'Supporting the lads'

[manji]

Where as you're just a clueless muppet.

I dont know who you are and Im not sure I have even read one of your posts.Whereas (although he talks ********) I know who Um is.

[OldNick]

You're gonna hate this but from a different viewpoint a lot of your arguments about support are down to the fact that most of you have been spoilt for the last 30 odd years.

 

How many of you on here remember 10+ seasons of lower league football before you got back up after the cup win? Not many I would guess. So most of you only remember top flight football. The lower leagues are a bit of a shock aren't they? After the initial optimism of a swift return to the premiership fades, the harsh reality begins to sink in.

 

You don't get anywhere near the same amount of quality football, you don't get the same publicity, glamour, income or attendances.

 

You DO get loads more misplaced passes, poor tackling, shooting, goalkeeping, defending, and overall I can see that it must feel pretty **** after 27 years in the top flight?

 

So people start to complain. At first it's a poor team, a lack of investment. Then it's the players attitude, the stewarding, the expensive programme. As it gets worse you find more and more reasons to complain: You can't sit in one of the corners anymore, the replica kit is too expensive, and that bird with the big tits in the snack bar in the Northam has left to get a proper job somewhere else.

 

So how do you motivate yourself to really support the team with all this going on? Not easy.

 

The flip side is us. I started watching Pompey in 1974. We were **** then, and went onto become really **** and deeply **** in rapid succession. From 1974 onwards I endured 24 years of **** and just 5 where we were actually promoted or nearly promoted. So when the good times did come along we went ****ing mad. It was fantastic, something to be really treasured and appreciated. We were getting crowds of 23-25k in the old div 4 when the agony of the 70's decline was finally turned around.

 

A lot of you on here almost NEED to go through a lot more agony than the last three years before you'll be ready to really appreciate and grab hold of the upturn whenever it comes. If it takes you as long as us, god help you because it's a miserable existance. The only consolation is that it will feel so, so sweet when it finally happens.......

I would not normally wish to have a Pompey fan on this board ,but as you have given your thoughts in not a provocative way i will applaud your post.

I recall watching Pompey in the 70's/80's /90's in the lower leagues and admiring the poor souls turning up game after game to watch that shower.The tables have turned, i would like to be in the Pl still, but to watch a load of footballers who in the main cant pass a ball 10 yards and on 35k+ a week would wind me up.

The fans around me are the proper fans who in the main will still be there in L1.They all work and live for a saturday afternoon and whilst resent RL in general understand that he is not all bad.I go to have some entertainment and if we had won 2 or 3 more home games i would be happy with my lot. Another 6-9 points at this time and the anti RL posts would be reduced by 70% on here.i can say that because when we were on an alright run earlier in the season the same old negative fans were not on here day after day peddling their negativity.

I dont apologise for trying to be upbeat, as that is how i deal with my disappointment a couple of days after a game.I know the players are now firmly behind the manger and that there is good morale, that tactics and motivation is being instilled again and so perhaps that is why Im not quite as desperate at present.

[Weston Super Saint]

I think it is more to do with the negative response it will have on the players by protesting, rather than the positive response you get from singing etc. Christ, they are having a bad time of it and perhaps singing for 90 minutes will not lift them to play like Brazil, but I suspect hearing nothing but "sack the board" and "Lowe out" might make them perform slightly worse, somehow.

 

What if the players want rid of Lowe too?

 

Maybe hearing the fans singing for what they also want will lift them?

 

We should cater for all

[um pahars]

I have stood by Saints through thick and thin for 35 years and will continue to do so but I have stopped going to home games this season. Not because of the ****e dished up but because I can no longer stand and watch grown men in the stands picking fights with the next spectator because they have the cheek to sing a supportive song.

 

So when did you stop going to home games????

[londonsaint1604]

Great post pfc123

[aintforever]

I have stood by Saints through thick and thin for 35 years and will continue to do so but I have stopped going to home games this season. Not because of the ****e dished up but because I can no longer stand and watch grown men in the stands picking fights with the next spectator because they have the cheek to sing a supportive song.

 

You could try watching the game and not the fights in the stands - it's not hard.

 

Thick and thin, you're having a laff.

[OldNick]

Nick I agree that I don't want to see fighting, and I always try and sing myself hoarse - I do not think we disagree here at all. But the sad truth is that the continual laying of the blame at fans door simply diverts the attention from the real issues:

 

1. Mismanagement of the club at all levels.

 

2. A squad who are not very good, badly organised and lacking confidence and fitness.

 

I wish that we could galvanize the fans to lift the team, but on myriad occassions this year when we have created a great atmosphere it has been let down badly by the playing staff.

 

The reality is that fans who see players run, chase, harry and tackle do clap and cheer them. The cause begets the symptoms, not vice versa.

 

We had 32000 there against United and played like drains.

 

What should I do? Run on the pitch and whisper words of encouragement??

 

I hate players being abused during games - truly I do. But there is something to be said for why Colin Mongomerie has never won a major - because he can't hack fan abuse - and Harrington who has two, because he's simply mentally tougher.

 

A good manager can use any atmosphere to win matches.

 

Ricky Ponting took a cutting from KP into the dressing room saying the Aussies were over-rated, pinned it to a wall, said nothing and sat back as they won the Ashes 5-0!!!

 

Motivation MUST first and foremost be in the hands of the manager, coaches and captain. And they continually let us down.

 

To ask for fans to keep giving in such circumstances is a bit naive I fear? Most do, but are continually frustrated by ineptitude on and off the pitch.

LTC, you know I have no problem with any fan on here.Many do not take to my manner but if we all met up I suspect we'd all get on fine as we ALL are Saints fans.I know my faults, Im dismissive and can be cutting.i like banter and like to give back as much if not more than i get.

1 thing unites us all is SFC, at the same time it divides us all. My mindset is that however little my shouts of encouragment help even if it is misicule i am adding a positive.

SRS thinks that singing anti RL vitriol doesnt make a difference to the players, I firmly believe it does as the whole crowd is feeling negative and that transmits to the players.I doubt they look forward to playing at SMS as they must feel the pressure of the fans needs.It is not blaming the fans it is a case of adding more pressure on their shoulders.Having a more experienced team will help and a home win will open the floodgates to a decnt run IMO.

We cant wait much longer for that to happen, but when it does it will be magical.

[um pahars]

.I know the players are now firmly behind the manger and that there is good morale, that tactics and motivation is being instilled again and so perhaps that is why Im not quite as desperate at present.

 

Interesting, because I would argue recent results (and performances) have shown no real progress.

 

There is also another post on here saying that there are splits in the dressing room, something I have been hearing for quite a while (although admittedly not recently, but then again I haven't spoken to my source recently).

 

I don't think most supporters are acting like spoilt brats crying because we're not in the top flight, i think they are more upset because they are being taken for granted and instead of the Club being run well, they can see it being run appallingly.

 

Just as Portsmuff fans campaigned against sht owners such as Deacon, Gregory et al, many are complaining here for exactly the same reasons.

[OldNick]

Interesting, because I would argue recent results (and performances) have shown no real progress.

 

There is also another post on here saying that there are splits in the dressing room, something I have been hearing for quite a while (although admittedly not recently, but then again I haven't spoken to my source recently).

 

I don't think most supporters are acting like spoilt brats crying because we're not in the top flight, i think they are more upset because they are being taken for granted and instead of the Club being run well, they can see it being run appallingly.

 

Just as Portsmuff fans campaigned against sht owners such as Deacon, Gregory et al, many are complaining here for exactly the same reasons.

Interestingly Pompey went into terminal decline then as well.

[um pahars]

Interestingly Pompey went into terminal decline then as well.

 

Last time I looked they were above us in the league and a tad more successful in recent years.

 

It wasn't until they had rid themselves of some right twts of owners that they started to move onwards and upwards.

 

I just hope that our period in the lower leagues is not as long as theirs was.

[Sheff Saint]

The players board and shareholders are very clear about the fans perspective on things at the minute. A protest will simply look like children used to getting their own way and stamping their foot because we can no longer see Premiership football. We will be a laughing stock amonget the loyal fans of Forest, Leeds, Man City (to name but three) who have endured far worse these last few years.

 

I have stood by Saints through thick and thin for 35 years and will continue to do so but I have stopped going to home games this season. Not because of the ****e dished up but because I can no longer stand and watch grown men in the stands picking fights with the next spectator because they have the cheek to sing a supportive song. A protest during the game takes that trend to a new (low) level. The lunatics really have taken over the asylum.

 

In some ways I hope we are not relegated and with 14 games to go and 4 points off safety the suggestion that its all over already is frankly bizarre. Having said that, maybe relegation won't be a bad thing though because it will get shot of a few more fair weather fans.

 

The day we stop harping on about how the mighty have fallen over the last five years and start thinking about what we are capable of achieving on our shoe string budget the better. Maybe then we can start going to watch a game just to analyse the 90 minutes without repeatedly drawing up the doom and gloom of the season as whole.

 

 

Of course Forest, Leeds and Man City fans went down happy.

 

Not once did they complain about such a balls up of poor mis-management and stage protests...Peter Risdale and Franny Lee (and the chap before him that died a few years back) were all given the freedom of their respective cities...

[CHAPEL END CHARLIE]

I've got problem with 'supporting the lads' - a bit of singing or shouting (even in the Chapel :shock:) is half the fun , but it remains my opinion that it makes little or no actual difference to the result of the match .

[OldNick]

Last time I looked they were above us in the league and a tad more successful in recent years.

 

It wasn't until they had rid themselves of some right twts of owners that they started to move onwards and upwards.

 

I just hope that our period in the lower leagues is not as long as theirs was.

Gregory and Deacon put a lot more into the club than the crowd we have of course.

[wild-saint]

It is time.

 

"Get behind the team, FFS" has been trotted out far too many times this season, with ZERO response from the team.

 

I guess you would need to go to the odd game first though eh Alpine to take this approach LMAO

[Mowgli]

So when did you stop going to home games????

 

Only the last two or three games to be fair but having read on here about the protests for the Preston game i've wtritten that off too. I'll be back before too long I'm sure - I'll need my footy fix before too long and could not bear to watch anyone other than Saints. I'm a bit of a hypocrite really

[derry]

Maybe if you sang- 4-4-2 you twotte- he might get the message.

[pfc123]

In many ways administration would be your best bet as a short cut back to some sort of stability and at least a chance of doing well again. If you continue as a club to try to wade through a quicksand of debt, debt and more debt, you'll continue to sink.

 

For Pompey, administration was the best thing that ever happened to us. Without it, we'd have probably been wound up eventually, and we gained Milan who despite some funny quirks got us back up.

 

The only real losers are the little people who the club owe money to. Mainly they're locally based self employed small businessmen who supply services to the club in a minor way. At pfc I think they only got something like sixpence in the pound on what they were owed.

 

Once the debt has been effectively written off you've got a chance with new people and an almost clean slate. If you're going down anyway it seems like a no-brainer to me. IF it becomes a mathematical certainty, then that's the time to do it. In fact I think there was a club that were going down on the last day of one season who went into admin halfway through the second half? It saved them from the ten points deduction at the start of the next season....

[Sheff Saint]

In many ways administration would be your best bet as a short cut back to some sort of stability and at least a chance of doing well again. If you continue as a club to try to wade through a quicksand of debt, debt and more debt, you'll continue to sink.

 

For Pompey, administration was the best thing that ever happened to us. Without it, we'd have probably been wound up eventually, and we gained Milan who despite some funny quirks got us back up.

 

The only real losers are the little people who the club owe money to. Mainly they're locally based self employed small businessmen who supply services to the club in a minor way. At pfc I think they only got something like sixpence in the pound on what they were owed.

 

Once the debt has been effectively written off you've got a chance with new people and an almost clean slate. If you're going down anyway it seems like a no-brainer to me. IF it becomes a mathematical certainty, then that's the time to do it. In fact I think there was a club that were going down on the last day of one season who went into admin halfway through the second half? It saved them from the ten points deduction at the start of the next season....

 

Didn't you get that t**t Venables though when you went into admin? There is a golden reason why admin is not a good idea! Lord, i think i'd even prefer 10 more years of Rupert than that fake tanned c**t

[La BoIS Saint]

In many ways administration would be your best bet as a short cut back to some sort of stability and at least a chance of doing well again. If you continue as a club to try to wade through a quicksand of debt, debt and more debt, you'll continue to sink.

 

For Pompey, administration was the best thing that ever happened to us. Without it, we'd have probably been wound up eventually, and we gained Milan who despite some funny quirks got us back up.

 

The only real losers are the little people who the club owe money to. Mainly they're locally based self employed small businessmen who supply services to the club in a minor way. At pfc I think they only got something like sixpence in the pound on what they were owed.

 

Once the debt has been effectively written off you've got a chance with new people and an almost clean slate. If you're going down anyway it seems like a no-brainer to me. IF it becomes a mathematical certainty, then that's the time to do it. In fact I think there was a club that were going down on the last day of one season who went into admin halfway through the second half? It saved them from the ten points deduction at the start of the next season....

 

Was that Boston who were relegated all the way to Conf North/South?

[chi saint]

This may be a controversial view, but I've always felt that supporters show their true colours when the team isn't doing so well. I've seen plenty of other teams where their club has been in turmoil, but their support has been as loud as ever. I bet Leeds' away support is still loud - despite all the crap at their club over the years.

 

Not a controversial view at all, some of us, in fact a large number of us, have been saying this is the time to support not protest.

 

You know the old adage about when the going gets tough.......

 

Seems to me that Saints has a proportion of fair weather supposed fans, although I consider them merely attendees, unfortunately a number post on here.

 

An earlier post went on about "as were already down", not only is that idiot mathematically inept but with that sort of mentality why bother going to games?

 

Theres some truth in the idea that negative thoughts breed negative outcomes, or put another way a self fulfilling prophercy.

 

Until we are actually sunk we should be cheering our little hearts out and chanting for RL and the rest to go during the game, unless of course you want our lads to lose??

 

GET BEHIND THE TEAM AT THIS VITAL TIME!!

[spain saint]

Then why do clubs kick to their fans second half. Speak to the pro footballers and they will tell you the fans do help.I was talking to a couple of the Luton players when they went and played at Bournemouth and said to them about their good away support on the night and they said how much it meant to them and did give them a boost.

I know the team havent performed at home but surely it will turn soon.I f not you are right and we are doomed.

 

To be honest Nick I believe it is the noise that gees up the players, rather than what is sung!

[SaintRobbie]

How many people are now prepared to forget all about 'supporting the lads' and bringing the protests in to the 90 minutes as well?

 

We are already down, the vast majority of people realise that.

 

Will people boo if some fans end up on the pitch, or chanting Lowe Out etc against Preston? Or are people so fed up they are prepared to let people protest in any way they want?

 

I think its time. If we dont do anything now I suspect Lowe will think he can stay.

[derry]

I doesn't matter what the fans do. You can cheer until the cows come home but until the idiots who pick the team, put out a balanced team playing with width we will only pick up the odd point or three. Which won't be enough.

 

If the prat in charge doesn't change his so called self styled sophisticated approach and apply simple common sense it won't matter. We might as well grow potatoes on the wings.

[St. Jason]

I didn't realise that the season finished next week?

 

Christ, we'd have been relegated at The Dell if that attitude had prevailed.

 

Its different now though mate isn't it, before hand at the dell we were all in it together. The club was united all pushing together, fighting against the odds to prove that this small club on the south coast could defy everything and stay up!

 

Now we are a huge club, sat second from bottom of the league, loosing to Doncaster! We have a chairman that is not willing to listen to anyone, repeats mistake after mistake, has no empathy with his customers, its not our club anymore, welcome to SFC PLC

[Thedelldays]

Its different now though mate isn't it, before hand at the dell we were all in it together. The club was united all pushing together, fighting against the odds to prove that this small club on the south coast could defy everything and stay up!

 

 

must have missed the branfoot era then..?

[docker-p]

Thats sums up the problem. As Bungle said the true measure of fans is how they react when things are ****e, not how loud the support is when we're winning.

 

I agree 100%. Do we sit down and except our lot, or do we kick, scream and rage against the cancer thats killing our club? Lets unite, protest, and win our club back.

[St. Jason]

must have missed the branfoot era then..?

 

I was there for the Branfoot era mate, football was ****e and I wanted him out the same as everyone else, but we didn't go down though did we, in fact as much as hate to say it I remember going to Wembley under Branfoot and he kept us up for 3 years!

 

Branfoot

Wigley

Gray

Redknapp = All pretty ****

Jan

Wotte

SCW

[Thedelldays]

I was there for the Branfoot era mate, football was ****e and I wanted him out the same as everyone else, but we didn't go down though did we, in fact as much as hate to say it I remember going to Wembley under Branfoot and he kept us up for 3 years!

 

Branfoot

Wigley

Gray

Redknapp = All pretty ****

Jan

Wotte

SCW

 

 

indeed we did..but we were anything but united as a club during that time

[St. Jason]

indeed we did..but we were anything but united as a club during that time

 

As a club no, as a fanbase yes.

 

Still can't remember the protests being against Askham though? Surely you can't say the club was being run then the same as it is now. I realise Askham is a proper Budgie but the club was not split like it is now, sure there was a clash regarding the manager but that happens up and down the country, from our point of view Branfoot was a ****, from the boards point of view he kept us up for 3 years and took us to Wembley.

[aintforever]

Protesting is bound to effect the players and is just self-defeating - we all want Lowe out but do we even know if Crouch wants to step in and take over at this stage?

 

Protest if we are being soundly beaten - if we have a chance of getting a result we should just get behind the team, up until then just take your frustration out on PNE.

[Graffito]

Home support makes a difference.

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/manchester_united/article3123723.ece

 

"Scientists make themselves heard with crowd noise studyJames Ducker

It seemed like a needless rant to some, but it was with good reason that Sir Alex Ferguson criticised the atmosphere at Old Trafford on New Year’s Day. Manchester United might have beaten Birmingham City regardless of their manager’s claims that the club’s supporters were the quietest he had heard them, but scientific research has proven that crowd noise can play a huge part in the fortunes of a team with home advantage.

 

In their 2002 quantitative study, “The influence of crowd noise and experience upon refereeing decisions in football”, for the Psychology of Sport and Exercise, an official journal of the European Federation of Sports Psychology, Alan M. Nevill, Nigel J. Balmer and A. Mark Williams established that the noise of the crowd influenced referees to favour the home team.

 

In their study, 40 referees from the North Staffordshire Referees’ Club, from the newly qualified to those with 43 years of experience, were asked to assess the legality of 47 challenges or incidents recorded during a top-flight match between Liverpool and Leicester City at Anfield in the 1998-99 season.

 

Twenty-two referees watched a video of the game with crowd noise, but no commentary, while the other 18 viewed the video in silence, with binary logistic regression, a technique for making predictions, used to assess separately the effect of the independent variables — crowd noise and years of experience — on each outcome.

 

Those viewing the incidents with background noise awarded 15.5 per cent fewer fouls against the home team, compared with those watching in silence. The study indicated that the dominant effect of crowd noise was to reduce significantly the number of fouls awarded against the home team, rather than to increase the number of fouls against the away team.

 

Other investigations have unearthed similarly revealing results. In his 1999 study with Roger L. Holder, entitled “Home advantage in sport: An overview of studies on the advantage of playing at home”, Nevill, a professor at the University of Wolverhampton, concluded that “crowd factors appeared to be the most dominant cause of home advantage” after an analysis of 40,493 football matches showed a home winning percentage of 68.3, excluding draws.

 

In their 1977 paper, “The home advantage”, B. Schwartz and S. F. Barsky established that home advantage was rooted in the social support that partisan fans give the home team.

 

Stephen R. Clarke and John M. Norman found in their 1995 review, “Home ground advantage of individual clubs in English soccer”, that there was a depleted advantage in matches involving the 13 London clubs because derbies tend to attract an increased number of away supporters and, as such, there was more vocal support than usual for the visiting team"

[Legod Third Coming]

Protesting is bound to effect the players and is just self-defeating - we all want Lowe out but do we even know if Crouch wants to step in and take over at this stage?

 

Protest if we are being soundly beaten - if we have a chance of getting a result we should just get behind the team, up until then just take your frustration out on PNE.

 

My view is we should keep it outside the ground to before and after games.

 

But I have seen teams win with crowds doing nothing, supporting and rioting.

 

I have seen teams lose with them doing likewise.

 

The Rupert Lowe supportes are making the point repeatedly and WRONGLY that the fans are at fault in team performances.

 

WHEN we are relegated they will then point at the fans and accuse THEM of being complicit in our demise.

 

This is the same as accusing Woolworths' customers of being responsible for their business failure. Why didn't they spend more??

 

WE are not remotely to blame for the ludicrous position in which our club finds itself.

 

No one on this forum picked a manager with no experience, sent our best players out on loan or compunded any of that by firing one inept manager and replacing him with a worse one!!!

[Legod Third Coming]

Home support makes a difference.

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/manchester_united/article3123723.ece

 

"Scientists make themselves heard with crowd noise studyJames Ducker

It seemed like a needless rant to some, but it was with good reason that Sir Alex Ferguson criticised the atmosphere at Old Trafford on New Year’s Day. Manchester United might have beaten Birmingham City regardless of their manager’s claims that the club’s supporters were the quietest he had heard them, but scientific research has proven that crowd noise can play a huge part in the fortunes of a team with home advantage.

 

In their 2002 quantitative study, “The influence of crowd noise and experience upon refereeing decisions in football”, for the Psychology of Sport and Exercise, an official journal of the European Federation of Sports Psychology, Alan M. Nevill, Nigel J. Balmer and A. Mark Williams established that the noise of the crowd influenced referees to favour the home team.

 

In their study, 40 referees from the North Staffordshire Referees’ Club, from the newly qualified to those with 43 years of experience, were asked to assess the legality of 47 challenges or incidents recorded during a top-flight match between Liverpool and Leicester City at Anfield in the 1998-99 season.

 

Twenty-two referees watched a video of the game with crowd noise, but no commentary, while the other 18 viewed the video in silence, with binary logistic regression, a technique for making predictions, used to assess separately the effect of the independent variables — crowd noise and years of experience — on each outcome.

 

Those viewing the incidents with background noise awarded 15.5 per cent fewer fouls against the home team, compared with those watching in silence. The study indicated that the dominant effect of crowd noise was to reduce significantly the number of fouls awarded against the home team, rather than to increase the number of fouls against the away team.

 

Other investigations have unearthed similarly revealing results. In his 1999 study with Roger L. Holder, entitled “Home advantage in sport: An overview of studies on the advantage of playing at home”, Nevill, a professor at the University of Wolverhampton, concluded that “crowd factors appeared to be the most dominant cause of home advantage” after an analysis of 40,493 football matches showed a home winning percentage of 68.3, excluding draws.

 

In their 1977 paper, “The home advantage”, B. Schwartz and S. F. Barsky established that home advantage was rooted in the social support that partisan fans give the home team.

 

Stephen R. Clarke and John M. Norman found in their 1995 review, “Home ground advantage of individual clubs in English soccer”, that there was a depleted advantage in matches involving the 13 London clubs because derbies tend to attract an increased number of away supporters and, as such, there was more vocal support than usual for the visiting team"

 

Noise makes a difference. It does not say what that noise needs to be...

[St. Jason]

My view is we should keep it outside the ground to before and after games.

 

But I have seen teams win with crowds doing nothing, supporting and rioting.

 

I have seen teams lose with them doing likewise.

 

The Rupert Lowe supportes are making the point repeatedly and WRONGLY that the fans are at fault in team performances.

 

WHEN we are relegated they will then point at the fans and accuse THEM of being complicit in our demise.

 

This is the same as accusing Woolworths' customers of being responsible for their business failure. Why didn't they spend more??

 

WE are not remotely to blame for the ludicrous position in which our club finds itself.

 

No one on this forum picked a manager with no experience, sent our best players out on loan or compunded any of that by firing one inept manager and replacing him with a worse one!!!

 

Spot on mooooosh

[Graffito]

More from the Eggheads - home support does not make a difference (unless directed at the referee. Perhaps we should concentrate on the B*stard in the Black).

 

Far to much to paste but if anyone's interested, here's the link. Seems counterintuitive to me.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/feb/03/features.sportmonthly16

[Windmill Arm 2]

Stu Im amazed how defeatist you are. i understand why you are like it but there are 14 games to go still.The side that was put out saturday was full of the experienced players the fans have been begging for and also a 4-4-2. We still can do it, haing the fans in turmoil during the game wil not help the club we adore, why help the opposition?

 

This argument is full of holes now. If the fans get behind 'the lads' and support them......they lose

 

 

If the fans fight each other or sit in silence guess what.....they lose. We are woeful, infact I reckon we would struggle in League 2 (seriously I do)

 

If we stay in the CCC this season i'll give rupert lowe a reach around.

[Amesbury Saint]

I am totally against any form of protest against the board whilst the game is in play.

 

all season I have supported the team. They have been mainly young players "blooded" to early and in too many numbers.

 

I dont like protesting during the match but cannot see anyway forward.

 

I will not, however, go on the pitch.

[sperm_john]

what exactly do people thing protesting or not buying season tickets is going to achieve?

[Windmill Arm 2]

what exactly do people thing protesting or not buying season tickets is going to achieve?

 

what exactly do people think sitting in silence and taking it up the jacksie, and wasting their hard earned cash on sub standard football is going to achieve

[sperm_john]

sorry i shouldnt of asked, we all know the answer, nothing.

[um pahars]

what exactly do people thing protesting or not buying season tickets is going to achieve?

 

I imagine they think it might bring about change at the Club.

[aintforever]

My view is we should keep it outside the ground to before and after games.

 

But I have seen teams win with crowds doing nothing, supporting and rioting.

 

I have seen teams lose with them doing likewise.

 

The Rupert Lowe supportes are making the point repeatedly and WRONGLY that the fans are at fault in team performances.

 

WHEN we are relegated they will then point at the fans and accuse THEM of being complicit in our demise.

 

This is the same as accusing Woolworths' customers of being responsible for their business failure. Why didn't they spend more??

 

WE are not remotely to blame for the ludicrous position in which our club finds itself.

 

No one on this forum picked a manager with no experience, sent our best players out on loan or compunded any of that by firing one inept manager and replacing him with a worse one!!!

 

I totally agree, if we go down it is Lowe's fault - it's a simple as that.

 

BUT, creating a sour, nasty atmosphere for our players is not going to help them. Getting behind the team DOES help - players and managers have said that time and time again.

 

I'm up for protesting/rioting whatever, but only if it looks like we are definitely not going to get 3 points.

[Legod Third Coming]

I totally agree, if we go down it is Lowe's fault - it's a simple as that.

 

BUT, creating a sour, nasty atmosphere for our players is not going to help them. Getting behind the team DOES help - players and managers have said that time and time again.

 

I'm up for protesting/rioting whatever, but only if it looks like we are definitely not going to get 3 points.

 

While I broadly agree, we didn't get going againt Doncaster second half until the rioting started...

 

At some point, some people at this club have got to stand up and be counted.

 

It takes leadership and balls to stand up and be a man under pressure. I just hope we have some people with both...

 

Like you, I will be trying my hardest to lift the team, but we are making so many basic errors, I fear it will not be enough.

[St. Jason]

I totally agree, if we go down it is Lowe's fault - it's a simple as that.

 

BUT, creating a sour, nasty atmosphere for our players is not going to help them. Getting behind the team DOES help - players and managers have said that time and time again.

 

I'm up for protesting/rioting whatever, but only if it looks like we are definitely not going to get 3 points.

 

People keep saying creating a supportive atmosphere will help the team, 1 home win in 16 is ****e, the fans have been behind the team for every game except Doncaster, even that saw Saints score ONCE the trouble started!!!

[docker-p]

People keep saying creating a supportive atmosphere will help the team, 1 home win in 16 is ****e, the fans have been behind the team for every game except Doncaster, even that saw Saints score ONCE the trouble started!!!

 

Yep.

There comes a time when you have to wake up to the cold harsh reality and act accordingly. Giving 100% backing to the team hasn't worked. Lets get the axis of clowns out whatever it takes.

[Torrent Of Abuse]

Excellent posts from PFC123... I think we all know that the road back to being a normal club will be a long and painful one. And to think many of us thought Michael Wilde's first arrival at Saints marked the end of the beginning (instead of the beginning of the end).

 

As for the idea of protesting during the game, I'd be against anything which risks affecting the team's performances. It's bad enough we have a board who are keen on sabotaging the club without us doing our bit too. I don't care if the board do 99% of the damage to our club, I will not do the extra 1%, so personally I'd keep the protesting to before/after the game.

 

I think there is plenty of time both before and after the game to get the message across to the board. I imagine the sight of a seething mass of angry fans chanting outside the front of SMS after the game every game would do the trick. As the board members will need to get past the protesters to get out of SMS, I imagine it would give a much better way of getting the message across to the right people.

 

As for the idea we're down with 14 games to go, that's pitiful. It was bad enough when many posters relegated us with 2 games to go last season without this sort of nonsense. As others have said, that attitude would have seen us relegated years ago - and is an insult to those who fought so hard against the odds to keep us up (both fans and players).

[Greedyfly]

Just out of personal interest can you, those of you who feel that no form of protest at all is necessary, (the bungles, the sperm johns of this discussion) tell me:

What state you think the club is in?

Do you think its rotten from top to bottom as others do?

Do you think the current board are doing a good job?

Do you think the current manager is/has done a good job?

And do you really think the football is worth the money you pay?

And have we moved forward at all this season?

 

If the answer to the above is predominantly no, what do you suggest is done?

If your answers to the above are yes, then why? Does the steady decline in the level and quality of football at SFC (IMO - and league placing would seem to back that up) not concern you?

 

I ask as I am genuinely interested in your responses. I also askbecause some of you have this 'hollier than thou' attitude that is as bad as those who whine all the time. I want to know whether the 'we go and we sing regardless cause we're great' aura you have about your posts is one of blissful ignorance or a belief that there are other ways.....OR that you simply think nothing needs to change. Serious question.

[brightspark]

we all know the answer, nothing.

 

Protests = Threat = Media Coverage = Increased Threat = More Pressure = More Protests etc etc...

 

No Season Tickets = Much Less Money = More Debt = Unsustainable Business = Departure or Administration

 

The answer is NOT nothing.

[StuRomseySaint]

This thread itself should have added a few thousand quid on to the police bill for Saturday.

 

Good work people. :-)

[surrey1saint]

we are not mathematically down. Nowhere near. Norwich are in almost as much difficulty as we are. And if we play as well as we apparently did against brizzol (and we had opportunities to score) there is still hope.

 

To give up imo is to insult the generations of saints fans who had that fighting spirit. Are we wimps?

 

So definitely no demos during matches.

 

+1 coyr!