Saints game against Shrewsbury Town in the 3rd round of the FA Cup has been postponed, read of for the official press release from the club and what is going to happen next

Southampton Football Club has released the following statement;

The club received notice of the decision from the Football Association this morning, after a number of Shrewsbury players and staff members tested positive for Covid-19.

A meeting of The FA’s Professional Game Board will take place early next week to make a decision as to what will happen with the fixture, and we will update supporters as soon as we have any further information.

The club would also like to send its best wishes to the players and staff affected at Shrewsbury, and we wish them all a speedy recovery.

The Ugly Inside understands that there has been no final decision made on any club who are unable to fulfil a fixture and that there is still a chance that this game could go ahead next week, but there is a good chance that Saints and other clubs affected will be awarded a bye due to the lack of any gap in the fixture lists to be able to fit in a rescheduled game.

With mid week games in the Premier League being virtually the norm till the start of February and also European fixtures for some clubs there is just no space in the schedule to be able to fit in any game postponed due to Covid.

If this game is not slotted into next week, then it is hard to see when it can be played given that Saints have midweek Premier League games in every week after up to the week starting Monday 8th Feb.

Photo: Action Images

KriSaint added 13:38 - Jan 7 I also join in in wishing covid-hit Shrewsbury players & staff a speedy recovery, and I hope the re-scheduling of the game will fit us as good as possible and not interfere with anything in a bad way. This year we could certainly have a good FA cup run, as we kinda look like a great cup side with the players we have. I would give my right (no left) testicle to re-win that cup. This postponement is probably not something that bothers Ralph very much. Gives him (and players) a day or two more to enjoy the epic victory over Liverpool, before putting that game fully to bed and fully focusing on the next PL game. COYR!

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ElijahK added 14:31 - Jan 7 I mean I do understand why they’ve called off this game, and wish Shrewsbury players and staff all the best, but in the end the FA will need to now just tell clubs that if they don’t play then they’re opposition automatically qualify for the next round. I mean in the end there isn’t enough time to play these games and as time goes on there’s going to be less and less free slots as the teams in the European contests get going again! The fa need to just move on as in the end if you REALLY can’t play with your first team then you’ll have to play with your youth (U18/U23) as then it’ll make less arguments over the postponement of games and will stop it going out of control!

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davepid added 14:50 - Jan 7 I know it’s short notice but couldn’t we see if we could play Liverpool again on Saturday.
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mancuniansaint added 14:55 - Jan 7 So, with games cancelled and fixtures forfeited, could this be the year a non-league club (e.g. Chorley, who are playing a much depleted Derby this round) makes it to the final? Maybe even wins it? Stranger things have happened in the last 12 months, and not just in football.
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