MASSIVE demand for tickets to see the home leg of Wanderers’ play-off semi-final against Barnsley has caused difficulties for the club’s online booking system.

Long queues snaked out of the Ticket Office and up into Middlebrook in the early afternoon as season ticket holders attempted to collect their tickets – many of whom had been unable to do so through the internet when lines opened at 10am.

Wanderers face Barnsley next Tuesday night at the Toughsheet Stadium hoping to secure their place at Wembley for the play-off final.

Season ticket holders were initially given a window to pay for their regular seat on Wednesday before 5pm – but the huge surge of interest in the first few hours caused technical issues and left many unable to complete their purchase.

Some fans also reported that accounts which were connected to their own had caused the system to falter.

The club responded in mid-afternoon by extending the deadline by 24 hours (to 5pm Thursday) for more than 16,000 season ticket holders to guarantee their existing seat.

A club statement said: “Due to the extremely high demand for tickets today, our phone lines, online system and Ticket Office continue to be very busy.

“As a result, we are extending the deadline for 2023/24 season ticket holders to ensure supporters have enough time to secure their seat.

“Seats that are not currently held by a season ticket holder will still go on general sale today but seats belonging to season ticket holders will remain on reserve for an extra day.

“All seats will then go on general sale to all supporters with a club eticketing account – registered on or before Saturday, April 20, 2024 – from 5pm, Thursday, May 2. We thank all supporters for their patience.”

Ticket Office staff are expecting another huge surge of interest on Thursday when the rest of the seats go on general sale. The club has appealed for patience and understanding from supporters during the busy period.

Chief executive Neil Hart told The Bolton News earlier this year that they would be looking into how they can improve their ticketing system next season, including the potential of a rewards scheme for away tickets.

This season the allocation for Barnsley sold out in several minutes – with the club signalling on social media that there were no tickets available at 10.37am.

Many supporters were left disappointed and Hart indicated back in May that the situation would be examined.

He said: “We are working with Ticketmaster and had a couple of meetings with them,” he said. “They are one of the best in the business, and they do tickets for major events up and down the country, concerts, events, football, numerous Premier League clubs use them. They have also done all our Pink concert stuff, and that has been seamless.

“But as a football club we need to invest, whether it is booking hospitality, tickets or whatever – we want to evolve it. Supporters will see an improved service next season, even though it is still the same basic online process.

“The complications come when you are adding on people on your network, and I get that the website needs to be more clear and simple in that regard. That is what we are looking at.”