Reg-imental

Reg Varney has made a front page website plea to Charlton fans to attend Thursday's game because "...The Football Association could face an FA Cup semi-final dilemma if three London teams make it though to the last four of this season's competition." I guess I should point out the FA could face a semi-final dilemma if two London teams make it through, but will face a semi-final dilemma if three London teams make it through.

However semantics aside, he does have a habit of preaching to fans who I'm sure are mature and rational enough to make decisions about whether to attend without needing to be warned that, "...it just re-emphasises the importance of all regular fans attending Thursday's match."

Even if Reg's plea is successful, he hasn't pointed out how they would allocate just 15,000 tickets for a potential semi-final if more than 15,000 season-ticket holders show up on Thursday (and they all want to attend the semi). Maybe a smaller crowd on Thursday will paradoxically make their lives easier in the event that we win - the law of unintended consequences.

If a fan has decided to save a few quid, and watch the game on TV, who are the club to preach to them about the decision they have made? In all likelihood any fans that have made this choice are probably going to be less bothered about missing a semi-final, all other things being equal, than those that will attend on Thursday. Either way, people have made their decision and are unlikely to be swayed now, and that decision ought to be respected.