Guess the gate comp

13,875

Well… myself and a handful of other regulars will be drinking in the the sights and sounds of Porto and I can’t see the away end selling out given the early KO
so I’ll say a pretty conservative 13,817

14,877

15943.

This a tricky one. The TV cameras are there again, and the Rochdale gate proved how hard it is to attract the day-trippers who came against City. It’s also £5 dearer, on the same day that many will be running the 10K or being encouraged to cheer some family on.

But set against that doom and gloom, when we knocked top-flight Norwich out in 1987, I remember being surprised that there was a better crowd for Hull in the next round, so Cup runs do tend to build excitement. Also, Southampton travel well, by all accounts, and should fill the away end. Plus, the kids who couldn’t go on a school night against City should make in on a Sunday lunchtime. Also, hopefully the club or police will be less paranoid about the “previous booking history” rule which was actively putting people off last round.

So, hmmmm ….

14,435

Don’t think there would have been many kids who missed the City game Martin who lived locally. That event was an integral part of any child’s learning and education and I reckon many local parents recognised that with the high number of kids there. What a fabulous positive learning experience for any child that was there too.
In hindsight I think the cautious approach regarding ticket sales was correct bearing in mind what occurred after the match with the sulking City scum behind the goals. A shame that cautious approach wasn’t adhered to with regards to police and steward numbers at the end of the game but nobody was really expecting us to dump the best team in the land out of the cup and nobody in police hq was ever going to predict that result. The crowd will be what it will be and most of us lot on here will be there for another bonus game. There will certainly be more than the 8000 for the Swansea v Sheffield Wednesday replay the other night which figure went by very quietly indeed.