Oxford United have sold their first 16,000 tickets for the play-off final on Sunday 16 May, and there are now more blocks opened for purchase, included seats on the top level of Wembley stadium. United have been given an initial allocation of 37,500 seats and, if sales continue at the current rate, may well find themselves needing a further tranche of seating. York City, who have been offered 21,000 seats, don't look like selling out.

The first Conference play-off final, on 10 May 2003, saw Doncaster Rovers beat Dagenham & Redbridge 3-2 at Stoke City's Britannia Stadium before a crowd of 13,092. Mark Stein scored for Dagenham and David Morley was on target for Doncaster. The following season the same venue attracted 19,216 to see Shrewsbury Town beat Aldershot Town 3-0 on penalties following a 1-1 draw, with Tim Sills missing one of the Shots' spot kicks. The 2005 final was also held at the Britannia, with Carlisle United beating Stevenage Borough 1-0 in front of 13,422.

In 2006 the venue was switched to the Walkers Stadium, home of Leicester City. In this game 15,499 saw Hereford United beat Chris Wilder's Halifax Town 3-2, with John Grant scoring for Halifax. The following season saw Exeter City knock United out of the play-offs at the semi-final stage and the Grecians then went on to lose 2-1 to Morecambe. This was the first Conference final to be held at the new Wembley stadium and it attracted a crowd of 40,043. This was beaten in 2008, when the current record crowd of 42,511 watched Exeter beat Cambridge United 1-0. Last season's final was watched by 35,089, as goals from Sills and Chris Hargreaves took Torquay United back into the Football League at Cambridge's expense.

As things stand, it is looking possible that this year's attendance could set a new record for the final. However, it will be nowhere near the biggest crowd to have watched United (90,396 for the Milk Cup final on 20 April 1986), and it is unlikely to beat the next two highest attendances for Oxford games, both set at Old Trafford (51,820 in September 1985 and 47,754 in January 1989). However, it could threaten the 42,266 figure for the game at Anfield in September 1987.

Oxford supporters need to remember that it is the prize on offer to the victor that's the only important part of the proceedings. Not the day out, not the glamorous venue, not the foam hands or souvenir t-shirts or the large crowd. All of that is meaningless if United fail to beat York City. At the start of the season the goal was to achieve promotion; if that goal is not achieved in the final 90 minutes (or 120 minutes) of football, then it will all have been in vain.