Football Special

Its poor. Sold out 3 days ago, no excuse not to be sorted by now. Our allocation was 3k less than the basic allocation for the semi final last season, why? Man city sales still under 22k. Game just a few days away, will be hard to arrange extra coaches etc.

I think last block is now on sale Agree lots won't, there's a few who have already booked and paid for travel who will go, I know some are staying over in Blackpool, but will be half empty if nothing to play for

Im hoping / expecting our fans to be right up for this. Its a special occasion for us as a club, turning Wembley yellow and blue almost exactly 50 years on from the legendary day , I know one older fan who has dug out his scarf from 76 and cannot wait to get up there on Saturday, its a nice moment and means something to us. I was sceptical back in January when they released a special anniversary shirt would have looked ridiculous if we then went and lost at Doncaster but fair play they've done it proud. This game means almost nothing to City whose fans can barely muster the enthusiasm to travel , last year when they beat Forest there were hardly any celebrations at the final whistle, more interested in beating the queue for the tube

Always well supported but bit of a calamity club, in the shadow of bigger neighbours, some comedy moments like losing at home to Luton to be relegated 83 I think David Pleat dancing on the pitch and of course 1995/96 we stayed up last game drawing 0-0 with Wimbledon, thankfully Man City drew 2-2 with Liverpool, due to a wrong rumour being spread around the ground they kept the ball in the corner thinking it was enough for safety , bit of a yoyo club around that time

Those odds seem fair enough, big week again, Bristol are our bogey team, if we can do it and Super Baz (Stoke) and Nate the Great (Charlton) can do us a favour it will be very exciting going into the final week

Got to avoid thinking like that, over a 46 game season every team will be able to point to moments that could have made a difference. Just got to focus on beating Bristol City and see where that leaves us, games come around so quickly its like tournament football, no time for much training in-between games

Let's wait and see who they start with on Wednesday night away to Burnley, as they said on sky Manchester City in the driving seat now but no room for error dropping points, could come down to goal difference. They have a huge advantage over us thanks to being backed by state oil money investing like its a computer game, the whole 115 charges fiasco a constant reminder of their attempts to gain an unfair advantage, 90% of the country would love to see us beat them although of course no one expects it, in that respect there is no pressure on us. Our paths have crossed with them many times, remember going up there in 2003 when we were expected to roll over for them to celebrate the farewell to Maine Road, not only did we beat them but Rupert Lowe lodged a formal complaint as they hadn't given us enough tickets, as part of the compensation I think they had to give is £10 tickets following season, went up and beat them again backed by a large following behind the goal. I'm sure they got the new ground on the cheap as well following the commonwealth games up there. Of course we stopped them from a treble in 2023 thanks to a management masterclass from Nate the Great and a wonderful goal by Moussa Djenepo Even last season they came to St Mary's in May expecting to brush aside already relegated Saints and were held to a 0-0 . You never know YELLOWS

Played Forest, not completely convincing in a 2-0 win, this line up (including subs who came on) No.Name 18 Stefan Ortega 24 Josko Gvardiol 3 Rúben Dias 75 Nico O'Reilly 27 Matheus Nunes 8 Mateo Kovacic 14 Nico González 20 Bernardo Silva 7 Omar Marmoush 11 Jérémy Doku 26 Savinho 47 Phil Foden 10 Jack Grealish 19 Ilkay Gündogan 82 Rico Lewis

They may well do, and probably should do having accumulated best players on highest wages , its obviously not a level playing field. Just go with the right attitude and give it our best shot. Doesn't help that Saints will likely have one eye on the Ipswich game. Hopefully we get more tickets, have twice as many fans as them, get the moral victory

I dont think we've had the Boxpark before, thats just off Wembley Way on walk up to the ground, can imagine that will be popular. If going by train make the most of Central London, some top pubs around Marylebone where you can get train to Wembley Stadium https://www.boxpark.co.uk/venues/wembley

Weather forecast looks spot on for the beer garden (as things stand , hope it stays that way)

About 6 tickets left, think there's one more small block still to go on sale A lot of people taking a gamble on there being something to play for

This website have been spot on for me last couple of years, they have the special FA Cup shirt / shorts in kids size for a good price, unfortunately wont arrive in time for the semi final though https://www.enjoynewballs.shop/products/southampton-50th-anniversary-football-shirt-kids-size-1-1-thai-quality?cfb=0ba501ec-6433-4fa0-b519-f7b1c1ce2586&ifb=0ba501ec-6433-4fa0-b519-f7b1c1ce2586&scm=search.v39.11003.102.103.104&score=0.25&ssp=&spm=..search.search_1.4

Can't see anything confirmed yet. Its usually done by what side of the stadium we have, so Green Man, one of the fan zones , Spoons by Wembley Central etc as we have West side as usual I'd imagine a lot going by train will have a few central London before heading up, Baker St is usually good as well , tends not to be segregated but doubt any issues at a game like this

Charles and Harwood-Bellis being ex-Man City will be up for this, get Edozie in the mix as well. Would be nice for City to acknowledge the stress and anxiety they inflicted on us taking ££££ for Baz , let us have this game in compensation