Whatever happens, remember this.

[kitch]

This has been an absolute clusterfuck of a season, no mistake. Wet, limp, lifeless & turgid. It's not a great time for most people at the moment, let alone being a Saints fan. I've actually stopped watching/listening to games now. My mental health doesn't need the metaphorical kicking anymore. In 2005, I remember being angry at the board more than anything. The players, if I remember rightly, poured everything they had into that season. They just didn't have enough of it.

That's not what's happening today; The board aren't as clever as they think. They players are better than they're showing. The manager is just hopelessly out of ideas. This is ALL on them.

The manager, is an employee. The players, are employees. The majority of the medical team, are employees. Of all the employees at this club, there will only be a small number that go through what it is that we ALL go through when it comes to caring about this club. Aside from one or two exceptions, they didn't grow up supporting this club. They may feel the way we feel about a football club, but it's not this one.

There may be other fans you can't stand. There may be other posters on here that you believe to be morons. We may not all see eye-to-eye politically, or morally...but we're ALL in the same boat. We're all being depressed, game in, game out. We're all supporting a bunch of overpaid men (I'm not including the women, they're doing pretty well, and they're not overpaid) half-heartedly kick a ball around, and when they do their job badly, WE'RE the ones go home feeling horrendous. We're the ones who buy the tickets; the shirts; the memberships, all from our hard-earned. We're the ones who feel the embarrassment of being beaten 9-0...TWICE! We're the ones who get a horrible sick feeling when we watch a player blossom into something special, only to know that the club will already be figuring out what his pricetag should say. We're the ones who pay for a media package that SO HEAVILY favours the 'bigger' teams over our 'inferior' club, it's not even funny. We're the ones who feel bad when our children tell us they've been picked on again for supporting a shit team. Yes, their friends are all plastics, but they are greater in number in the playground.

Things won't always be this bad, but we will always be in the same boat as each other. However low you feel, remember there are thousands of others feeling the same way, you just don't see it. Don't let the bastards grind you down. You support the club, not any individual, or their actions. One day, things will be good again.

Up the Saints!

[Holmes_and_Watson]

You must remember this
When the football is so piss
Waving the top league 'bye
Next season's hopes are always high
As time goes by

 

Edited 1 May, 2023 by Holmes_and_Watson

[SotonianWill]

hear hear! 

[eurosaint]

I guess that after 50 years supporting the Saints that my mental health has settled into a steady mode of acceptance 😔

We do not stand alone in this as supporters of all teams who are near the drop zone vent their anger / frustration towards whomsoever is deemed to be the biggest culprit, normally the manager, the board or the players (and usually in that order) ! Today's blame culture demands this !

The fans of the likes of Everton and Leeds are much more vociferous than us and TBH I'm glad that we don't issue death threats etc.. to the board or players families (it is supposed to be a sport after all) !

At the start of this season many of us looked for the obvious relegation candidates but strangely none stood out, meaning that a larger number than usual were scrapping to be free of the bottom 3 !

It doesn't take too many cock-ups to reach that slippery slope, thereafter it becomes an uphill struggle, you start monitoring other teams results on a match by match basis and confidence ebbs away !

I'm sure that most would agree that the appointment of Nathan Jones was the monumental error from which we never recovered but my fervent hope is that the board will learn from this and we move into the Championship with a new outlook, fresh faces, a bit more experience and renewed optimism !!

Come on you Saints😇

 

 

 

[Ted Bates Statue]

Always felt after Koeman left that we were about five years from a relegation battle, momentum sliding after Liebherr's takeover. The reality is that it can come from nowhere, a perfect storm of complacency and poor management.

There are few teams in the world where the fans are satisfied with one's lot in the long-term. In the PL that would be Brentford - years on the cusp of promotion to the top flight coming to fruition and continuous improvement every season. Man City also - plucked from mid-table obscurity to dominate, but still unable to claim the Champions League trophy. And that's about it. Arsenal's PL drought may reach 20 seasons, Man Utd have been drifting for a decade. West Ham have had it good lately, making a better fist of Europe than we did, but it's never long before they find something to have a whinge over. Leicester, even under the stewardship of Rodgers until recently, look almost as dead and buried as us. And then there are dozens of teams similar to us that demonstrate that we have no divine right to competing with the top 20 sides in the land on a regular basis. Coventry, Sunderland and Derby to name just a few. 

There have been a number of mistakes by Saints this season and it is disappointing to see us go down, but I don't fear for the club's future like I did when we were owned by Gao. I could be wrong, Solak could be the equivalent of Saints go Wilde... Now, Everton could be in really deep trouble should they go down, and they've frittered away hundreds of millions and getting very little out of it in the last ten years or so.

Our club may be in a rut, but if we do take an opportunity to re-build the team and our optimism, hopefully it won't be long before we get a team that's playing with confidence again, hopefully in the top division and competing for the cups, surprising the bigger sides, bringing some of our youngsters through - and maybe one or two from elsewhere! Starting with the manager, it only takes an appointment like Cooper at Forest, Carrick at Boro, Silva at Fulham to transform a team from being in the doldrums at the lower end of the table to being on the edge of promotion.

Up the Saints.

 

[david in sweden]

2 hours ago, eurosaint said:

I guess that after 50 years supporting the Saints that my mental health has settled into a steady mode of acceptance 😔

We do not stand alone in this as supporters of all teams who are near the drop zone vent their anger / frustration towards whomsoever is deemed to be the biggest culprit, normally the manager, the board or the players (and usually in that order) ! Today's blame culture demands this !

The fans of the likes of Everton and Leeds are much more vociferous than us and TBH I'm glad that we don't issue death threats etc.. to the board or players families (it is supposed to be a sport after all) !

At the start of this season many of us looked for the obvious relegation candidates but strangely none stood out, meaning that a larger number than usual were scrapping to be free of the bottom 3 !

It doesn't take too many cock-ups to reach that slippery slope, thereafter it becomes an uphill struggle, you start monitoring other teams results on a match by match basis and confidence ebbs away !

I'm sure that most would agree that the appointment of Nathan Jones was the monumental error from which we never recovered but my fervent hope is that the board will learn from this and we move into the Championship with a new outlook, fresh faces, a bit more experience and renewed optimism !!

Come on you Saints😇

 

 

 

I watched my first game ..64 years ago,  but I feel much the same as you... eurosaint.

Despite the fact that Ralph kept us up for 3 seasons, we  have been going downhill ever since Koeman  jumped ship. 

His move to Everton was a monumental disaster for them, and showed what a difficult club they are to manage and

that they should have been relegated long ago for breaking every financial restriction that UEFA had ever set-up.

 

Koeman's two seasons produced some good games, and even better players.   Mane, Pelle, Tadic  and a few more ..(take your pick), 

unfortunately their replacements failed miserably and it cost the club a fortune in a long list of poor signings....(make your own list).

Likewise with managers.  Puel, Pellegrini (?) and Hughes struggled with a ragbag of indifferent signings made by Les Reed and Ross Wilson.

In retrospect only Gabbiadini's goal at Swansea, and a couple of seasons of Danny Ings  has kept us from relegation two or three years ago,

and we have failed miserably with every attempt to replace Ingsy and shown the clear distinction between the levels of the first and second tier.

 

Relegation if it comes - may be some sort of a blessing - as this squad has proven itself incompetent of retaining top level status and

a  fire sale  of our " most-valued " international players will enable them to stay in the Prem. ...and give us finance to buy in new blood,  

and a clearing out of the "dead wood",  in order to give the next manager the nucleus of a squad to get us back up to the Prem. in 1-3 seasons.   

It will also be the gateway for some of the current crop of excellent U21 players to get game time they would never normally have at  Prem. level.  

 

Even if we don't bounce back straight away, at least sign us a couple of decent goalscorers, in the mould of;  Ron Davies, Channon, MLT

Beattie, Lambert, Mane and Pelle....  and at least we'll have something to cheer about at SMS.... regardless of whichever league we are in...

 

Edited 1 May, 2023 by david in sweden