FACup Quarter Final

[William the White]

Yeah... Our first QF since 2005 (lose at home against Arsenal with a disappointing 5000 empty seats in the Bolton stands)...

Feels good to me...

A game we can win (though unlikely to be pretty)...

So, will we sell out the allocation?

Will we stamp our superiority on the game?

Are we going to Wembley?

[Lord Kangana]

What a difference a year makes.

Even if our interest ends at Birmingham, we've had a couple of good cup ties, both of which we've won away from home. I thought the second half of todays game would have had Dave Higson labelling it a ding dong do. Real proper cup tie, the atmosphere sounded fantastic (if partisan!) at Craven Cottage.

Without moaning about injuries, or tiredness or ornamental headgear, as someone said in the other thread, we're 8th and in the last 8. For a small club, we don't half have a decent team.

Now lets go and beat those Brummies and get to Wembley!

[Tombwfc]

Outside of all that - is the Cup now our priority?

Definately for me it is. Would be devasted not to make it to Wembley now having done much of the hard work this week.

[William the White]

Outside of all that - is the Cup now our priority?

Definately for me it is. Would be devasted not to make it to Wembley now having done much of the hard work this week.

With you, Tom...

[thebish]

So, will we sell out the allocation?

Will we stamp our superiority on the game?

Are we going to Wembley?

no, no and... errr... no!

[Verbal]

Was at Wigan, gutted I couldn't make it today but hopefully i'll be able to get to Birmingham. I'll be surprised if we don't sell our full allocation for this one!

[clapton is god]

So, will we sell out the allocation?

Will we stamp our superiority on the game?

Are we going to Wembley?

no, no and... errr... no!

Possibly

Yes,

and yes. I can feel Nat's hands on our shoulders guiding us on.

[thebish]

So, will we sell out the allocation?

Will we stamp our superiority on the game?

Are we going to Wembley?

no, no and... errr... no!

Possibly

Yes,

and yes. I can feel Nat's hands on our shoulders guiding us on.

are you Tony Blair??

[Worthy4England]

Outside of all that - is the Cup now our priority?

Definately for me it is. Would be devasted not to make it to Wembley now having done much of the hard work this week.

Not if it came down to it. No. The Cup will never be our priority (unless you happen to believe we're safe - which mathematically we're still a long way from)

That said, I'm not sure Coyle would do anything much different - in what sense would we "prioritize" it? We have a full week's rest between Newcastle and the Quarter Final, I don't see him shielding anyone from that game.

The semi, if we got through, is on 16/17 April, with West Ham at home the week before.

It's hardly like the HWSNBN situation in Lisbon, when we had 6 matches in 20 days and were 3rd from bottom when we went into the Wigan game.

Edit: I guess there could be a call to make if the quarter went to a replay...

[Tombwfc]

I meant 'our' more as in for fans. Previous to this, any time we've won a cup game I've always felt the illogical notion that we've 'used up' a win we could've had in the league, and I'd prefer the three points.

Now, I'd happily finish 14th or so if it meant going to Wembley (even if only in a semi-final).

[BWFC_Insane]

I meant 'our' more as in for fans. Previous to this, any time we've won a cup game I've always felt the illogical notion that we've 'used up' a win we could've had in the league, and I'd prefer the three points.

Now, I'd happily finish 14th or so if it meant going to Wembley (even if only in a semi-final).

Think so Tom. I've always felt the same, when we're in a bad run a cup win sometimes seems "wasted".

But now, one game from Wembley.

This year of all years it just seems well, important. I hope Nat is up there helping us out in some way.

FA cup final vs Utd, now that would be SOME story!

[Lord Kangana]

You've all jinxed it now, ya bastids!

[P.O.S.]

You've all jinxed it now, ya bastids!

It'll be jinxed as soon as the Fate Fairy sees me buying a ticket for it

[BWFC_Insane]

You've all jinxed it now, ya bastids!

Not sure we have, I'm sure most people think we'll struggle to get past Brum.

I do.

But end of the day as I always say in the cup, its either your year or it ain't!

[Worthy4England]

I meant 'our' more as in for fans. Previous to this, any time we've won a cup game I've always felt the illogical notion that we've 'used up' a win we could've had in the league, and I'd prefer the three points.

Now, I'd happily finish 14th or so if it meant going to Wembley (even if only in a semi-final).

Gotcha.

Not sure the finance peeps would see it at the same level of "happy". £10.4m for finishing 8th. £5.6m for finishing 14th.

Prize money for winning the next round - £360k (I guess plus some ticket revenue £500k @ St Andrews??), +£450k (at least for being runners up in the semi) + close to £1m? on semi final gate money.

Difference about £3m?

If you were to win the semi on the other hand....

I'd settle for 14th and a crack at the semi-finals too!

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Interesting financial comparison, thanks Worthy. But there are fiscally intangible positives to a cup run, unless we ascribe increased ticket sales to league games too.

Given the hegemony of the top six creating a glass ceiling, a cup win might be the height of our ambition, so long as the run doesn't compromise our ability to avoid relegation. A cup win might not mean the same financially as the difference between upper and lower mid-table, but it would certainly mean more to the target audience.

"There's gotta be more to this old life than this
Scrimping and saving and crossing off lists..."

[General Mannerheim]

well ive already had cousins, uncles, old mates ive not heard from in ages all texting saying they wanna go to Brum, i think many old timers will come out of the woodwork for this and it'll be a colossal turnout.

[Worthy4England]

Interesting financial comparison, thanks Worthy. But there are fiscally intangible positives to a cup run, unless we ascribe increased ticket sales to league games too.

Given the hegemony of the top six creating a glass ceiling, a cup win might be the height of our ambition, so long as the run doesn't compromise our ability to avoid relegation. A cup win might not mean the same financially as the difference between upper and lower mid-table, but it would certainly mean more to the target audience.
"There's gotta be more to this old life than this
Scrimping and saving and crossing off lists..."

No doubt sir. I'd much prefer it too.

I'm just not convinced (at the minute) that there are any priority calls/a pick to make. I don't think I'd rest anyone especially, for the Newcastle game, for example.

The defence is pretty much picking itself from those that aren't on the physio's couch, so pretty much picking itself.

On today's performance you'd struggle to change the MF, although maybe Taylor would help us defensively in front of Alonso more than Petrov, Petrov had a decent game today as did Moo, in for Mark Davies. Neither of the two displaced players have done badly for us so far this season.

Up front, we can currently perm any two from three non-cup tied forwards, with the added bonus of Sturridge in the league.

When Sir Nut was pointing to our certain relegation candidature towards the end of last season, he probably didn't suppose on this day we'd be in 8th and in the last 8 of the FA Cup. Nor did I at the time, but I figured I'd take the chance over the recent previous seasons.

[CAPSLOCK]

It will be tin hats at St Andrews

Bit of an eye opener for some JCLs

[thebish]

You've all jinxed it now, ya bastids!

I believe I said, no, no and no!