TheBrownBottle

If I was a member who'd been to a couple of cup games but hadn't bothered otherwise I'm not sure even be comfortable raising it as an issue in all honesty. People who fork out hundreds - thousands - of their hard-earned money each year to the club should absolutely be at the front of the queue for cup final tickets. That's the way the club gives back. NB I'm not a ST holder nor a member - I've no skin in the game in that regard.

It really should be ST holders ordered in terms of loyalty points. Given the numbers of likely tickets available, non-ST holders are unlikely to get a look-in - and that's absolutely fair enough to me. Those who trundle up to the odd game should be firmly at the back of the queue.

Yeah, Willock looks better switching to LW. I think it confused Leicester - we were much more threatening down the left than we had been for most of the season. Should be a warning to other teams who likely assume that Trippier - Bruno - Almiron down the right is our only source of attacking intent

'96 I was pretty much bang on the halfway line, halfway up (opposite the steps). Pretty much the perfect seat to watch us get thumped off Man Utd. '00 was opposite side, but about halfway around the stand at the back. There was a big group of us with tickets together that day; I ended up under a pile on a few rows from my seat when Lee equalised. Yep, my memories are mainly shite of the place tbh. Drinking expensive cans outside the Torch near Wembley Way before watching us lose four times in almost successive seasons meant that the excitement of it all disappeared - there was a grim inevitability about '99, which was the competitive game where we really did just roll over and have our bellies tickled (I won't count '96). Wembley was exciting to get to - the first time I went the coach came in from a cracking angle, with the Twin Towers visible for ages before getting there - but once there the experience was remarkably shite

I think Joelinton is up there with the best LCMs in the country. He's just ok LW for me

Yeah, I suspect that organising c.23,000 tickets for season ticket holders meant that there was a huge element of randomness to it - sounds like you were pretty screwed over in '98. I'll forgive you for '99 if you send me a '23 ticket if we make it

My seat for '98 was right next to the tunnel - the bloke behind me got Stuart Pearce's top when he chucked it into the crowd. It also meant a big zoom in of my sunburnt face was on the backpage of the Journal on the Monday. My dad was in a similar seat in '96 (mine was closer to the halfway line) - he managed to get his programme signed by Warren Barton. Which pretty much summed the day up tbh.

Has he forgot that it is the players, not the fans, who need to worry about such things? And I know that is who he will be lecturing

Aye, that's not an unreasonable assumption! If they'd followed what they did in '74 and '76, they'd have been asking to see coupons from the programmes from the earlier rounds ...

Is he a Christian? Funny, he never mentions it

That’s how it worked in ‘98 and ‘99. I got a ticket for ‘98 as I’d went to the home games, but rejected in ‘99 as I didn’t - despite going to more than a dozen away games that year. edit: I still went in ‘99. Got one through a mate of a mate. It was pricey though.

Soton with the home leg second is about as favourable as you’re gonna get. Nothing is guaranteed, but what an opportunity now Proper buzzing

Southampton all over these at the moment. Man City have shitloads of quality though

and there was me thinking that Barry in the Box and the Flashing Blade himself were the worst

I bet you didn't think you'd find someone quoting a three year old comment of yours when you logged in!

It's also not what 'sportswashing' is. Saying that the team played well and going to win trophies, city united etc - that's not sportswashing. If it was followed up with 'Saudi Arabia is fantastic, isn't MBS marvelous, they should stop saying nasty things about such a great man' they might have a point. They're desperate to make everything sportswashing, but the fact that they don't understand what it is stands as further proof that it is all a pathetic attempt to pretend that every win has an asterisk. It doesn't, lads and lasses, no matter how desperate you are for it

Bring back Neville and put the big belt on him Vinnie Mac - might as well make the most of the inevitable big SJP PPV

My favorite RTG on the match thread: 'They are long overdue a Wembley appearance tbf. Given the amount of times we’ve been since they last got there.' They really have got shit for brains, haven't they? They've got one proper fucking Wembley appearance since we last did. The fact that the soppy twats kept playing in Third Division playoff finals and in that pizza trophy thing they have in the bottom two tiers should bring a sense of fucking embarrassment, not pride. Being in those represents failure, you dopey gets

They all seem to really care and all seem really anxious that we might win it. But I thought anything we win would now have an asterisk, and therefore who cares if we win it? It's almost as if the asterisk thing isn't real

I'll admit I can't remember that one - but I'm sure I remember an (unofficial) Cup Final one. Toon Army Stomp or something? edit: had a search; isn't youtube good? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne0Vj3x07Ic

Haha 'Somebody Stole My Wife' is stuck in my brain forever. I remember it being on pulling into Blackburn - the whole bus jumping and shouting YEEEHA after every repeat of the chorus. The locals must have thought we were losing it

Being wired from the match and having nowt to do on my lunch break, I started reading some of the old Joelinton comments. This one is a peach - how unnervingly perceptive is this? As in every line of it. I'm convinced Howe must have used this in his famous interview presentation

Glad to hear he's going again! And yep, no doubt we sat on one of those away coaches together at some point and 'enjoying' Mungo Jerry being played on the tape deck over and over while being nice and tipsy ...

Fuck me that's great Also, I can breathe easy when he's in nets. The difference between him and Dubravka is night and day - you can see how much more composed a back line is with him behind it. Yes, obviously Schar, Trippier and BDB are better than Manquillo, Lewis and Lascelles - but I don't think we lose to Sheff Wed with Pope in goal

These types have been around for as long as punters have paid to watch football. Taking their daily stresses out on football. You do get the odd one who is funny with it, but they're a distinct minority - the rest are just whinging bastards