With Southampton Football Club on the brink of a return to the Premiership, a clash between the top two in the Championship should not have an empty seat in the house.

Over the past few years i have often posted articles about attendances at St Mary's, but perhaps Friday's visit of Reading is a game when it really needs to be emphasised that a full house should be a given and not just a hope.

To put it bluntly, on Friday Saints meet up with their rival for not only promotion, but the Championship title itself and although we are six points clear of West Ham in third, nothing is yet certain, from many points of view, this is our most important game to be played at St Mary's since that horrible Manchester United game in May 2005 that saw us drop out of the top flight for the first time in 27 years, how could any Saints supporter not want to be present at this game if they are in the vicinity.

Two years ago we took around 50,000 to Wembley for the Johnstone's Paint Trophy Final, so the fanbase is there, now some of that fanbase need to get up off their rear ends and do their bit for the cause, of course there will be those unable to due to various reasons, but the stark truth is football clubs are not supported in front of TV screens, they need their supporters in the ground and solidly behind them and now is one of those occasions, we need to create an artmosphere and roar the team on to three points, three points that would put us only one win from the promised land.

Im sure that the same old cynics will post messages decrying me for daring to suggest that football supporters should actually do what the title suggests and support their football team, call me old fashioned but I was brought up in an age when a supporter was judged on his commitment to his team, not which Sky sports package he subscribed to.

Whatever a Saints fans reason for not going to the other games this season, with an average gate so far of 25,000, it does mean that 25,000 Saints fans who went to Wembley arent going that regularly, that of course is life and we all have our reasons for not being able to do things, be in geographical or financial, but not all 25k have these excuses.

Many fine words have been spoken about Markus Liebherr, his love of the Club and his desire to see us in the Premier League, Markus put his money where his mouth was for this football club and made sure it did have a future and a decent one at that, if he a man, with no connection to this City could do that, then surely its not too much to ask for others to put their own hands in their pockets and help crank up the atmosphere on Friday

Photo: Action Images

StrasbourgSaint added 11:40 - Apr 11 I'll be in Braga, Portugal desperately hoping to have more luck trying to find Sky than on my last visit there. Am I excused? But seriously, Nick, you're right. I think, given last night's result, the ticket office will be pretty busy this week. I just wish I could be around for at least one of (or better still ALL OF) the last four matches.
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OldRed added 12:09 - Apr 11 Well said Nick, especially for this occasion. If you can afford to subscribe to SKY then a cost of a ticket to cheer your team on to the title should not be a problem. Looking fwd to this one more than any game for quite some time.
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bstokesaint added 13:03 - Apr 11 There's no excuse for the biggest game in recent years not to have a capacity crowd. If we can get anywhere near the atmopshere we had for the south coast derby it will be brilliant. The winner of this game is as good as up, and primed for top spot. Anyone who's planning on going to the Coventry game should make this one too. After all the latter game will be influenced by the result in the Reading game.

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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 13:09 - Apr 11 I don't think it'll be a sell out due to it being a Friday night game and its on Sky. Too many people will prefer not to rush around after work, save the £30-£40 and just watch it at home with a beer or go down the pub. If it was 3pm on a Saturday it would've sold out straight away. It should be a tremendous game though. Whoever wins this one will probably go on to win the league. It'll be very interesting to see how both teams approach the game. I can't see Reading sitting back, I think they'll get stuck into us and get in our faces like they did at the Madejski. I just hope Saints don't play with nerves like they did against Pompey. We know that Reading will close us down at every opportunity so its up to Saints to play with confidence and composure, get the ball on the deck, keep possession and make Reading work for it. An end to end game will not suit Saints as Reading are better on the break than us, and we don't have the pace up front for a quick attack. So we've got to look to control the game and not get caught out defensively on the break. COYR!!!

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mg2104 added 15:11 - Apr 11 I just bought the last ticket.
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Horndeansaint added 15:32 - Apr 11 Well done mg2104 if you did. It shows as sold out on the os.
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robhythe added 15:35 - Apr 11 When you say about 50,000 going to Wembley it makes me wonder how many different people have gone to a game this season! ie- Some people go to one game in four or one game in three and some just go to a handfull of games cos of commitments etc! Its not the same 25000 each game is what im saying! It would be interesting to see how close it is to 50,000! Also interested to see how many people are on the database!!!!

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SaintNick added 15:45 - Apr 11 about 14,000 are season ticket holders who would go to each game, then I would say about another 6,000 would go to pretty much every game, then I would think about 10,000 would go to half, so that would lve the other 20,000 to turn up when they feel like it
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robhythe added 15:54 - Apr 11 i actualy reckon there are thousands of fans that just go to one or two games a season! I know at least four people that have been to only a couple of games!
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bstokesaint added 17:25 - Apr 11 I'm not on the SFC database. Been to about 20-25 games home and away this season. I always dread the day I need to be on the database to get a ticket to a big game, such as a cup final..!!
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bstokesaint added 17:27 - Apr 11 I'm not on the SFC database. Been to about 20-25 games home and away this season. I always dread the day I need to be on the database to get a ticket to a big game, such as a cup final..!!
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Horndeansaint added 17:40 - Apr 11 Hey bstokesaint, are you the fella we spoke to on the train on Monday? You said you aren't on the database but had managed to get a ticket ok so far, you also mentioned about a particularly long trip to Hull?
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Libertine36 added 18:45 - Apr 11 Why are you not on the database Bstokesaint?
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overtonboy added 19:06 - Apr 11 I wouldn't trust the database as far as i could throw it. I'm an ex-season ticket holder who stopped regular attendance when my job changed. With in 6 months and whilst still attending approx 1 in 4 (spur of the moment/on the day purchases)...the club had no record of me at all. My dad passed away nearly 6 years ago, still on their database and gets reminders about wanting to renew his disabled parking space each season!!

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bstokesaint added 06:24 - Apr 12 No, that wasn't me Hordean. Blackpool is the furthest I've travelled this season (Middlesbrough will top that). Been to just about every weekend game north of Brum, making most of accommodation from friends and family in the north. My wife and her dad our season ticket holders and they always purchase tickets for me. Regardless of where we finish I plan to get a season ticket next season for the first time.

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