[Archived] Fa Cup 6th Round

[Boz]

I have the answer for Arsene and the rest of the big 4 (excl Birmingham, but can include the barcodes with there illustrious past!) with regards to replays in the FA cup.

If the home club drawn out of the hat wish the tie to be decided upon the day, then they can be given the choice to relinguish home advantage and play the fixture away. If it is indeed fixture congestion that they are concerned about, they will be happy?

[Finch]

Well they "allowed" Milwall to get to the final a few years ago. Didn't United play Liverpool in the semi that year? (not 100% sure on that)

I have a funny feeling that - if you believe the FA engineers cup draws - that Watford are being given a shot at the cup final, which would put them in Europe as losing finalists.

[LeftWinger]

We could have been playing North End at home - now I'm disappointed they did lose.

[CircoW]

And you actually think Man U will be drawn with Chelsea in the semi-finals?

No, I think Reading will beat United in the replay!

[OscarRaven]

No, I think Reading will beat United in the replay!

Just out of interest what were the odds of Chelsea, Arsenal and Man Utd staying apart at this stage?

[joey_big_nose]

I don't buy any of this 'draw fixing' nonsense.

The last four finals have featured Millwall, Southampton and West Ham. All clubs roughly the same sort of 'size' (in Millwall's case substantially smaller) as ourselves. Not even 'sleeping giants' like Everton, Villa, Newcastle, Manchester City who could draw large television audiences.

Liverpool were drawn against CHelsea in last years semi, while Boro played West Ham. In 2004 Arsenal played Mau U while Millwall played Sunderland.

Get a grip!

[modes98]

Very happy with the draw, an added incentive for the lads to get through and make it to another semi, not that they need one!

[BRFC4EVA]

I don't buy any of this 'draw fixing' nonsense.

The last four finals have featured Millwall, Southampton and West Ham. All clubs roughly the same sort of 'size' (in Millwall's case substantially smaller) as ourselves. Not even 'sleeping giants' like Everton, Villa, Newcastle, Manchester City who could draw large television audiences.

Liverpool were drawn against CHelsea in last years semi, while Boro played West Ham. In 2004 Arsenal played Mau U while Millwall played Sunderland.

Get a grip!

Agreed, its all a load of paranoid nonsence imo. Good draw for us if we can beat Arsenal, obv dont wanna look too far ahead but a lancashire derby cup 1/4 final with city will be a great afternoon!

[Eddie]

Good draw if we can beat Arsenal (big if). It is also encouraging to see a tie like Plymouth v Watford, which means there will certainly be one good tie to hope for in the semis.

[frosty]

Happy with the draw, but we have to beat Arsenal first. It would be great if we could meet the winner of Watford-Plymouth in the semi's!

Happy days

[garnersfags]

I might as well start the ticket price debate(I posted this on another thread but it may be more relevant here).

£20 for a ticket for the replay will result in a crowd of around 17 - 20,000 if the game is live on BBC.

On the face of it, this is good value for such high quality entertainment and Rovers should be applauded for continuing to lead the way in the fight to make the game more affordable to all.

I do feel, however, that this is now a real chance to reach that magical Wembley final and as such the club must do everything to fill the ground for this pivotal tie.

A tenner for season ticket holders and £12/15 for the rest would have ensured we had closer to 25,000 which would have guaranteed the atmosphere needed to provide that '12th man' backing.

This is a difficult and emotive issue that John Williams is well aware of and I hope that despite the prices we turn out in big numbers and show our appreciation of what Mark and the boys are achieving on 'relatively' meagre resources.

Personally I'm like an excited kid at the prospect of what we can genuinely achieve this season.

[Jan]

I might as well start the ticket price debate(I posted this on another thread but it may be more relevant here).

£20 for a ticket for the replay will result in a crowd of around 17 - 20,000 if the game is live on BBC.

On the face of it, this is good value for such high quality entertainment and Rovers should be applauded for continuing to lead the way in the fight to make the game more affordable to all.

I do feel, however, that this is now a real chance to reach that magical Wembley final and as such the club must do everything to fill the ground for this pivotal tie.

A tenner for season ticket holders and £12/15 for the rest would have ensured we had closer to 25,000 which would have guaranteed the atmosphere needed to provide that '12th man' backing.

This is a difficult and emotive issue that John Williams is well aware of and I hope that despite the prices we turn out in big numbers and show our appreciation of what Mark and the boys are achieving on 'relatively' meagre resources.

Personally I'm like an excited kid at the prospect of what we can genuinely achieve this season.

I think the other team probably has some say in pricing, and I doubt they'd want to devalue the game to that level (£10-12)

[Paul]

May as well put in my two-penneth. I was thinking about this game and ticket pricing over the weekend, and decided if the club chose, along with Arsenal, to charge full price we would not be going. I have to stump up for 1 x adult, 2 x young adult and 1 x junior. This would have been the first time in 27+ years I had decided not to attend a game at Ewood.

At £15 we will be going, so I'd say the club have made the right decision. Well done John Williams and Tom Finn.

[Mr. E]

good draw, especially that we finally get a home game.

of course, getting there will be even tougher.

[Nayef]

I don't buy any of this 'draw fixing' nonsense.

Get a grip!

Eh?

Anyone remember the League Cup semi final a few years ago when Liverpool and Man U were kept apart by Ian Rush (?) picking the balls and the teams assigned to the balls afterwards?

And what about the next year when Nigel Winterburn (?) actually looked into the pot to pick out the teams.

I can't remember the actual people so I think it was Rush and Winterburn being the culprits...

[CircoW]

Eh?

Anyone remember the League Cup semi final a few years ago when Liverpool and Man U were kept apart by Ian Rush (?) picking the balls and the teams assigned to the balls afterwards?

And what about the next year when Nigel Winterburn (?) actually looked into the pot to pick out the teams.

I can't remember the actual people so I think it was Rush and Winterburn being the culprits...

Yeah, but Chelsea and Liverpool drew each other in the semis last season.... and I seem to remember everyone talking about what a great Worthington Cup final Tottenham and Chelsea would be before we spoiled the party by drawing Sheff Wed in the semi.

The draw isn't fixed at all... just annoying that Chelsea have been drawn at home every round.

[dj54nna]

City were dire against Preston on Sunday, so I'm delighted. A third beating for City this season shouldn't be too difficult really.

[RevidgeBlue]

All subject to beating Arsenal of course, but I'm starting to seriously like the way the FA Cup is looking this year.

IF we beat L'Arse (what are the odds on them fielding a seriously weakened side?) then I would expect us to beat Citeh at home leaving us with a one in three chance of drawing Watford or Plymouth in the semis.

What's that old adage about your name being on the Cup in any particular year? I started to wonder if that was the case when Warnock hacked down Aliadiere.

P.S. Didn't we also beat Citeh and (an understrength) Arsenal en route to winning the Worthington Cup?

[bluebruce]

P.S. Didn't we also beat Citeh and (an understrength) Arsenal en route to winning the Worthington Cup?

Definitely beat Arsenal, heavily. We scored 4 or 5, can't recall which. What a dream it would be to repeat that- but we'd only get the same rubbish we got for that game from the press, about how Arsenal were just understrength. They ignored that we were understrength too...things looking quite similar this time. With their fixture list I can't see Arsene naming their best team, and we've got plenty of cripples right now.

[stuwilky]

P.S. Didn't we also beat Citeh and (an understrength) Arsenal en route to winning the Worthington Cup?

We did indeed Simon, 2-0 and 4-0 respectively.

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

Let's not worry about Citeh, theres no chance Winker will be taking chances with Arse, so they'll cruise past us at Ewood

[bluebruce]

Let's not worry about Citeh, theres no chance Winker will be taking chances with Arse, so they'll cruise past us at Ewood

That's the kind of blind optimism that will win us the day!

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

Don't wanna get overconfident or I'll only end up jinxing us

Come on Lawro, repeat after me "A thrashing for Blackburn"

[bluebruce]

Don't wanna get overconfident or I'll only end up jinxing us

Come on Lawro, repeat after me "A thrashing for Blackburn"

Hehe...I voted Blackburn on 'who will win the FA Cup?' on skysports.com. I was worried about jinxing, and I don't really believe it anyway, but I thought I'd boost our figures for it and see how we compared with everyone else. Most of the teams that more people voted for were understandable (Manure killed it btw). We got 2 percent, similar to most of the clubs in it. The likes of Watford only got 1 percent. But Man City got 3 percent, which confuses me. Whichever way you look at it, I'd consider them pretty strong favourites to be out in the next round. Guess people assume Arsenal are gonna roll over us though.

[RovertheHill]

All subject to beating Arsenal of course, but I'm starting to seriously like the way the FA Cup is looking this year.

IF we beat L'Arse (what are the odds on them fielding a seriously weakened side?) then I would expect us to beat Citeh at home leaving us with a one in three chance of drawing Watford or Plymouth in the semis.

What's that old adage about your name being on the Cup in any particular year? I started to wonder if that was the case when Warnock hacked down Aliadiere.

P.S. Didn't we also beat Citeh and (an understrength) Arsenal en route to winning the Worthington Cup?

WRT the odds of Arse fielding an understrength side - tomorrow's game with PSV will have a huge bearing on that. If they get beaten they will have to field their best players in 2 weeks time for the 2nd leg, which would increase the odds of them either resting them against us or against whoever their prem opponents are at the weekend. If Arse win tomorrow it gives them more options and I would suggest we're more likely to see the better players.

Not sure it matters though - their kids are great and maybe playing a slightly distracted and disinterested first team would be better than a hungry second team?