Since Saints moved to St Mary's the Northam End has traditionally been where the hard core support assembled, the section of the ground from where the noise emanated, but it seems no longer !

It is a little surprising that given Sunday's game against Arsenal is the start of new era and the first sight for most Saints fans of new boss Ralph Hasenhuttl that the game is still not near selling out.

Of course there are mitigating circumstances, the poor home form, Xmas looming not to mention the fact that the game is a Sunday lunchtime kick off, but in truth none of these excuses have been needed in the past, just over a year ago the same fixture sold out completely.

Three years ago on 19th December Saints under Ronald Koeman were on a slump, they had lost four out of the last five games including a 6-1 drubbing at home to Liverpool in the League Cup, with the only point coming with a late equaliser against Aston Villa who were rock bottom and well adrift, but the ground was still full, Saints lost the Spurs game 2-0 and ironically the next home game was a 4-0 victory against Arsenal on Boxing Day, but this wasn't the season changer that most recall we lost the next three after that.

But back then the one part of the ground you could rely upon to sell out was the Northam End, the three blocks in there were mostly season ticket holders and those seats that weren't sold on that basis were the first to go.

But a look at the onsite ticket system for Sunday's game shows that there are still around 1,800 tickets left, now this isn't unusual for this season and the trend is for a late rush in the two days before the game and it will near a sell out, but the worry for the club is that a fair proportion of these seats are in those three blocks and the couple in the Kingsland corner next to them.

You would have thought that those who went in the Northam were the ones that would be loyal to the end, they are the ones that sing the songs & buy the shirts, but it seems that proportionately to the rest of the ground this has not been the case.

This should ring alarm bells for the club as they look to re engage with the supporters after a period of discontent and estrangement, you would have hoped that the combination of a big six team visiting and the start of the Hasenhuttl era might have enthused a few more people to attend the game especially in the Northam End, but this seems not to be the case.

These is a lot of work to do for the club to get the fans back behind them and they are at least trying to engage with the supporters and looking at initiatives to do so.

But it should not be all one sided, supporting a football club is not all about winning games, it is more than that it is about sticking with your side through thick and thin, about rallying to the flag when needed and this is one of those times.

As Ralph Hasenhuttl said in football there are no guarantees, if you want a guarantee buy a washing machine, or to add to that go to the theatre, football is not a play or a show, you go to a game not knowing who will star or what you will get, the part time supporters go to be entertained, the rest of us go because it's what we do, what defines us.

Saints have given us some good years in the past decade, in reality they have given us only one bad season and that was last year and of course the first part of this one so far, last season we had no flag to rally round, it caused infighting and divisions amongst the fanbase, now we can see hope for the football club again, changes have been made that the supporters demanded.

Now everyone has to be given the chance to show that things have changed, if we want Ralph Hasenhuttl to be a success, keep us up and perhaps on to better things, then as he has said himself, the supporters as much as the players need to be with him, if not they are better falling away.

We all know that we need to be active in the January transfer window and it looks like we might be, but till then we have to get by in trying to wring out exceptional performances from the squad we have, we have to hope they will step up to the plate and play for their places, some will some won't, this will be the case for the fans, some will see the bigger picture some will prefer to sit on social media and criticise.

The next six months is going to be tough, but we have been there before, we will be there again, but we all need to have a pride in the football club and support it, if we do so then we have a chance, if it turns toxic as it has done earlier in the season then what hope is there.

So if you haven't got a ticket yet then consider doing so, yes perhaps you can't justify it as you haven't been entertained so far this season, but Sunday like three years ago against the Gunners might just be the day when we get our best result of the season !

Photo: Action Images

Number_58 added 09:40 - Dec 14 It's bad enough being sat 150 yards away from gloating away fans every week, no wonder no-one wants to sit right next to them.
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saintsnutcase added 10:51 - Dec 14 Nick at a very rough guess I think that the empty seats might be related to the fact that we have won only a single home game in the past 13 months!
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saintjf added 11:21 - Dec 14 Supporting Saints is certainly not about winning and people have known exactly what they are going to get which is probably why they have stayed away. The Man Utd game had empty seats too. A few wins will bring people back- hopefully. I will say that the TV orientated kick of times don't help. Sunday luchtime.............
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dirk_doone added 11:35 - Dec 14 Apart from the fact that we have only won one home game in a year, the setup in the Northam discourages non-season ticket holders and occasional fans. Remember, the Northam is the designated away end. The section which is emptiest is in the 'no man's land' between the away fans and the home fans. Occasional fans really don't want to end up there. Unfortunately this is behind the goal so it is awful for the team in terms of support and looks terrible on TV. There is an initiative by the club to look into the possibility of shifting the away section into a corner. This might help.

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ronniedavies added 11:59 - Dec 14 Something needs to be done in the near future about the ludicrous situation whereby the away allocation takes up half the Northam End. How can you create an intimidating atmosphere when you're sharing half of the home end with the away support...(they just cancel each other out)? If SFC seriously want to build a fortress at home make plans to stick them out of sight, away from the Northam and the prying eyes of the TV cameras which tend to focus on this part of the ground.

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saintwizzler added 14:17 - Dec 14 In the Koeman and Pochettino eras when we were doing well the away fans were where they are now. Blaming the placement of the fans is a new excuse for us not winning games. Whatever next?!?!
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SanMarco added 17:07 - Dec 14 I think the away end should we tucked away somewhere in a corner. I don't think anyone is saying that the placing of the away end has caused our problems. It is a long-running gripe - not a new one. Also people are happier being right near the away lot if they think there is a decent chance of winning. As for ticket sales - perhaps people don't snap them up quite so quickly because they know some will still be avaialble nearer the kick off than has happened before, doesn't matter as long as they go eventually. It would certainly be a worry if games like this one and Manure aren't selling out. The trouble is the money from tv for showing the game is far in excess of the ticket income from a few hundred empty seats.

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SaintBrock added 19:36 - Dec 14 Well explain this, I tried to buy two tickets for this match but was refused even 'though there are still plenty available. They are not on general sale and even as an ex-ST holder with my name still on their database it made no difference.
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luffy22 added 20:06 - Dec 14 Well said saintbrock!! Occasional fans are not welcome and therefore new ones are not as well, I'm not sure how a new fan base is meant to be created. I found that out last season, I was a season tick holder for many many years, have not bothered this year to get a ticket. Not that the standard or prices are enticing me to come back anyway. The ugly inside is the only way to see saints now, plus also fantasy football to make sure I pick the strikers playing against saints to guarantee a few points. Yep I transferred in an arsenal striker for this week.

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warrens76 added 10:56 - Dec 15 @ saint brock, I could not agree more, living abroad I go to more away games than home ones, it's a pain getting a ticket from SMS and awful atmosphere anywhere but the Northam corner... Demanding the police agree to moving the away fans, giving us an end and making anyone living in the SO postcode or a 30 mile radius without all this registration nonsense would vastly improve attendances......at the Dell close to full houses could be had simply because the weather was good! Nick's point about standing behind the team falls down because the very people who gave us dire football for now a third season through naked greed are still here, I guarantee a full house if Cortese came back. A final issue on the club ticketing, when we were tearing up div 1 we played Utd off the park in the FA cup yet the crowd was only 28.000, I could not order a ticket from here and I knew at least ten people who could not get a ticket back then.....SFC has never been fan friendly on that I blame every board.

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grumpy added 17:15 - Dec 15 Until the club realise that the away fans have to move and the Northam is a all saints end the atmosphere will always suffer.Will the club wake up to this,I wonder.
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