The televising of the game and the two switches of kick of time have done nothing to help ticket sales for the game against West Ham United on Saturday evening.

Saints still have a couple of thousand tickets left for the game against West Ham United on Saturday evening despite the four game unbeaten run that has seen the team surge up to seventh and looking to get on the coat tails of West Ham by taking revenge for the narrow defeat at Upton Park just after Xmas.

This hasn't stirred up sales at the ticket office though and there are not only seats available in all areas, but big clumps of unsold seats in the Chapel End.

That is sad to see after the great results achieved by Ronald Koeman's team in the past month and the side deserve to see a sell out, whilst I understand why the change in kick off time and the game being on TV might put off some from going, a midweek kick off didn't affect the crowd last season when 31,241 watched a Wednesday evening game.

Perhaps the Saints board would do well to take note that St Mary's isn't quite selling out games in the same way it was over the past couple of years and with the team doing so well that can mean only one thing, prices are too high, given that West Ham have taken the full allocation and the number of season ticket holders we have, it seems so far only around 3,000 floating fans have bought a match ticket.

Given that we took 50,000 fans to Wembley a few years back, why is it that out of over half of that number who are not season ticket holders, only 3,000 of over 27,000 on the database have bought a ticket for the visit of West Ham.

Ralph Krueger take note, supporters will not just turn up whatever, footbal fans are being priced out of the game, Saints pride themselves these days on being a forward thinking club, on the day that the club announced a great new initiative in the USA, perhaps they should also look at what is happening a little closer to home.

Photo: Action Images

SalisburySaint added 22:57 - Feb 4 I know loads of people who are not able to go as they made alternative plans but would have gone on Monday as they had the opportunity to plan for that date The late change of date IMO has had a significant effect on the attendance we are likely to get
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squidofdespair added 08:13 - Feb 5 its the cost Nick. squid and mates would go more but it is a piss-take. thousands of poor bastards funding a car park full of Bentleys.
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SaintBrock added 15:39 - Feb 5 There have always been clubs you love to watch and clubs you can't be bothered with. Years ago in the days of Brooking & Co I would have queued all night for a ticket to see WHU's beautiful flowing football when everyone else was playing hoofball-kick-and-rush. Times have changed, not least because of the Allardyce years and I haven't bothered turning out to watch them since they came back up with us a few years ago. Things are changing now for the better one hopes but the main reason to be there tomorrow night is not WHU but to show the support our players who are on a great run deserve and help them keep it going. We are all in this together. If we cannot fill the stadium right now with our team on fire then we don't deserve to be a top-six club.

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schatfield added 16:57 - Feb 5 Its the cost, not hard to figure out. And for those of us that no longer live in Soton its the dreadful journey time too.
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squidofdespair added 17:53 - Feb 5 saintbrock - of course, what was squid thinking, I must support a kid on fifty grand a week because that is not motivation enough...
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Bettwsresident added 17:58 - Feb 5 Living in Wales I'm saving my powder and marriage by going to Swansea next week instead!
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aceofthebase added 18:55 - Feb 5 This pensioner must be very selective in games to watch. Hence I've seen a couple of disappointing cup games and a couple of premier games. The vost is ridiculous especially considering the travel as I now live in Dorset I have been in 30,000 crowds at the Dell when an away supporter was a rarity. A season ticket is just out of my pocket. The main reason I'm not watching West Ham is because the rain will be piddling down and I can stream EVERY premier game for free.

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saintmark1976 added 21:51 - Feb 5 Hopefully there may be a big walk up tomorrow.If not who will be surprised? Firstly the date of the game has been changed with little prior notice. Then the game is on Sky.Last but not least the cost is too great. Welcome to being a football fan in the 21st century. If the price of tickets is increased for next season then St Mary's not being full could become the norm. I doubt the board will be bothered given the planned increase in Sky money though.

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warrens76 added 10:11 - Feb 6 I can get out of Manchester quicker than Southampton and there is 76000 people doing the same! Public transport is non existent, open the effin railway.. The cost, many would say that the old working class clubs fill their grounds, here is the rub, spendable income in the South is amongst the powest in the land, very high cost of living, modest wages...it has an effect. The fairweather base cannot come when they want to come, ironically a bigger ground is the stepping stone to higher average attendances and the catchment of many who would 'get in the groove' if they could initially get into the big games then come back for more..

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