“We spent nearly an hour on this issue,” he explained this morning. “The rules insist that you have to have as near as possible a 50-50 split in tickets.
“Getting the Southampton-Watford tie into London was thus a problem. At West Ham nearly three sides of the ground would have to go to one club and only one to the other. Arsenal is a 60-40 split. Even Stamford Bridge is 55-45. Arsenal, Chelsea and West Ham are all due to play home Premiership games that weekend too.
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“The other thing we wanted was to get as many fans as possible to see the games. Chelsea or Arsenal will have 40,000 fans wanting to go. Sheffield United will have a lot. Old Trafford gives you 25,000 more tickets than any other ground.
“The 1pm kick-off was important because I was determined to avoid the 7pm kick-off like at Villa Park last year.
“I know Old Trafford will cost more for fans to get there, and it takes longer, but it’s no more than our Worthington Cup quarter-final.
And I know Villa Park is a hike for Southampton fans, but they’re at the end of the country and almost anywhere will be one for them.
We discussed everything at length and decided this was the best and the fairest decision.”