JRM

Watching Sutton v Arsenal last night I noticed Saints were mentioned as much as either team. Co-commentator Le Saux, ex-Saint Alan Shearer in the studio who mentioned being in the youth team at The Dell with Sutton substitute goalkeeper the great pie eating Wayne Shaw who still lives in Totton, managed by saints season ticket holder Paul Doswell, assistant manager ex-saint Ian Baird and ex-saint Walcott scoring for Arsenal. The cameras panned in on Matt Le Tissier and Lawrie McMenemy in the crowd, if you didn't know better you'd think Sutton was a suburb of Southampton not London. This is a really interesting article on Wayne Shaw from a local perspective. http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/15100983.amp We still have some interest in the FA Cup , if Chelsea make the semi final our away game in April will be postponed as it is on the same weekend.

Our fans need to up their game next week otherwise we'll be drowned out by United singing 'something tells me I'm into something good" like they're doing at Blackburn at the moment.

Yes we'd initially qualify for 3rd qualifying round, however if a top 5 team wins the FA Cup we'd be bumped up to automatic group stage with the 6th place league team going into the qualifying round instead. Talking about Europe Jose Mourinho is really having a moan about their fixture congestion let's hope that helps us in the final.

I'm sure that there aren't. However there are a few who have done 1 or 2 homes and many aways. I've also seen a few people says they've been to 3/4/5 home games but don't qualify as not a member, mistakenly believing if they were to buy a membership now they would start again with zero games on that membership whereas all they need to do is buy one and other home games they have already attended this season are automatically considered. Perhaps that's stupidity on behalf of the fan but I've seen a few examples on Facebook / twitter. Perhaps the club should have emailed fans on the database who meet the criteria to say you now qualify to buy for Wembley but you need to click here and part with £25 for a membership first.

Last season we had around 21000 season tickets the club made a point of publicising it when they stopped selling half season tickets, we also had just over 10,000 members I was given that figure by the ticket office and was told it included junior Saints. IF we had same figures this year then every single season ticket holder and member would have been guaranteed a final ticket, however in this case large numbers of non-members who have purchased home games this season simply bought a membership to them meet the eligible criteria (you do realise you could do the same? ) At the start of the selling period the club would have known how many customer numbers had X number of games purchased against them, what they couldn't do is forecast how many of those customer numbers would then buy a membership as well. Much easier for Man United who just sold their allocation to season ticket holders who had been to every home cup game . I know football league clubs all got some tickets , frustrating thing is these neutral seats plus the club Wembley area will 90% be full of plastic United fans, they should have allocated the middle tier directly behind each goal to the club's to give us a proper "end".

When you also factor in that we didn't sell out either leg of the semi final it is a good reminder that we have a limited fan base. All a bit Fulham really, I remember when they got to Europe league final they let season ticket holders buy 4 each! Having said that I've seen examples of people who have enough games on their customer number and didn't realise they could upgrade to being a member , if they put them on sale now to non-members with a purchase history we'd sell the remaining tickets in seconds.

but the point is none of us know how many members we have got. I recall last season talking to the ticket office and we had just over 10k members which included the junior saints. What the club are banking on is people with customer numbers with x number games purchased already buying a membership to then qualify themselves for a cup final ticket. If not enough do that it will go down further to members with just a couple of games. Members with 4 games have had all morning to purchase and there is still plenty left so members with three games will be ok for tomorrow.

Very easy getting online and buying tickets this morning, don't know how many members there are with 4 games but i would not be surprised if it gets to members with 2, incredible really after beating Liverpool in the semi final anyone could have signed up for a membership , purchased Arsenal and West Ham at home and secured a place in the final. Show's how small our match-going fan base is really.

you've made yourself look like a right numpty well done Club have followed exactly the same logic as earlier stages of sales, makes sense (although i feel sorry for members which several aways ) Looks like members with 3 or 2 home games will get tickets which is a surprise.

Why do you keep posting this speculative nonsense? there is nothing from the club to imply it will be a free for all, when the Milan away sales went down lower than expected they just shortened the selling windows, they can do the same here, members with 4 could buy Tuesday a.m, members with 3 Tuesday p.m, it wouldn't be difficult and they have done it before.

Talking to a mate this afternoon who follows Man Utd who reminded me that to them a) it's only the league cup which hardly gets a mention in Uniteds honours list and b) to United fans this will be the 4th time within 12 months they've been at Wembley with FA Cup semi final / FA Cup final and Community Shield all recent for them. It's not really a special occasion. I think this will help us in some way , our players should want it more who knows when they'll get the chance to play there again.

Had a quick count up roughly 2800 tickets still left. As a member with 4 home games I'm hopeful of getting a ticket at the start of the week hopefully Saints announce the arrangements for that soon.

Agree with the excitement / anticipation for the occasion but I'm definitely not expecting us to lift the trophy, got to go into the game with an underdog mentality , we've got no right to win it when you consider the fact we'll be missing Van Dijk and other important players but that might take the pressure off a bit which might help the younger lads cope with the occasion. Liverpool away semi final is one of my all time Saints memories now , would be magic to go and top that and lift the silverware, this generation of Saints fans who missed late 70s / early 80s deserve it.

To be fair I've read your posts on the matter and have concluded you are a muppet. The club regularly post thanks for your fantastic support when we've sold out another allocation and we've taken big numbers away this season including in the cup 5600 to Arsenal and 3600 to Liverpool supporting us on the way to Wembley, they clearly deserve something. On the subject of membership's I believe the way to keep them relevant and worth having is to follow some other clubs by making ticket prices cheaper for members (say £2.50 per game less than non-members) therefore fans who become members at the start of the season earn back the cost of their membership the more games they go to. Sells more memberships and gives them a price incentive to go to more games.

No I don't think he's in a wheelchair area , that wouldn't make sense in the description given I think he's in the normal seats based on my knowledge of the grounds.

I really don't see the issue, at St Mary's don't go in the Northam or the Itchen North a tiny percentage of the home areas, the rest of the ground your guaranteed to be able to sit in comfort for 90 mins without any distractions. Away games are a bit more tricky but now you can select your own seat you can purchase near the front or ask the club for disabled seating. I generally try to look out for old fans / young kids but more often than not they look like they're enjoying themselves standing and singing as much as the other fans. As I get older I hope I can remember what it was like to be a lively younger fan and allow them the benefit of the doubt to stand and sing enjoying themselves without moaning about them too much. The Norwich example you give we only 2/3rds of our allocation there was plenty of room to move around.

FFS don't tell people that could do with as many fans as possible not realising that leaving tickets for others who are members +4 etc

If that is the case his stop start season can be filed under disappointment along with many other of our bigger money signings , hopefully he can manage a prolonged spell in the side at some point.

The next run of league games is odd after Sunderland away we have a two week gap to Watford away, then most likely Man Utd at home will be postponed on the 12th due to their involvement in the FA Cup so we'll have another two week gap to Spurs away (which is followed by a two week break for internationals! ) The next home game would then be in April v Bournemouth. You'd imagine Saints will try to re-arrange Arsenal and Man Utd at home for later in the season when Charlie Austin and Van Dijk will be back from injury.

Firstly - fair play to any Saints fans making the trip up, engineering works on the train making it a very long journey for anyone looking to go via that method of transport, probably just as long by coach as well on a cold February day. playing the team who are bottom of the team should be just what we need to help get some much needed points on the board, unfortunately our away results to the other bottom 4 clubs look like this..... Crystal Palace 3-0 Saints Hull 2-1 Saints Swansea 2 - 1 Saints i reckon we'll play for a draw and lose 1-0

i don't actually think Sunday will be that bad other than an initial rush in the first hour like there has been today and yesterday, most season ticket holders had one game on their account (mainly the Liverpool game) so by the end of today i reckon a high % of season ticket holders will have their seats. Most of the lower tier is nearly sold out, but hardly any tickets have been sold for the upper.

have a watch of any cup final for the last 5 years, our lower tier will all be stood corner flag to corner flag. United lower tier will all be stood regardless, probably most of their upper tier as well.

What annoys me most about this is he was a perfectly good player for us over a number of years, he just had to get his head down, work hard, and he would still be here now leading the side as captain out at Wembley with the chance to get his hands on some more silverware. He's a plonker for the way he has acted around the club in the last 6 months and certainly won't be getting a cheer from me on Saturday, but it is a shame that his behaviour will have a negative impact on the club and with VVD out it is an awfully big challenge to get a win against Man Utd at Wembley.

As Morocco are out of the competition now he would be free to play, no obligation to request permission from their FA. Just down to Boufal's fitness really but if he has been training with the first team i'd expect him to play some role in this game. Any news on Rodriguez's injury? I think we can expect VVD to still be out for both games this week so need young Jack Stephens to recover from Saturday's defensive horror show. Gardos doesn't look ready yet. Strange having a game during the last few hours of the transfer window, would expect any business to be completed by then. Fair play to any Saints fans making the journey to Wales, looking at the online ticket sales looks like we'll have about 800 there.

It does annoy me that the entire middle tier is club Wembley, you know that the majority of these corporate seats will be filled by Prawn sandwich Man Utd fans yet it will split our support in half with upper and lower tiers divided by a tier of United corporate types. Not sure if I'll manage to get a ticket myself, ridiculous away game attendance is not taken into account , it shows the club don't really value the fans who make the effort to support the team over land and sea.