A sad indictment of the modern Saints fan?

[Saint Charlie]

Prompted by the other thread discussing new stadia and expansions for QPR and Cardiff...

 

Q: The most viewed thread on page one of this forum?

 

A: Watch every game live

 

This thread has approx 60,000 views, double the January transfer window thread, and over 800 posts.

 

Looking through it there seems to be an array of fans who are sharing titbts about different grainy streams, malware ridden websites and dodgy match feeds which charge sizeables fees.

 

Is this more worthy than discussing actual football, or going to live matches?

 

I can understand those who are located abroad, it is a way to watch your team, but realistically how will we ever command greater attendances than the early 30,000s if more and more UK based fans choose to take this path than actually going to see live football? Only a small handful of matches have sold out thus far.

 

Of course this goes beyond just Saints, the FA Cup draw was live at the same time as a PL game for the first time, and on New Years Day there is a live PL game at 3pm (ours incidently).

 

It would be interesting to know how many fans on here do actually go to watch Saints live as a proportion of posters, and how many of those on here are basically just Al-Jazeera monkeys?

 

What sort of ongoing impact will this recent trend have on the future of our club and football as a whole?

[Colinjb]

I think the key point here for many is watch 'every' game live. The away ones alongside the home. Knowing there are options to see these matches when they are quite readily selling out (or for those who simply don't want to trek a ten hour round trip to Newcastle) is just as relevant as those who would take the online viewing option rather then attending home games.

[Saint Charlie]

I think the key point here for many is watch 'every' game live. The away ones alongside the home. Knowing there are options to see these matches when they are quite readily selling out (or for those who simply don't want to trek a ten hour round trip to Newcastle) is just as relevant as those who would take the online viewing option rather then attending home games.

 

For some of course. But at some of the costs quoted there are clearly those for whom actually going to a stadium, eating a salmonella ridden burger and watching live football is becoming a thing of the past, which is a shame.

 

We have our best team for years and still can't sell out a mid to lower sized PL stadium, whilst the most posted on thread is how to watch streams.

 

[Smirking_Saint]

Im playing saturday football again so didnt get a ST this year, I try to get down there when Ive not got a game but if I cant get a ticket Ill make sure I watch a dodgy stream, the same as I did last few years when we played away and I didnt go.

 

Problem I can see for a lot of people is the costs, we still have a reasonable fan base, though not selling out to many times (if any?) this year our ST uptake was pretty good. I imagine part of the reason for the stadium not selling out is partly people thinking they wont get a ticket and partly because it is quire expensive.

 

The average sat at the football costs me around £100 with food, drink, cab etc and match ticket.

 

Personally I think footballs stood up quite well with the influx of on demand streaming for almost every game and a steadily increasing cost of the match ticket.

 

On another note, I notice that Saints player no longer offers full match replays after games, anyone know where I can get these ?

[angelman]

It would be interesting to know how many fans on here do actually go to watch Saints live as a proportion of posters, and how many of those on here are basically just Al-Jazeera monkeys?

 

What sort of ongoing impact will this recent trend have on the future of our club and football as a whole?

 

 

Been to every home league game this season. Don't get excited by cup games as the tickets aren't cheap enough for the second/third string we field. Will be missing the Chelsea one on NY day as got other things doing.

[shurlock]

Maybe the overlords of the mongboard are earning their (naan) bread, ensuring that related topics over the course of the season are staying on one thread rather than splintering off into loads of sub-threads.

 

Sure if you add up all the prematch and postmatch threads, they dwarf every other thread on here - plastic-inspired or not.

 

And what about billy ****e?

[Saint Troy]

Prompted by the other thread discussing new stadia and expansions for QPR and Cardiff...

 

Q: The most viewed thread on page one of this forum?

 

A: Watch every game live

 

This thread has approx 60,000 views, double the January transfer window thread, and over 800 posts.

 

Looking through it there seems to be an array of fans who are sharing titbts about different grainy streams, malware ridden websites and dodgy match feeds which charge sizeables fees.

 

Is this more worthy than discussing actual football, or going to live matches?

 

I can understand those who are located abroad, it is a way to watch your team, but realistically how will we ever command greater attendances than the early 30,000s if more and more UK based fans choose to take this path than actually going to see live football? Only a small handful of matches have sold out thus far.

 

Of course this goes beyond just Saints, the FA Cup draw was live at the same time as a PL game for the first time, and on New Years Day there is a live PL game at 3pm (ours incidently).

 

It would be interesting to know how many fans on here do actually go to watch Saints live as a proportion of posters, and how many of those on here are basically just Al-Jazeera monkeys?

 

What sort of ongoing impact will this recent trend have on the future of our club and football as a whole?

 

Or is it just no surprise that on an internet forum, the people are often interested in watching/following/supporting saints via the internet - makes perfect sense to me. I live outside Southampton so chat in the office isn't about saints, don't get to as many games as I would like but that's life, internet forum is always there and can watch games on the net. On top of that that thread is relevant to every saints games of the season so far all joined in to one and all the other threads about individual games etc aren't combined so adds to this distortion. There may be some truth in the number of people able to go, and to go regularly, times are hard generally so people are saving, working when they can etc and one thing you can knock on the head is a trip to st Marys knowing that you can watch it for free. Its maybe a shame but its not as drastic a problem as the figures you present I don't think.

 

In terms of whats more worthy its a slightly odd question for a few reasons. Nether is particularly a worthy action - its really personal taste, prefer matches live and transfer gossip or find out which stream is best, its up to you, its a forum so the answer by your stats is selfexplanitory!

 

I wonder why it would be interesting to know how people watch saints? Hopefully not because watching saints live is more worthy. Hopefully because its interesting to know how peoples points of views of players and performances as well as the club in general are formed etc?

 

Saint Troy (go when I can which is a few times a season these days with work and money but if not there watch live nearly every week with the missus - she very very happily gives up the odd full weekend to saints and 90 mins in front of the laptop with a drink but not so keen on a season ticket which would bin all our time and money)

[Colinjb]

For some of course. But at some of the costs quoted there are clearly those for whom actually going to a stadium, eating a salmonella ridden burger and watching live football is becoming a thing of the past, which is a shame.

 

We have our best team for years and still can't sell out a mid to lower sized PL stadium, whilst the most posted on thread is how to watch streams.

 

 

Our crowds are as good now as they have ever been at St Mary's. Average crowds of 30,600 were the norm last time we were in the premier league and are back now.... I don't believe there is an issue. We are probably at the upper current limit of what our fanbase current is. The stadium is essentially full for all midsize games, the more popular teams are selling out. Those who want to go are going.

 

I do not see an issue. A football club internet forum will naturally attract discussion for how those who use the internet can watch the team play!

[Saint Charlie]

Been to every home league game this season. Don't get excited by cup games as the tickets aren't cheap enough for the second/third string we field. Will be missing the Chelsea one on NY day as got other things doing.

 

Agree re cup that given previous attendences it would be sensible to price tickets a lot cheaper. Apart from "protecting the price of the brand" I can't see why its not in the clubs interest to have a full ground and potentially introduce new supporters.

[Colinjb]

Or is it just no surprise that on an internet forum, the people are often interested in watching/following/supporting saints via the internet - makes perfect sense to me.

 

Bulls-eye.

[Brussels Saint]

Its quite an interesting point you raise and I've also thought about this (even though I'm not directly impacted, living abroad)

 

My take is that eventually the PL will realise it's becoming technically harder and harder to restrict such streaming and continuing to sell rights to broadcasters in the traditional sense.

Their best option is to offer premium quality streaming at a cost to watch any match they choose (say 10 quid). Clubs will need to understand that maybe 90% of their matchday revenues will come through this source. If marketed effectively and technically delivered, the aim ios to match the revenues driven through the current rights deals

Many fans will probably choose to do this and make 5-10 live games per season

 

To maintain atmosphere/crowds and breakeven in the stadium, clubs will need to reduce ticket costs to 15-20 quid, returning the game to the working man.

 

There's probably lots of challenges in setting this type of scenario up, but unless they address it, I can only see matchday attendance dropping

[Saint Charlie]

Bulls-eye.

 

Is it? Everyone pretty much uses the internet these days in some way or other, its hardly a niche.

 

Essentially, the mass of streams etc that are available are taking people away from attending matches. Absolutely unbelievable that we haven't sold out more times this season despite the profile of the team.

 

Streaming (both at home and in pubs) has already taken away supporters from attending games.

 

But to see a thread with over 800 posts on it is somewhat galling. Bet the post match Liverpool victory thread was nowhere near that.

[Colinjb]

Is it? Everyone pretty much uses the internet these days in some way or other, its hardly a niche.

 

Essentially, the mass of streams etc that are available are taking people away from attending matches. Absolutely unbelievable that we haven't sold out more times this season despite the profile of the team.

 

Streaming (both at home and in pubs) has already taken away supporters from attending games.

 

Not yet. Statistically we are back where we were now after we got to the cup final and last season was our highest average ever with the exception of the season after the cup final.

 

And yes, most people use the internet but not everyone does for match streaming, it surely isn't too far fetched that those who are more fanatical (those who use a football forum) would discuss it!

Edited 13 December, 2013 by Colinjb

[niceandfriendly]

I used to have a season ticket, but then moved to another place to improve my life quality. So I'm part of the dwindling attendances problem. Sorrry!

 

I miss the buzz of the crowd a little, but now actually kind of prefer being an armchair fan. I can throw my beer at the computer, pick my nose and scratch my arse and no one can tell me otherwise.

[shurlock]

Is it? Everyone pretty much uses the internet these days in some way or other, its hardly a niche.

 

Essentially, the mass of streams etc that are available are taking people away from attending matches. Absolutely unbelievable that we haven't sold out more times this season despite the profile of the team.

 

Streaming (both at home and in pubs) has already taken away supporters from attending games.

 

But to see a thread with over 800 posts on it is somewhat galling. Bet the post match Liverpool victory thread was nowhere near that.

 

But you're comparing apples and oranges.

 

The streaming thread has been up since August and covers the entire season - a postmatch deals with only one game and only one aspect of it to boot (i.e. not the build-up etc)

[warsash saint]

i used to have season ticket ... but got married, got a mortgage, had kids etc etc so can not afford it anymore.

 

With the price of season / match day tickets I just cant afford to go every week, so have to pick & choose my games. The games I cant make, then I will watch online.

 

Sorry if that does make me an uber fan, but them the facts ... A sad indictment of the modern day football ruined by Mr Murdoch!

[doggface]

Really miss going to st Mary's. Never had a season ticket even when I went pretty much every home game.

 

time I left 2.5 years ago I went once a month. Went to man city home last season and picked a cracker!

 

75% of our games are in glorious hd here so that really helps, not a patch on the whole match day experience though. Toronto fc at least gives me a chance to watch live football now and again but the mls is horrible.

[angelman]

Agree re cup that given previous attendences it would be sensible to price tickets a lot cheaper. Apart from "protecting the price of the brand" I can't see why its not in the clubs interest to have a full ground and potentially introduce new supporters.

 

Agree, but even then, I am not sure that I would be too interested going. What's the point of going to watch part of a competition that you aren't even fully trying in? As for prices, I think that it has to be by mutual agreement with your opponents. I think it would be wrong to want cheap prices when playing, say, a L2 team as what might not seem the biggest amount of money to us, might prevent them from going bust.

[Saint Troy]

Slightly evading the point there! The point was that the forum is not made up of internet users, it is made of of people who choose to follow saints in a large way via the internet. The rest of my post explains why some cant get immersed in saints as much as theyd like and so to state that most people use the internet seems a bit irrelavent to me and the point being made.

 

Im not fully sure of the point of this thread. If the fear is that crowds long term will drop to a point that the atmosphere is terrible and that will reduce your experience on match day then it makes some sense. Otherwise I really don't see what is "galling" about someone else being interested in something you're not?

 

If this is a thread about what I hope it is then it would be interesting to know how many saints fans go less because of streaming live games that's true. Its not really that interesting to know who often people go and how many watch it on the internet really in my opinion and certainly this isn't related to how many people go to games in the way you are inferring.

 

 

I really want to go to see saints more and more personally because I can see how entertaining the games are and love the football we're playing. My missus wants to go more because of the same things. Probably will end up going more personally because of streaming than I would otherwise.

[Saint Charlie]

I'm not into the notion of "better/uber fans" ultimately people choose what they wish to do in their various situations which is fine.

 

Of course fans who attend matches contribute directly to the club in a financial way which armchair fans do not - that is fact, but not a better/worse fan argument at all.

 

I guess it is an impact of the Sky generation, and the streaming will only decrease the number of fans that visit PL (and FL) stadia which is a shame because it is (was) the soul of football in this country.

[Baldbarbarian]

Prompted by the other thread discussing new stadia and expansions for QPR and Cardiff...

 

Q: The most viewed thread on page one of this forum?

 

A: Watch every game live

 

This thread has approx 60,000 views, double the January transfer window thread, and over 800 posts.

 

Looking through it there seems to be an array of fans who are sharing titbts about different grainy streams, malware ridden websites and dodgy match feeds which charge sizeables fees.

 

Is this more worthy than discussing actual football, or going to live matches?

 

I can understand those who are located abroad, it is a way to watch your team, but realistically how will we ever command greater attendances than the early 30,000s if more and more UK based fans choose to take this path than actually going to see live football? Only a small handful of matches have sold out thus far.

 

Of course this goes beyond just Saints, the FA Cup draw was live at the same time as a PL game for the first time, and on New Years Day there is a live PL game at 3pm (ours incidently).

 

It would be interesting to know how many fans on here do actually go to watch Saints live as a proportion of posters, and how many of those on here are basically just Al-Jazeera monkeys?

 

What sort of ongoing impact will this recent trend have on the future of our club and football as a whole?

 

I am a season ticket holder, get to as many aways as I can. for those I cant then I watch on these type streams. I think that is fair enough but I know many people who rely on the sreams to watch all games.

[shurlock]

I'm not into the notion of "better/uber fans" ultimately people choose what they wish to do in their various situations which is fine.

 

Of course fans who attend matches contribute directly to the club in a financial way which armchair fans do not - that is fact, but not a better/worse fan argument at all.

 

I guess it is an impact of the Sky generation, and the streaming will only decrease the number of fans that visit PL (and FL) stadia which is a shame because it is (was) the soul of football in this country.

 

Aren't the proceeds from tv sponsorship deals contributing to the club?

[Saint Charlie]

Aren't the proceeds from tv sponsorship deals contributing to the club?

 

Yes. But not via people watching streams in the majority of cases. Certainly not UK based supporters.

[shurlock]

Yes. But not via people watching streams in the majority of cases. Certainly not UK based supporters.

 

They'll work out a way to monetise streaming so that clubs capture more of the value that's being created.

 

Look at other sports: the NFL has pioneered some pretty handy services and add-ons e.g. GamePass that make the viewer want to pay for a live subscription rather than watch some knock-off stream.

[Saint Charlie]

They'll work out a way to monetise streaming so that clubs capture more of the value that's being created.

 

Look at other sports: the NFL has pioneered some pretty handy services and add-ons e.g. GamePass that make the viewer want to pay for a live subscription rather than watch some knock-off stream.

 

They may do - but its not happening at the moment.

[Bucks Saint]

I am a season ticket holder, get to as many aways as I can. for those I cant then I watch on these type streams. I think that is fair enough but I know many people who rely on the sreams to watch all games.

 

This. There is no comparison at all to the experience of attending away matches, versus watching a stream via a laptop at home. For me, if I am able to make an away match, I will always go whether its on TV or stream or whatever. The internet stream is only when I am 100% not able to make it

[Saint_Tony]

The thing is it's just too expensive. I try to do 2 or 3 games a season but it ends up as a £100 day. On a weekend or a weekday for that matter, Saints are usually on my mind and a result can make or break my weekend. I sometimes watch the streams, there are a lot of good quality ones available these days for free. Sadly the reality is that a lot of people and doing this instead of going to games, myself included

[Turkish]

I have now moved away from Southampton so have only been to one home game and three aways this season. When i was a regular though i always said that £40 was my cut off point when it was just too expensive, i could afford to pay that, it's that it was a scandalous rip off which in truth anything over £20 is really. For me though football wasn't just about the game but meeting your mates in the pub before hand, traveling away together and the day out too. Now I live a couple hundreds of miles away if i go to a game i'm usually driving and tend to travel on my own so although can meet up with people it's not the same. I thought i'd really miss it but in truth after a few months i didn't really and am now out of the habit of going. Had some great times and met some great people following Saints week in week out but i'm an armchair fan now going to the odd game here and there.

[Dig Dig]

I'm not into the notion of "better/uber fans" ultimately people choose what they wish to do in their various situations which is fine.

 

Of course fans who attend matches contribute directly to the club in a financial way which armchair fans do not - that is fact, but not a better/worse fan argument at all.

 

I guess it is an impact of the Sky generation, and the streaming will only decrease the number of fans that visit PL (and FL) stadia which is a shame because it is (was) the soul of football in this country.

 

It's not about who is better, you're right, but people who go to games are generally richer, healthier, have a better quality of life and are more knowledgeable in general re saints and football. All IMO of course.

[Shroppie]

Agree with Turks. (now that's worrying). I live 200 miles from

St Mary's but have a season ticket and go when I can. When I can't I'm supporting the club anyway.

 

I get to as many always as I can - they're all closer than home games - but rarely look for a stream if I miss a game.

 

I'll follow the score on my phone or SSN, but doing it live is the whole experience. The trip, be it train or a drive, meeting friends in the pub, a day in Southampton.

[Turkish]

Agree with Turks. (now that's worrying). I live 200 miles from

St Mary's but have a season ticket and go when I can. When I can't I'm supporting the club anyway.

 

I get to as many always as I can - they're all closer than home games - but rarely look for a stream if I miss a game.

 

I'll follow the score on my phone or SSN, but doing it live is the whole experience. The trip, be it train or a drive, meeting friends in the pub, a day in Southampton.

 

If i have a pound for everyone on here that has said "it's not often i agree with Turkish, but......" or something like what you said, i'd have paid my mortgage off by now.

[Dalek2003]

I haven't got the internet so how can use it to watch games live ?

[Deano6]

I haven't got the internet so how can use it to watch games live ?

 

PM me.

[Shroppie]

I haven't got the internet so how can use it to watch games live ?

 

A dalek surely has built-in wi-fi?

[dubai_phil]

I'm a Season Ticket holder.

I would LOVE to watch every game at home. God I dream of the day I can come back and do that.

 

I can't, so Al Jazeera was my salvation. I paid for an annual subscription to 380 live games. We formed a family of Saints fans here in Dubai to share the experience of watching the games together.

 

And as I posted in the early days of that Watch every game live thread, all the fraudulent activities needed to sign up, dodgy work arounds that are listed would lead to trouble.

 

What I never imagined was that the actions of so many greedy bstds in the UK would lead to ME and fellow Saints fans here being deprived of a Social event.

 

Frankly if I could find a way to report every damn one of the people cheating the system so we could get the service WE paid for back.

 

I would do it in an instance.

[Wilko]

Meh.

 

If the world wants me to go to more games, they should put train and ticket prices down, let me drink in the stand and let me stand up.

 

Until then, I'll continue to watch the free threads on the internet. I've more respect for the stay-aways than the Scousers who buy £60 tickets then complain about buying £60 tickets. A half empty stadium is a bigger protest than any banner.

 

Anyway, take me back to league one. All this premier league stuff is a load of ****e anyway.

[Dalek2003]

A dalek surely has built-in wi-fi?

 

Depends. Imperial or Renegade.

[Twiggy]

Currently I am a university student, with mounting debts and limited food. I honestly cannot afford to pay for the train down to Southampton from where I am, even though it is on the same line, let a lone buy a ticket for a single game. As well as this I do not have access to sky or ESPN etc where the games are shown live, I do not have a TV license so i have to watch MOTD 2/3 days after the games have happened, meaning that reading on here is sometimes pointless. So in my position watching a stream online is the only way I can actually effectively see the goals, see my team and watch us develop. If this option wasn't available I'd have to read what people are posting in the live thread or read the shocking BBC "live" update reports - not quite the same effect.

[Colinjb]

Currently I am a university student, with mounting debts and limited food. I honestly cannot afford to pay for the train down to Southampton from where I am, even though it is on the same line, let a lone buy a ticket for a single game. As well as this I do not have access to sky or ESPN etc where the games are shown live, I do not have a TV license so i have to watch MOTD 2/3 days after the games have happened, meaning that reading on here is sometimes pointless. So in my position watching a stream online is the only way I can actually effectively see the goals, see my team and watch us develop. If this option wasn't available I'd have to read what people are posting in the live thread or read the shocking BBC "live" update reports - not quite the same effect.

 

At the risk of being a pedantic bastard, I was under the impression you need a TV license to allow use of iPlayer... Be careful chap.

 

Edit: Ah! No, relax!!

 

You do not need a TV Licence if you are watching TV after it has been shown on television, eg TV programmes downloaded or streamed after broadcast.

[Shroppie]

Currently I am a university student, with mounting debts and limited food. I honestly cannot afford to pay for the train down to Southampton from where I am, even though it is on the same line, let a lone buy a ticket for a single game. As well as this I do not have access to sky or ESPN etc where the games are shown live, I do not have a TV license so i have to watch MOTD 2/3 days after the games have happened, meaning that reading on here is sometimes pointless. So in my position watching a stream online is the only way I can actually effectively see the goals, see my team and watch us develop. If this option wasn't available I'd have to read what people are posting in the live thread or read the shocking BBC "live" update reports - not quite the same effect.

 

Totally accepted. I had many years when I couldn't afford to do live games. Now I'm lucky enough to be able to, so I'm making the most of it.

[Dalek2003]

Currently I am a university student, with mounting debts and limited food. I honestly cannot afford to pay for the train down to Southampton from where I am, even though it is on the same line, let a lone buy a ticket for a single game. As well as this I do not have access to sky or ESPN etc where the games are shown live, I do not have a TV license so i have to watch MOTD 2/3 days after the games have happened, meaning that reading on here is sometimes pointless. So in my position watching a stream online is the only way I can actually effectively see the goals, see my team and watch us develop. If this option wasn't available I'd have to read what people are posting in the live thread or read the shocking BBC "live" update reports - not quite the same effect.

 

Have you tried listening to the wireless, that is what I do. BBC Five Live. You can buy a wireless at an electrical store, apparently portable ones are available nowadays.

[hypochondriac]

Prompted by the other thread discussing new stadia and expansions for QPR and Cardiff...

 

Q: The most viewed thread on page one of this forum?

 

A: Watch every game live

 

This thread has approx 60,000 views, double the January transfer window thread, and over 800 posts.

 

Looking through it there seems to be an array of fans who are sharing titbts about different grainy streams, malware ridden websites and dodgy match feeds which charge sizeables fees.

 

Is this more worthy than discussing actual football, or going to live matches?

 

I can understand those who are located abroad, it is a way to watch your team, but realistically how will we ever command greater attendances than the early 30,000s if more and more UK based fans choose to take this path than actually going to see live football? Only a small handful of matches have sold out thus far.

 

Of course this goes beyond just Saints, the FA Cup draw was live at the same time as a PL game for the first time, and on New Years Day there is a live PL game at 3pm (ours incidently).

 

It would be interesting to know how many fans on here do actually go to watch Saints live as a proportion of posters, and how many of those on here are basically just Al-Jazeera monkeys?

 

What sort of ongoing impact will this recent trend have on the future of our club and football as a whole?

 

 

I have been to a number of games this year as I have a load of mates who often cannot go so I use their season ticket. I have paid for 2 home games (I think.) and been to one away. All the others I have watched on al jazeera.

[doddisalegend]

Well you can blame football for being to ****ing expensive. In the lower leagues I had an ST and so did both my kids as soon as we got to the PL the cost shot up. Now I do maybe 3-4 games a season and those are mostly Cat C or cup games. I don't use streams either just listen to the games on Radio Solent (can't beat a bit of whispering Dave).

 

I went to the youth game the other night £7 for me and the nipper. Good game of football and despite SMS being only 10% full more atmosphere than most PL games I go to (granted it being Pompey probably had something to do with that). But I had a really enjoyable night best footie related entertainment I've had in the last couple of seasons.

 

The truth is (and I expect I'm not the only one) that although the cost of footie has gone up as we've gone up the leagues my match day experience hasn't increased as much. I just don't see the point in paying more but not enjoying it anymore than I did down in league 1.

[badgerx16]

Why is this an indictment of Saints fans - do you not think fans of other clubs do this ?

 

Streams haven't taken me away from games - generally I am out and about until after Saturday lunchtime, so it's too late to start travelling nearly 250 miles to a home game. I do go to some away games, those within reasonable distance. If there wasn't a stream I'd listen to R5, but I will not donate a single penny to any company run by the Murdochs, nor submit to BT's bid to take over all televisual broadcast sports.

Streams enable long distance and overseas fans to see much much more of their team than MOTD might deign to show.

[KelvinsRightGlove]

It would be interesting to know how many fans on here do actually go to watch Saints live as a proportion of posters, and how many of those on here are basically just Al-Jazeera monkeys?

 

What sort of ongoing impact will this recent trend have on the future of our club and football as a whole?

 

I know you claim this isn't about being a better fan than others, but I fail to see how that isn't what you are trying to imply.

 

Yeah, there probably are a lot more people on here that don't go to games, and I am one of them. I have never lived in Southampton, I live in London, where rent is stupid high and so is travel. I simply cannot afford to get down to SMS 19 times a year.

 

On top of this, my gf is a doctor, who lives c200 miles away - so there is basically one weekend a month I can see her, so I cannot commit to a ST.

 

I, like many other fans who aren't lucky enough to be local, or in a financial position to get down to SMS for every game, come on this site as it is a good source for info and talking with other Saints fans about the team I love. Because, guess what, there aren't a great deal of other Saints fans in Harrow.

 

I imagine I am not alone in this, as most can understand there are fans on here from all over, London, Liverpool, Harrogate, Dubai, Philippines the Us etc etc. We can't all get to games, yet this doesn't mean we don't want to watch. This is probably the reason we are attracted to a site like this. As I said, it's a good place to speak about our club, with fellow supporters.

 

Sorry I'm not as good a fan as you. But yeah, I try to get as many games as I can, but I simply cannot get to them all. So yeah, I will stream games when I am unable to get to the game, and actually free to watch it.

 

In the mean time, to you - Southampton FC's best fan in the world.

Edited 13 December, 2013 by KelvinsRightGlove

[bender]

What b olllocks some people talk. I remember in the eighties and nineties, crowds of circa 30k were only the luxury of the big clubs with big grounds. Now thats below average for the Prem. Who remembers when we first moved to SMS. Every other club was saying we would never fill our ground and how we've proved them wrong.

 

Firstrow or whatever is no alternative to being there. The stream is always a good 2 mins before SSN so we already know a goal has been scored. Its jittery and unreliable. And even when the game is on Sky and you only have to either pay subscription or go to the local pub, we still sell out.

 

And for those that dont go, why are they always labelled as unloyal. Some people have kids to bring up and might not be able to pay £35 a pop to go.

[shurlock]

I know you claim this isn't about being a better fan than others, but I fail to see how that isn't what you are trying to imply.

 

Yeah, there probably are a lot more people on here that don't go to games, and I am one of them. I have never lived in Southampton, I live in London, where rent is stupid high and so is travel. I simply cannot afford to get down to SMS 19 times a year.

 

On top of this, my gf is a doctor, who lives c200 miles away - so there is basically one weekend a month I can see her, so I cannot commit to a ST.

 

I, like many other fans who aren't lucky enough to be local, or in a financial position to get down to SMS for every game, come on this site as it is a good source for info and talking with other Saints fans about the team I love. Because, guess what, there aren't a great deal of other Saints fans in Harrow.

 

I imagine I am not alone in this, as most can understand there are fans on here from all over, London, Liverpool, Harrogate, Dubai, Philippines the Us etc etc. We can't all get to games, yet this doesn't mean we don't want to watch. This is probably the reason we are attracted to a site like this. As I said, it's a good place to speak about our club, with fellow supporters.

 

Sorry I'm not as good a fan as you. But yeah, I try to get as many games as I can, but I simply cannot get to them all. So yeah, I will stream games when I am unable to get to the game, and actually free to watch it.

 

In the mean time, to you - Southampton FC's best fan in the world.

 

To be fair, it's ****** easy to get to home games from London - midweekers maybe exhausting but they're now the exception.

[KelvinsRightGlove]

To be fair, it's ****** easy to get to home games from London - midweekers maybe exhausting but they're now the exception.

 

It's not the travel mate, it's the cost - over 65% of my monthly income goes on rent & travel (to work). That's before food & bills - plus travelling to see the gf (granted that is my choice).

 

I really wish I was in a position to go to every game, but I simply cannot afford to. And as I said, with my commitment to a long term, long-distance relationship, committing to a season ticket simply isn't feasible. I don't know any Saints fans I could sell the tickets on to for when I couldn't make the majority of games.

 

I fail to see how being in a worse off financial position (I'm not complaining btw - I don't actually have it that bad, could be a million times worth of really) makes me a worse fan than someone local enough or well off enough to go more regularly.

[BadgerBadger]

Isn't the upside of this that more people want to watch Saints play, the medium used is mostly irrelevant and who knows it may even coax a few extra bods to the ground......

[shurlock]

It's not the travel mate, it's the cost - over 65% of my monthly income goes on rent & travel (to work). That's before food & bills - plus travelling to see the gf (granted that is my choice).

 

I really wish I was in a position to go to every game, but I simply cannot afford to. And as I said, with my commitment to a long term, long-distance relationship, committing to a season ticket simply isn't feasible. I don't know any Saints fans I could sell the tickets on to for when I couldn't make the majority of games.

 

I fail to see how being in a worse off financial position (I'm not complaining btw - I don't actually have it that bad, could be a million times worth of really) makes me a worse fan than someone local enough or well off enough to go more regularly.

 

Can understand that - took me till my mid-20s before I had the cash flow to do home and away games, though you don't need huge amounts to go to Soton twice a month.

 

If you're not living in Soton with the social side it brings, it's a discipline to go to games and ridiculously easy to lapse.