DISGRUNTLED football fans have jammed phone lines trying to find out if they will get their season tickets in time for the new season.

Charlton Athletic has been besieged with 17,000 applications from people wanting to get in on the premiership action.

Last year the club dealt with a comfortable 5,000 requests, but has been forced to take on extra staff working day and night to meet the unprecedented demand.

Some die-hard Addicks fans feel left out in the cold as new supporters receive their tickets before life-long Charlton fanatics - even though they are allocated on a first come, first served basis.

Vera Milligan of Anchor and Hope Lane was third in the queue when the ticket office opened at 8am on July 31 and bought tickets for husband Geoffrey and son Richard. But she only received them on Monday, two days after the start of the season.

To add insult to injury, her husband and son will have to miss this week's Southampton fixture because their south stand tickets have been allocated to other fans for that day.

They will now have to wait for the game against Derby on September 12 for their first taste of top flight football at the Valley.

The family pays for the £280 tickets by instalment and are "disgusted" that new supporters who paid for tickets up front have received them first. She said: "I know people who paid in full who have got theirs - one doesn't even know where the ground is."

Peter Smith,75, of Broad Lawn, New Eltham has supported the Addicks since he was seven, but he too has fallen victim to the ticket line chaos. He spent six days trying to get through on the phone and in desperation contacted The News Shopper on Thursday. Only then did the club send out his ticket, which he received on Saturday morning.

"It is badly organised," he said. "When I went down in June I don't know why we didn't get our season ticket handed over then. If I phone British Gas I hear a recorded message to say I'm in a queue. With this one I get nothing and I haven't been able to contact them."

A spokesman for Charlton Athletic said the club was trying hard to get all tickets out by the start of the first home game on Saturday.

He said: "We have started a night shift just to make sure they come out on time."

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