On the last day for renewing season tickets, it is a good moment to reflect on what Southampton Football Club have achieved over the past few years and look to the future with positivity.

Today see's the final day for the renewal of season tickets and judging by social media there are going to be a fair few who have not renewed and that is their choice.

But the rest of us have to continue the journey without them, just as we had to do when the club was relegated to League One back in 2009.

Many of those who are telling the World why they are bailing out of season ticket renewal tell social media how they supported the club through thick and thin and many describe Markus Liebherr as our saviour and hanker for those halycon days.

But in many respects the legend is a little removed from the actual reality, no one can deny that Markus Liebherr saved Southampton Football Club, indeed perhaps those who are quick to point that out but even quicker to criticise his daughter might wish to reflect on what she has done and how Markus himself would be horrified at the abuse she is receiving now.

But his arrival did not bring a great upsurge in support, an average of 17, 849 watched us slip to administration and relegation to League One, the following season with all the feel good factor only an average of around 3,000 more sat in the stands alongside Markus.

Since then literally every season has been better than the previous, right up to the season just gone, our first season where we haven't improved, although ironically it did offer our first sight of an FA Cup Final in 15 years and only our second FA Cup Semi final in over 30.

But as great as the time has been since our return to the Premier League, every summer since 2014 has seen negativity from the supporters who whilst understandably are not happy about star players leaving, seem unable to grasp the reality of the situation and the difficulty the club have in keeping players in the modern game and indeed keeping the club in the Premier league, the Championship has many clubs who have spent more money than Saints, have better resources but have failed.

Hopefully last season was a blip on the landscape, there can be no real excuses for it, but it was our first poor season in almost a decade and if you call 2016/17 a failure just because you weren't entertained then you need to look back at the history books, top 8 finishes and cup finals haven't exactly been plentiful over the last 133 years, let alone in the same season.

But my main gripe is the fact that we have allowed this mood of negativity to take over, there is barely a story about the club where a large minority of supporters cannot help making sarcastic comments, about Katharina Liebherr, Gao Jisheng, Les Reed or Ralph Krueger.

I don't know what they expect from any of these individuals, Katharina Liebherr has done nothing to harm this football club, her and her family have been it's saviours, but lets get this right, she is Markus's daughter, you cannot praise one and damn the other, she picked up the club in the aftermath of his death and had to revamp it again.

Gao has done nothing wrong except invest a large part of his money into it, a far larger part than it seems some of our own supporters are now willing to, yes he has not said much so far, but the club in no different from Markus's plans for it, he never intended it to be anything other than self suffcient and that is the best way to be.

Gao has the resources to built this club up, but that isn't done by continually propping it up by ploughing money into it, I do not know his intentions any more than anyone, however too many are willing to damn him without any evidence to the contrary, football is littered with owners who talk the talk but end up never walking the walk, the only thing Gao has shown is that he appears to think that the club is well run and at the moment there is no need for big changes, but to evolve it over a period of time.

Les Reed is perhaps the biggest villain to many, yes he has made mistakes and last season was perhaps his biggest in the appointment and then failure to sack Mauricio Pellegrino, but sacking Pellegrino would not have guaranteed survival as the three relegated clubs who did sack their manager found out, hopefully Reed will have learned a hard lesson, the fact that preceding this season we had just watched the longest period of continuous top ten finishes in our history should man that he is given some leeway.

Finally Ralph Krueger, most who slag him off haven't a clue what his job actually is, again he has presided in building the foundations of our commercial success over the last four years, he will have learned lessons as well.

But sorry to digress, all this negativity is dragging us down, it is time to draw a line in the sand and look at the bigger picture, if you don't want to be part of that picture then fine, but let the rest of us get on with it, you don't wan't to be at St Mary's every weekend then fine, talk on social media about your golf or whatever else you are going to do instead, don't keep on about how bad things are, I'm sick to death over the last week of people getting all indignant about Dusan Tadic leaving when for the last three years they have done nothing but complain about him.

For those of us that have renewed our season tickets it is time to create a mood of positivity around the club, an atmosphere where it can succeed, we have been victims of our own success, but that is the way forward for us, we have to embrace it and work with it not against it.

There are many things to be positive about for the coming season, our failure last season can be pinpointed, we have removed and replaced the main issue and we can move on if a section of the fan base will let us.

For those of us who have renewed our season tickets we are not happy clappers, we just support our football club through thick and thin, I speak to many who feel that way, when I write articles of this nature, it usually pricks the conscience of a few people who post a ranting reply, but most of those who go week in week out quietly tell me I am right, they save their voices for the game itself, they don't tell everyone what great supporters they are, they just get on with it, it is what they do, what they have done for years and will continue to do, it defines them, every club has them, supporting the team is not dependent on results, it is about loyalty through thick and thin.

So for those departing from our midst, I understand your reasons for going, or at least why you are saying them, but please let those of us who are going to continue, do so without the negativity of this past season dragging us down, if you have nothing good to say then say nothing.

This is not a story about being a better supporter than anyone else, at times of course all of us have reasons why we can't go to games either regularly or at all, this isn't about those people, but if I have to explain that, then you probably won't understand how I feel about supporting a football team anyway.

So to those who are staying, let's do what we did in 2009, get behind the club, be positive and remember that what it is all about is supporting the club, 45,000 people talk about how they sat at Wembley with Markus Liebherr in 2010, but for a lot of us, those two seasons in League One were more about midweek games against Hartlepool and Dagenham & Redbridge with less than 18,000 in the ground.

Photo: Action Images

SanMarco added 10:01 - Jun 23 "positivity" and "negativity" are emotions/feelings and as such are not really subject to choice. I choose to be happy next Thursday but miserable next Friday makes no sense. This site is the only 'social media' I follow and I like the range of views. Sometimes people go over the top but then football arouses strong emotions and most that post on here do so as an instantaneous reaction to articles/comments rather athan after lengthy periods of reflection. If 'negative' posters are being asked to shut up because they spoil the happy mood then that is very interesting indeed... I may start to feel more positive if we make a few decent signings but, as mentioned by others above, the club has to play its part in that...

4

underweststand added 09:31 - Jun 24 to NIck, You have created a hornets nest with an article covering every subject from A-Z. However, for many people it's come down to money that they see we are not spending, and that is their analysis of the problem is only "where has the money gone ?" Putting aside my 60 years as a Saints fan, I can refer to my a lifetime in business and say that perhaps some of the correspondents have a blank knowledge of company financing. Big sums of money are quoted as though people are balancing their monthly budgets until the next pay day..or in this case ..the next player sale. There are a number of factors that some people choose not to admit. Go back 4-5 years for Nicola Cortese's final coup in signing two players (Ramirez and Osvaldo) who together cost around £25 million in fees plus long contracts that amounted to almost the same figure. (say min. £45 mill) and there's some VAT to add on there, too. Money badly invested and totally unrecoverable. The "£75 million" thta we are reputed to have received for VvD's move to L'pool was in fact somewhat less as some of it related to CL performances that never materialised. less Celtic's cut for the sell-on and the eventual signing of Carrillo it's much less by now. The first phase of Staplewood was (according to estimates) around £40 million , and a 2nd part is ongoing. Good investment? - YES, but "unrecoverable" in terms of "sell-on". The other part of the equation is beyond our control, namely FFP ruling. Initially suggested as a way to "help" bankrupcy, it restricts the amounts all clubs can spend but in reality is taiior-made to help the "big clubs " in every country monopolise the game due to their huge incomes from 60-70 K stadiums that are filled every game, and sponsorships that bring in huge sums irrespective of potential transfer income. There are no guarantees that a larger SMS would bring extra fans (in part due to logistics and geography) and we rarely have a full house except when the attendance is swelled by visiting fans from " big clubs". Quite simply, "the system" has us by the short hairs. We may be "punished " byt eh footballing authorities if we overspend , somehting that someof the big clubs may also fall into, but their accountants are permitted to "massage" the figures in a more selective way with fiones that scarecly amount to that of an average players weekly salary. I would also mention that Mr.Gao's £200 million was not intended to become a "transfer kitty" but was a change of ownership between him and Katarina Liebherr. I do not fault her in this , in as much as she is a "fan" of the club that she previously owned 100% , but is clearly "not football " in terms of her background / interest in the sport. YES - there will be even bigger income from the TV money next season, but we would be foolish to spend it all on "big money "signing that so many scream for, and see ourselves in the nire -if it goes pear-shaped. P.S. Selling Tadic?...I note that a few on here are now complaining, when the same people have "been calling for his head" for the last 18 months. 30 years old in December..he may soon be approaching his "best sell by date" with his contract running out. Not good news for someone who isn't a 90 minute player and was subbed 21 times last season.

0

Blogs 31 bloggers

Bristol Rovers Polls