Not too big a crowd at St Mary's tonight to see the Southampton-Norwich replay then? Perhaps the home club's stayaways are saving themselves for their team's must-win game against Leicester on Sunday.
It's not the first tie in the third round of this year's FA Cup to have fewer watching than the authorities would have liked and hoped for. Plenty of 'bigger' clubs have had low crowds - perhaps because fans have known weakened teams would be fielded.
But is the Cup’s romance is dead, or dying? Many think it is, pointing to those reserve and youth-orienated line-ups put out by some of the Premier League and Championship teams - something that, by the way, is by no means a new phenomenon this season.
And yet, for all the moans from our biggest clubs about fixture congestion and priorities, they can’t seem to bring themselves to weaken their teams to the extent that an exit is inevitable.
It’s probably because they don’t want the humiliation. Jurgen Klopp might be focused on trying to win the Premier League but did he really want to lose to Plymouth in the FA Cup? I don’t think so, and I’m pretty sure no Liverpool fan wanted to either.
For every club apart from the three or maybe four who can win the league, the FA Cup represents their next biggest stab at a trophy. So can they really afford to disrespect it?
And let’s look at it from the other side of the fence. In days, weeks and months to come, will, for example, Plymouth’s fans’ memories of their trip to Anfield be tainted by knowledge that Liverpool put out a team of kids? I’m not sure it will.
Whatever opinions we as Pompey fans have of the boys from Home Park, the fact is they went to Anfield to see Plymouth take on Liverpool, the club, not a particular group of individuals. And they had a great day, worrying not that Derek Adams did not send his team out with instructions to go all-out attack, but taking pride simply in the result and now relishing the chance to take on the Reds again on their own patch.
I think Plymouth fans' favourable outlook on the present-day FA Cup is probably reflected by other smaller clubs who have also been fortunate enough to have got this far. Sutton and Lincoln won’t think the competition is short of magic, nor will Rochdale, Accrington Stanley; nor numerous others.
It’s like Pompey’s journey to the fourth round a year ago. We enjoyed getting to round three and then taking on - and beating - Ipswich, who were far from being at full strength (mind you, nor were Pompey...). And we are still watching back that wonderful 48-pass goal, finished by Gary Roberts, against Bournemouth, who’d also rested a few that day.
The strength of the opposition doesn’t, in my opinion, take away from the romance of the Cup for teams enjoying a bit of a run. Look at some of the better attendances and away followings in round three and the replays this season if you want to back that up.
Consider too the buzz around the country caused by those Sutton and Lincoln replay wins on Tuesday night. That caused more excitement nationally than any round of Premier League or even Champions League games has this season, in my view.
But all the above should not be taken as evidentce more couldn’t be done to keep the Cup special and ensure it has a major place in the calendar for many decades to come.
For starters, if it is acceptable to fine the likes of Pompey and Luton for changing their teams for Johnstones Paint - sorry, I mean EFL - Trophy matches (which, incidentally, I don’t feel it is) then surely penalties could be imposed on Premier teams who bring in too many reserves in the FA Cup? Or are the FA scared of the big boys?
And could not some deal be done with the TV companies — some clause written into future Cup contracts — to somehow give clubs or fans a say, or a vote, on who should be shown live?
The BBC in particular must realise what a bad light they are seen in when they opt for a West Ham v Man City when there is a Sutton v AFC Wimbledon or a Millwall v Bournemouth waiting to be televised? At least they got it right in showing the Imps and Ipswich live the other night, though do I hear Man Utd v Wigan is lined up for live coverage in round four?
Rumours of the FA Cup’s demise are, it seems to me, very premature, but that shouldn’t stop us all trying to find ways to prevent any future threat. If we continue to cherish it, the FA Cup will be going strong long after the Premier League has had its day.
STEVE BONE
@stevebone1 on Twitter
* A version of this article first appeared in the Pompey v Leyton Orient matchday programme. Read Steve Bone in View from the North Stand in the programme every home game and in Bone Idle Gossip in the Sports Mail every Sunday
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