JRM

Some great posts on this thread which sum up how I feel about the whole situation of modern football, perhaps some of us are just at the age now where we remember how good it could be compared to the modern sterile football experience. It doesn't help that we don't have any games with an 'edge anymore, we were a big game for some teams in league one, we're just irrelevant to most teams in the Prem. I'm hoping the cup run will invigorate our fans a bit, had good followings at Fulham and WBA with some faces who I haven't seen for a while coming back, expect a similar effort at Wigan (shame early kick off on a Sunday kills it a bit) , but hopefully we'll get a spark to give the crowd a lift for the run in. I used to stand back of block 5 in the Archers road end and you knew the crowd made a difference in those days. Before that I was in lower east, recall Ian Wright saying he hated playing at the Dell, the crowd always knew how to wind him up. Despite how dull the Premier league is now I still want to stay up, mainly to plss off the blue few down the road who think we might be in same division next year and I've seen talk amongst Boscombe fans getting giddy at the thought of "relegating scummers" when they come to play us at the end of April, just imagine that ffs.

This will definitely make general sale.

Not that many, the front 8 or so rows of each block are not on sale as Wigan reduce the capacity of the stand , looking online there's plenty of availability left in each block after day 1. Don't know why we've faffed around with all the different selling dates , should have had a couple of days for season ticket holders, day for members then get them on general sale.

Selling out 1600 a few weeks before the game is a good effort, although Newcastle always has been a popular trip. I notice we've also sold out 3000 for West Ham already, good numbers travelling still despite awful form. I'm not sure we've got the fight to get a draw here, especially if Shelvey plays for them, 0-0 at best as I can't see where our goal will come from.

We are going down, best to prepare for it now as it's been looking likely most of the season.

Southampton council Twitter still reporting of hazardous roads and advising against travel unless essential , will be interesting to see the conditions by midday. South West Railway announcement that they will not be running trains between Southampton and Weymouth will make it impossible for some people to make the game, I think there will be loads of empty seats at the match. Not looking forward to the game think the conditions might favour Stoke.

The road I live on in Southampton is impossible to drive down, snow ankle deep , major routes A34 had fatality yesterday and army were called in to help people stranded on A31 last night just outside of Southampton, if there's more snow today I wouldn't be surprised if it's called off, would imagine Stoke squad are due to travel down this afternoon.

This will definitely reach general sale, in fact I don't think we'll sell out 4600 being an early kick off, coaches leave 5.30 am and live on BBC enough to put off some fans, remember we couldn't even sell out the semi final away leg at Anfield last year, I reckon we'll take a similar number 3600 , maybe a bit less. Most hotels in Wigan are fully booked for the Saturday night. Probably train for me but not the easiest journey

Arsenal was probably going to move anyway due to their involvement in Europa league, have BT sport made their selections yet? Can't believe we're being messed around by them for our Wigan date still

It will be an awful game, hate playing Stoke, we should never have lost up there. If Crouch plays he will score.

I think it's purely to do with the spilt of tv coverage, if all games were on sky they'd have slots allocated in the knowledge they'd show all games regardless. In this case BT have next pick with BBC being left with the last game. Both BT and BBC schedulers must already know when they want to show the games and therefore should be able to get approval from local police for date change but as they are faffing around waiting for spurs and Swansea replays it implies they are keen for one outcome but not for another , I assume they want Spurs game and are waiting for that to be confirmed. I'm surprised Wigan v Saints wasn't higher up in their preferences

I agree, they thought they had it lined up perfectly to maximise their viewing figures and advertising revenue and results haven't gone to plan for them. Brighton fans travelling to Manchester for a night game on a Saturday (with potential of extra time) is a joke , I still reckon we'll be on Sunday lunchtime but it's a fukcing joke they are keeping us waiting just because BT can't make their minds up on the game to choose , completely taking the plss

It's one of my biggest gripes with modern football, we accept that games will move dates for TV but FFS give us as much notice as possible. 4800 of us making that sort of journey, if it's an early ko I'm considering an overnight but not much available in Wigan on Saturday night .

I agree it takes the plss. I know tv companies meet with FA and police have to sign off agreement but they should be able to do that in a day. With it being an international break possibly ruling out the Monday someone suggested tv companies will go for a 7.45pm Saturday slot like they did for Liverpool v West Brom in the 4th round - that would be annoying.

Is it correct that there are no replays in this round? So we'd have extra time and pens in Wigan? Just something to consider when booking trains etc

Still possible , we played Blackpool when skates were at Man Utd in FA cup I think in 09 a few of them appeared later that night. Just had a look at Wigan's home form this year, it's very impressive. Only 6 goals conceded all year.

They are all listed as Saturday 17th at the moment but will change once tv picks are done next couple of days. Most likely be Sunday I reckon

1-0 defeat I think, we are just the sort of team Burnley enjoy to play against, no pace to hurt them and they are very strong in the air, no doubt it will be a cold windy afternoon at Turf Moor, it always is. Our best bet is to get at them and don’t make it easy for them to get crosses in.

Hopefully we are the Saturday evening kick off then we can do double header of Oldham v Skates followed by Man City v Saints

That draw just makes this whole cup run seem like a complete waste of time, lads I know who have done Fulham and WBA away days saying can’t be f’cked with this one, despite being a 1/4 final shows the lack of appetite for this certain defeat. Will be televised at an inconvenient time I doubt we’ll take more than 2000 up

That does seem odd, a Tuesday to Friday trip to Barcelona before playing a match on Saturday, perhaps they are planning on resting a few in the cup, although that would go against Pardew who in the past has gone for it in the cups. The game is almost a distraction for both teams and one of us is going to find ourselves in the 1/4 finals one win away from Wembley.

I expect we'll sell quite a few tomorrow once the go on he general sale but even then when A3 is sold out they'll start selling A6 so no rush to get tickets. It annoys me that the direct Southampton to Birmingham cross country trains are so expensive with no group save option, it's often cheaper to go via London. If going on direct service split your ticket Southampton to Banbury (can use Network railcard for that leg of journey) then buy Banbury to Hawthorns separately. Saves quite a bit that way and you can stay on same train for whole journey to Birmingham New Street.

I’d expect A3 to go on sale later today as not many left in A1 and A2. Once they open those blocks there’s still plenty of tickets left so no problem with this one making general sale. Hopefully we get close to taking the full lot.

Van Dijk for me, absolute textbook way he went about engineering the move, meeting Klopp, sulking, going on strike all whilst being very well paid by Southampton F.C. showed complete disrespect to the club and the fans. Lallana a close 2nd for me, but also hate the skate Oxlade-Chamberlain as well.

Think a lot of it will come down to momentum, it feels like we are finally starting to build some with unbeaten run of 6 games (including 3 wins) in league and cup. Keep that up and who knows we could find ourselves slowly moving up the table and in a FA cup 1/4 final.