Supporters control Saints' destiny.....

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The Circle Has To Be Broken
Tuesday 16 Sep 2008

Something has to change at St Mary's and if the Club is to survive then the only people who can instigate it are the supporters.

This summer has seen the return of Rupert Lowe and a stream of supporters telling anyone that will listen that they wont be turning up at St Mary's again till he has gone. Compare that to the situation at Liverpool and Newcastle both of whom have owners who in truth are probably a lot worse for their club's than Lowe is for Saints.

But have these fans responded to the crisis by staying away, no they have protested and protested in numbers, they know that the club is bigger than the individuals concerned, but they also know that if they do just sit down on their sofa's or at their keyboards on match day, rather than their seats in the stadium, then those running the club will be able to get away with whatever they like. Did any of these fans interviewed on SKY Sports etc turn round and say "Ive said my bit on an internet message Board" not they were there standing up and being counted.

Now our situation is different to both of those sets of supporters in that we dont have a queue of people who would love to get their hands on the club, no ours is far more serious, both on and off the pitch Saints need the backing of their supporters more than at any other time, so far we havent had an attendance over the break even point and I would be surprised if that changes in the next couple of games.

Certain posters have cried out for experienced signings on loan, the problem is how do we pay for these signings, unless we start to get more money in through the turnstiles then we are on a dowmward and slippery slope, we cant improve the squad without cash and without improvement people wont start coming back, it adds up to a very depressing future unless the circle is broken.

No one is denying that we are in financial straits, no one is denying that the bank are controlling the purse strings, so look at it from their point of view, if the Club go to the bank asking for cash to be released then they will look at one thing and that is income or potential income, average gate for the two games is 17,277, we are losing money they arent going to sanction more outgoings.

But if we had say over 20,000 per game that added income would give the club leverage to talk to the bank, 3,000 extra supporters a game is approximately £75,000 income, that more than cover what is needed in increased wages.

So who is going to break the circle, obviously the sale of the club will be one option, the other is the fans themselves, we supporters have to see that we are the ones that control the destiny of the club, with our support things can get better, without it, it will get a lot worse, unless our position improves then we wont be able to resist the sales of Lallana and maybe others, we wont have a choice the bank will demand it.

To be honest I could take the views of those stay away fans on board a lot more if any of them were actually doing anything about it, how many match day protesters have we actually got, not one person is prepared to stand up protest outside the stadium, not one !!!

I spent many seasons going with Saints to Anfield, the chant would always be "Do you come from Liverpool" the inference being that Saints and the like are better supporters because they support their local club, now I dont know where the protesters at liverpool were from, but they cared enough to protest, perhaps the quote from one of the Gallagher brothers at the height of Oasis fame is very pertinent, "Its not about where your from, its where your at"

So what are the next few home games going to reveal about our stay away supporters , are we going to see some of them rally around the flag and return to the games, are we going to see some of them start to protest or ar we going to see them hide behind some excuse as to why they wont be there, in the 90's this club has supporters who were prepared to stand up and fight as was shown with the Branfoot years, sadly I see none of that now.

I have pride in Southampton Football Club, Im proud to say I support them and I would be ashamed to say I turned my back on them in the hour of their need.

NB> As Always I respect the fact that many fans cannot go to games for various reasons, including family commitments, Distance,financial constraints and several other good reasons, these are not the people who I want to take offence, in fact im not pointing the finger at anyone, Im merely making a few observations, Im sure that those people who are staying away know why they are doing it and their reasons, that being the case they cant be offended as their conscience is clear, however not everyone has a clear conscience !

Very true. Like some on this site who are unable to go to see many games I wish more who are able would go. If they want Lowe and the board out then they are going the wrong way about it. Our club is suffering and I feel for the people Like Deano and Teamsaint (and all other) who go and then have to watch and suffer because of the few. Lowe was moved on once only to see the club dive even deeper into money trouble.We have no choice but to back the club if we are going to rise again. More support = more money = more chance of a take over.