IT seems that it is 'have a go at Sven' week - but he certainly didn't gain many popularity points by suggesting that the FA Cup Final is "only another game" and should be played on a Wednesday night ten days before the end of the season.

I like Sven and get on well with him, but next time I see him I will ask him how popular the Swedish Cup final is around the world.

People in Southampton recall every minute of their two cup finals in the last 30 years and, even now, when I'm out and about in the area, people can still tell me where they stood, not just at Wembley but also on the day after when the Cup was paraded around the city.

The build-up to a cup final starts weeks beforehand and effects the whole community.

Win, lose or draw, it's a memorable occasion, even for fans of Man Utd, Arsenal and Liverpool etc, who expect to get to the final more often than not.

To stick it away in a corner as it were on a Wednesday night in Cardiff, with all of the traffic and and the crowd problems this would cause, just does not make sense - and that's apart from the emotional side of it all.

Our cup final is watched all around the world and I remember my secretary Val Gardner opening sackfuls of letters and parcels in 1976 and finding such things as a spear from Africa and a boomerang from Australia.

Sure, Sven needs as much preparation time with England as possible, so here's a couple of suggestions.

Let's hope for his sake and, of course, ours, that Southampton get to the final. That would help him breathe a bit more easily, because at present we don't have any player in his squad.

And even if we were to play Arsenal, they only have two in Ashley Cole and Sol Campbell (if he is fit of course).

That way, the rest of the England players can have a restful day watching the game on TV, along with the rest of the world.

The other alternative is for the Premiership to start either a week earlier or fit in some fixtures on an evening when Sven would normally have a friendly game. Let's be fair, if this week's game is anything to go by, no one will miss these type of fixtures.

Surely Sven has been with us long enough to understand that tradition is still very dear the hearts of every English supporter and that the FA Cup Final is one which should be retained.