FA Cup Semi Final - Wembley

[HMX]

There's enough there for it to be a great atmosphere. Even the quarter at Brum was fantastic with 4000 of us!

[Lord Kangana]

We'll always have Brum! (Do we have a Brief Encounter smiley?)

Superb away following, it was like slipping back in time to the Rioch years....

[HMX]

Bit too early for me, that. Colin Todd onwards...

[LiOC]

I'm actually sick of hearing the rubbish about attendances. You can quote that Bolton has 300,000 people in it all you want but in the outskirts, towns like Farnworth, the majority of them are United fans anyway. Plus Man U, Man C, Everton, Liverpool sucking in any disillusioned support in towns like Bury that we might otherwise pull, and Wigan, Blackburn and Blackpool being big doesn't help either.
Saying West Ham was our biggest support of the season, 25,800 approx, and 3000 of them were West Ham fans leaving 22,800 Wanderers, and United/City are still in the cup so those fans don't want a day out, we've done well to shift 80% of the tickets imo.

[Prufrock]

There'll also be four in Stoke's midfield as opposed to West Ham's bizarre three, with three out and out strikers just stuck up front. Central midfield ain't the key next week, Muamba and MD or Muamba and Elmo is better than Delap or Whelan, the key is the wide boys. Both in an attacking sense, getting in behind them, as whilst their big lads are strong units who will eat up straight long balls, they aren't the quickest or most agile, and defensively as an outlet stopping Stoke doing what we used to do under Allardyce, and pinning teams in their own box. Hopefully the big pitch will help with that. Thankfully Chungy looks fresh and Petrov seems to be hitting form at the right time. Jones, the useless lump, looks dangerous for them atm though.

Worth noting Stoke have only won twice away from the Britannia this calendar year, albeit both in the FA cup. A bout of early week optimism means I've got us down for being the favourites, just. Later in the week it will be nervous doom and gloom!

I've heard a few times about Stoke being poor away from the Britannia, but we're deceptively shit on the road too (to be fair, the fact that we're something of an unstoppable juggernaut at home doesn't get mentioned much either - we've managed one point less than Arsenal in home games). We've two away wins in the league to go with our three in the cup, making it six for the season, same as Stoke. We've taken 11 points away overall to their 10. Last season they took five points more than us from away games.

It really is toss a coin time.

I've highlighted the crucial bit in my post you ruinous bastard!

Since you've condemned me to resignation early, it's worth pointing out the two away league wins were at Wolves during our title contender form, and standard gimme West Ham.

DOMED. Though that arch is half way to the framework of a lovely dome.

[bristol_Wanderer3]

I'm actually sick of hearing the rubbish about attendances. You can quote that Bolton has 300,000 people in it all you want but in the outskirts, towns like Farnworth, the majority of them are United fans anyway. Plus Man U, Man C, Everton, Liverpool sucking in any disillusioned support in towns like Bury that we might otherwise pull, and Wigan, Blackburn and Blackpool being big doesn't help either.
Saying West Ham was our biggest support of the season, 25,800 approx, and 3000 of them were West Ham fans leaving 22,800 Wanderers, and United/City are still in the cup so those fans don't want a day out, we've done well to shift 80% of the tickets imo.

This. No club is more disadvantaged in the Prem in terms of drawing a fan base. Man U have been the obvious glory team to "support" for 20 years and they are as near to or nearer than the Reebok for much of Bolton's population. Man City are also just down the road and are possibly becoming an enticing proposition for someone who is undecided, Liverpool were the glory club of the 70s and 80s and many around Bolton supported them then, even Blackburn won the league in 95 and would have attracted some impressionable types from north Bolton. We do incredibly well in those circumstances. That said, I sense that we are also becoming an attractive proposition under OC, and if we have another season or two like this one, the Reebok will become sold out on a regular basis.

Back to the game against Stoke, I am going to say something most unlike a BWFC supporter, and I am sure offensive to many, but WE WILL WIN.

I await my ban.

[HMX]

Domed

[Lord Kangana]

Ban? You should be tortured.

[LiOC]

This. No club is more disadvantaged in the Prem in terms of drawing a fan base. Man U have been the obvious glory team to "support" for 20 years and they are as near to or nearer than the Reebok for much of Bolton's population. Man City are also just down the road and are possibly becoming an enticing proposition for someone who is undecided, Liverpool were the glory club of the 70s and 80s and many around Bolton supported them then, even Blackburn won the league in 95 and would have attracted some impressionable types from north Bolton. We do incredibly well in those circumstances. That said, I sense that we are also becoming an attractive proposition under OC, and if we have another season or two like this one, the Reebok will become sold out on a regular basis.

Exactly agreed. However, even if the Reebok was full (which it wasn't too far off against West Ham albeit with numerous freebies and cheap tickets going) we'd still only have 28,000 people at full capacity. Also, I don't know about everyone else but the 2 per season ticket rule just meant I got mine on a mates ticket rather than open sale so didn't really contribute to selling more probably.

Back to the game against Stoke, I am going to say something most unlike a BWFC supporter, and I am sure offensive to many, but WE WILL WIN.

Bit optimistic that round here. I'm just hoping it'll be a good atmosphere and a competitive game. Everything else is a bonus.

[martin1877coywm]

6 more days till the big one. I hope we win!

[jetsetwilly]

Stop the whining. We have sold as many as expected. With all the temptations down the road, the way you can now be a United fan and watch their games in the pub, the distance to the Reebok from town, we do well to maintain the crowds we do.

Be interesting to see how many more fans come out of the woodwork to complain if they can't get a ticket for the final.

[BWFC_Insane]

Stop the whining. We have sold as many as expected. With all the temptations down the road, the way you can now be a United fan and watch their games in the pub, the distance to the Reebok from town, we do well to maintain the crowds we do.

Be interesting to see how many more fans come out of the woodwork to complain if they can't get a ticket for the final.

Alternatively the fact that the Reebok is the easiest ground to access in the country (probably)!

[TKIZ!]

I don't get this whole 'how can you not sell out' balls that other fans spout. Especially Stoke, considering until they got promoted to the Prem they were lucky to get 13k fans a week, fully of JCL's if you ask me

[jetsetwilly]

Easiest to access, hardest to get away from.

If you have every tried to get off the car park, or queue for the train, you will know what I mean.

Not as easy to access as a central location that fans can walk to.

All clubs get that boost from getting to the Prem. Novely wears off. Our crowds have dropped, Stoke's will too after 10 years of knowing youare unlikely to go down and unlikely to win anything.

Not wishing us to go down, but I enjoyed my football so much more when we were in the Championship (Div 1 back then) and every season/game was an unknown outcome. I find the Prem is mostly a bore, with only 3 teams (maybe 4) in with a chance of winning.

[BWFC_Insane]

Easiest to access, hardest to get away from.

If you have every tried to get off the car park, or queue for the train, you will know what I mean.Not as easy to access as a central location that fans can walk to.

All clubs get that boost from getting to the Prem. Novely wears off. Our crowds have dropped, Stoke's will too after 10 years of knowing youare unlikely to go down and unlikely to win anything.

Not wishing us to go down, but I enjoyed my football so much more when we were in the Championship (Div 1 back then) and every season/game was an unknown outcome. I find the Prem is mostly a bore, with only 3 teams (maybe 4) in with a chance of winning.

I've done both plenty. Neither are exactly a hardship and getting away by car is no different to most grounds. How many fans could and would genuinely "walk" to the town centre in the modern day? And given the numbers that drive to football nowadays where would they all park?

Don't think we can complain about the Reebok, straight off the motorway, loadsa parking a tran station next door. Yes it doesn't have the soul or history of Burnden yet but as a modern stadium I think its pretty near perfect.

[Lord Kangana]

The Reebok has been a major catalyst in our Premier League status. We're looking good for having ou 12th season in it at The Bok. We've only had 3 there outside it. So in that sense it was vital.

Some of the criticisms still stand. Much in the same way Burnden was ideally placed, it was a shithole, and we couldn't have achieved what we have or attracted the players we have had if we still had it.

Nothings perfect.

[BL3]

I don't get this whole 'how can you not sell out' balls that other fans spout. Especially Stoke, considering until they got promoted to the Prem they were lucky to get 13k fans a week, fully of JCL's if you ask me

Quiz question. What was Stoke's average attendance last time they were relegated from the top flight? I'll give you a clue, it was between 10,000 and 11,000. Tell them that next time they start pretending to be big club.

[Zulus Thousand of em]

Stop the whining. We have sold as many as expected. With all the temptations down the road, the way you can now be a United fan and watch their games in the pub, the distance to the Reebok from town, we do well to maintain the crowds we do.

Be interesting to see how many more fans come out of the woodwork to complain if they can't get a ticket for the final.

Welcome back.

[TKIZ!]

Wonder when the name change to 'Owenhater' will be unveiled?

[BWFC_Insane]

The Reebok has been a major catalyst in our Premier League status. We're looking good for having ou 12th season in it at The Bok. We've only had 3 there outside it. So in that sense it was vital.

Some of the criticisms still stand. Much in the same way Burnden was ideally placed, it was a shithole, and we couldn't have achieved what we have or attracted the players we have had if we still had it.

Nothings perfect.

1 in actual fact!