York City fans have gone football crazy over the price of tickets for the club’s Wembley showdown.

The Football Conference’s decision to sell seats for the Minstermen’s clash with Oxford United in the Blue Square Premier play-off final through a third party has left supporters having to dig deeper to cheer on their side.

As well as the face value of the tickets, they must also pay a £3 booking fee and postal charges of £1.95, or £4.95 for special delivery through seetickets.com, unlike for last year’s FA Trophy final when tickets were sold through the clubs.

The Conference said the decision was made after discussions with both finalists, and because of the short timeframe between the semi-finals and the final.

But Sarah Stelling, 27, who has followed City for 20 years, said: “It’s absolutely disgusting, because they are penalising lifelong fans and forcing them to pay more for tickets on top of their travel costs at a time when every penny counts.

“We feel we are being slapped in the face.”

Martin Lamb, 52, from Haxby, said: “This will make it difficult for older fans in particular who might not have debit or credit cards.

“The club will also miss out on merchandising income through fans not going to the ground to get their tickets. It should be remembered that people are still on tight budgets.”

Dave Marks, 33, from Acomb, said: “It feels like we’re being asked to pay through the nose if we want to support our team.”

Dave Boddy, the Conference’s events manager for Wembley, said: “The window of time between the semi-finals and the final meant the clubs were not geared to sell this volume of tickets, and they approved of our stance.

“We have assessed our prices against those for the Football League play-offs and they are cheaper.”

Sophie Hicks, York City’s community and communications director, said the ticketing situation was “not under the control” of the club but it had made travel packages available.

She said: “We have already filled six coaches and hope as many people as possible will come down to Wembley and support the team all the way.”