Both clubs have expressed unhappiness with the arrangements, West Ham describing their allocation as “a major disappointment”, but more serious concern has been expressed by the respective clubs’ supporters, who fear that, with demand far outstripping supply, the FA’s decision to block-book 23,200 of the 72,000 tickets is playing into the hands of ticket touts.

“There’s going to be a massive panic now among fans,” Les Lawson, secretary of Liverpool’s Merseyside branch of the official supporters club, said yesterday. “There simply won’t be enough tickets. It’s going to cause a higher price on the black market and the majority of the money will go to people out to make a quick buck.”

Lawson’s comments were vindicated yesterday by the prices being advertised by ticket agencies on the internet. While several of the leading British agencies were not advertising tickets, two overseas agencies offered seats at prices of €1160 (£809) and €1025 (£715). The price of the tickets issued to the clubs range from £25 to £90. In a statement, West Ham said: “The size of allocation is a major disappointment following the allocation of almost 34,000 for each of our two recent play-off finals. We recognise that many of our loyal supporters will be unable to obtain tickets for this important game in the club’s history.”

However, the FA, protective of its long-standing commitment to distributing tickets among their members and county associations, said: “Around 68 per cent of the tickets go to the two clubs, which, compared with the World Cup or the Champions League final, for example, is a considerable percentage.”

“We have always held the view that the the FA Cup Final, as the showpiece event of English football, is about the whole family of English football, such as the volunteers at county level, without whom the game could not exist at grassroots level. That has always been the policy.”