stadium, to book their place under the Wembley arch.Around 21,000 Oldham fans are set to make the trip for what is their first visit to the national stadium for over 30 years, since their FA Cup semi-final clash with Manchester United in 1994.Oldham Council leader Arooj Shah said it was a 'big day' for the town.There was widespread anger after it was revealed the attendance at the match had initially been capped at 17,500 per club due to Wembley Park tube station being closed for engineering works.Following negotiations with Wembley Stadium, Transport for London and the Metropolitan Police, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, and his Greater Manchester counterpart Andy Burnham, confirmed the capacity had been increased to 50,000.Extra tube services are running to Wembley Central and more trains will service Wembley Stadium railway station.Southend have sold almost 29,000 tickets, meaning the attendance is set to beat the record for a National League play-off final.Our reporter Chris Slater is travelling down to London on a coach with Oldham fans. You can get updates from his journey, the match itself, in the live blog below
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