THE great scramble to see Saints' FA Cup final clash has begun - with tickets on sale on the black market for more than £1,000 each, the Daily Echo can reveal.

Desperate fans hoping to get their hands on one of the 25,000 golden tickets for the momentous tie with Arsenal are bidding more than £2,050 for a pair - up to 80 times the normal cost - on an Internet auction site.

The highly priced tickets up for grabs would normally sell for between £25 and £80.

But the FA is warning people to get their tickets officially - or face being investigated by police.

Saints' 17,000 season ticket holders have each been sent application forms to claim a seat at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium for the big game on Saturday, May 17.

Some of the club's 22,000 members who have purchased tickets for at least six home games or FA Cup matches will also be able to get a prestigious ticket.

Southampton Football Club has been allocated 24,915 seats for their team's first appearance in the final for 27 years. Rivals Arsenal have the same amount with the FA sharing the remaining 22,000 tickets among their member clubs and county associations.

But a lack of tickets for the thousands more fans hoping to see the historic match is leading to massive asking prices from touts.

A spokesman for the club warned: "Each ticket for the final is sold to a named individual and is logged. This means that if any ticket is passed on to touts, found on an Internet auction site or if there is any trouble associated with a person in that seat we will know exactly who it is or who sold it to them, making it their responsibility."

The club has also said people buying tickets not sold directly by the club face being ripped off and that anyone found to be flogging their ticket could face a ban from St Mary's.

"We will look at each individual case but the club will take a very hard line. The individual involved will be looking at a minimum three-year ban so the message is that it really isn't worth it. If you get caught you won't be watching football at St Mary's for a long time."

Nick Illingsworth, Chairman of the Southampton Independent Supporters Association says genuine Saints supporters wouldn't auction their tickets: "They would go themselves or sell them to friends - but not at high prices. These tickets on the Internet are not coming from genuine fans."

Spokesman for the FA, Andrew Cooper said: "We feel it's a unique event and we're not surprised so many people want to go to it. There will always be a possibility of black market but if we do see instances of black market selling we bring it to the attention of the police. It's an offence under The Football Offences Act.

"We recommend people go through the official channels, pay the proper price for them."

Already corporate tickets have been advertised at £1,200 for a luxury package including meal and transport.