The magic of the FA Cup is diminishing by the year, football fans are waking up to the fact that if you are not one of the elite big club's then you have no chance of winning it anymore, hence it will be a sparse St Mary's this afternoon.
The FA Cup has been in slow decline, since the introduction of the Premier League 33 years ago, there have been very few winners who have not been Manchester United /City, Liverpool, Arsenal or Chelsea, even Tottenham Hotspur have been unable to win it since 1991.
Outside of that cartel of 5 clubs there have been just 4 other winners, Everton in 1995, Portsmouth in 2008, Wigan in 2013 & Leicester in 2001.
Add to that the tendency for Premier League clubs and even some Championship ones to prioritise other competitions and play fringe players & youngsters in most rounds up tom the semi final & you have a competition with nothing to offer most clubs other than the chance of a few quid in the coffers.
Indeed yesterday Accrington Stanley & Salford went to Liverpool & Manchester City respectively with the home side playing weakened teams and both got heavily beaten, where was the magic in that.
That is the state of football in 2025.
So what we have at St Mary's in 2025 is a disillusioned fanbase sticking two fingers up to the Southampton board for a lack of leadership and the insulting gesture of charging £22.50 or £25 on the day to watch a Southampton reserve side take on what is likely to be a Swansea reserve side.
With communication between the club and it's supporters being virtually at an all time low, yes not an all time LOWE, even Rupert the Right honourable MP for Great Yarmouth told the fans more than this lot, we have to ask where is our CEO Phil Parsons on this, how did he allow these high prices to be charged ?
Traditionally for these games it is about low prices and building a fan base for the future, but even advance tickets would have cost a family of four £66 including the booking fee and with the on the day price, that goes up to £76 (perhaps that is one good omen)
Perhaps it was not the fault of Southampton FC, after all relationships have not been good between the two clubs due to the argument over Russell Martin's compensation, but if that is the case then why not tell the fans that.
As I say absolutely no communication whatever, that in itself see's the fans view of their club's hierarchy drop even further, they ask why Rasmus Ankersen deigned to send his best wishes over the festive period to the fans of Goztepe, but not of Southampton.
So the first question today will be how many will be at St Mary's ? will this be our lowest attendance for a First team game in around 15 years ?
The answer is going to be probably yes, a look at the ticketing website shows that the Northam End, the so called Red Wall that Phil Parson's spent so much time & money in instigating will be barely a third full, less than 2,000 tickets sold, that should tell our CEO something, our loudest fans some of our most passionate cannot be bothered coming to the game.!
The Itchen Stand seems to be virtually sold out, but given that a portion of that is taken up by corporate, that is likely to be only around 5,000 tickets flown out the door.
The Itchen has probably sold around the same number as the Kingsland, meaning that there will probably less than 10,000 Saints supporters turning out for this game, whether we top that number in the actual attendance will be down to how many Swansea fans travel down.
That might not be too many, after all it is a 4.30pm kick off and the game is live on BBC Wales, what is the incentive for Swansea fans to make a 180 mile, 3-4 hour journey down paying a high ticket price.
In other news there is a team to be picked, God only knows what it will be, but I would expect Ivan Juric to use this game to find out more about the players in his squad who are yet to get much game time under him.
Probably Alex McCarthy will get a game in goal, after that it's anyone's guess, Ryan Fraser, Jack Stephens, Charlie Taylor, new signing Wellington, Armel Bella-Kotchap, Sam Amo-Ameyaw, will all get a start, most have not had a chance under Juric yet.
One potential surprise inclusion could be recent signing Joachim Kayi Sanda, he has recently arrived from another Sport Republic club Valeniennces, although only 18 he has been a regular for the French Club and has gone straight into the first team squad here, with the squad number of 39.
Personally I am going to the game, for me it is about supporting the team, even if things are going wrong, but that is my choice and it seems many others have made a different one.