Ian said:
Might be a long shot mate, but are you a member of any of the OSC's over there? Victoria Gregory is coordinating tickets for all the OCS's and it might be worth contacting her to see if she has any dropouts/spares.
You should be able to contact her through the Chicago branch on Twitter or Facebook.
Might be worth a try.
I am a member of Bredbury and South Manchester Blues OSC, and my mates have offered to help. For that I am quite grateful! I appreciate the tip you offer, as well. I must admit, one of my main goals was to get Drew (age 6) and her brother Daulton (age 5) an opportunity to be mascots for the day, and Ms. Douglas from MCFC was going to advise if this was possible...I truly appreciate her professional and courteous demeanor. Frankly, I do not know who would be more chuffed if this were to happen--the kids or me. They surely have a Mancunian excursion in their future, but this once in a lifetime opportunity for them to be mascots cannot happen, and truth be known, they might be as happy watching Spiderman or Phineas and Ferb at their age (they don't know about the St Louis match). I would not burden an OSC for their tickets for them when I know there are fans going through the OSCs with great hopes of attending, too. Besides, their favorite song is Oh, Balotelli (...but when he plays he's full of class...are their lyrics), and they would miss Mario. (insert winking emoticon here--irrational justification)
My new tactic will be to cheer for City like never before from my barstool in Chicago 14 April (on knees praying now), and move earth if necessary to be at Wembley 11 May with all of you. Selfish? Yes, but it is the FA Cup, after all. If St Louis happens, then super! If not, que sera sera, we're going to Wemberley! And if City do come to NYC, then Mad Hatter, here we come!
I will make a wonderful lemonade out of these lemons.