Over the last couple of years there has been a lot of negativity surrounding Southampton Football Club in the fan base, it's time to give the club a chance.
It's easy to look back four years ago ad see the Ronald Koeman era as a golden period in the club's history, for good reason as well, it was the start of the club truly getting their act together both on and off the pitch, but it wasn't the smooth path that some seem to remember.
The days before the start of the season saw the fanbase in total meltdown, people now talk about the lack of goals from Pelle and Sadio Mane being sadly missed and talk about them in reverential terms, but a significant number of the crowd were on their backs from literally their first kick, on his home debut Pelle was being ironically cheered after only 15 minutes if he won a header.
2015/16 was our best season in over 30 years, but with two months left of it 16th was looking more likely than 6th and Sadio Mane hadn't scored a Premier League goal in 5 months then it all went mad.
What those two whirlwind seasons showed is that in football you have to be patient, you can't win every game and sometimes you have to take a step backwards to go forwards, last season was poor, but it still saw an FA Cup semi final and we have had precious little of that over the last three decades.
So as supporters we should recognise the great strides the club has made in the last four years and the position we are in, last season is over, we are still in the Premier League and we are in a far better position than we have been at most times since the early 80's.
So the message is "Give the club a chance" at the moment there is too much negativity, go on social media and the mere mention of Gao Jisheng's name is enough to bring out a tirade of abuse ranging from that he is asset stripping to that he doesn't know the names of the squad.
What has Gao done to deserve such abuse ? the answer is nothing, he has invested in the club, he has allowed it to continue to run as it has done so well, he hasn't interfered or sought publicity, ask most football fans and they would see that as the ideal owner, someone who lets those who know how to run a football club get on with it and doesn't try to use it as his own plaything to massage his ego.
The only real accusation that could be made is that he is a terrible asset stripper, this summer he has blundered in letting over £50 million be given to other football clubs for players when as many were predicting he would be putting it into his bank account.
Now I am not saying that everything is rosy at St Mary's that mistakes haven't been made , but having been made we can't change them, so we need to stop harping on about them and look forwards, hopefully Ralph Krueger, Les Reed et al have learned from those mistakes and we will be stronger for the experience, certainly for what they have done in the past they deserve a little more respect than a lot of our supporters give them.
So we need to restore the pride back in Southampton Football Club, I am proud to be a Saints supporter, I am in it for the long haul, for me being a supporter is about taking the ups and downs, I am as proud that I was at Swansea last season for a crucial win as I am that I was at Wembley in 1976.
Personally I am sick to death of the negative comments, the sarcastic comments ,yes it is everyone's personal choice whether they have a season ticket or not, but for me and thousands like me across the country, we do not see it as a badge of honour to tell the world on social media that you are not renewing it because we have had a couple of bad seasons.
In conclusion there is too much of deciding that things are going wrong before the actually have, this is a new season it's a clean slate, I don't know whether Danny Ings will be our saviour or a flop, I don't know whether Jannik Vestergaard will be the new Virgil Van Dijk or Vegard Forren, but till I have seen him play a few times I'm not going to decide that they are rubbish and start demanding that Les Reed be sacked.
This summer Saints didn't sell key players they have kept the squad intact and improved it, people say we can't keep selling and buying players, but the reality is we have too, we are light years behind the income streams that the Big Six have so we have to do something different than the rest of the Premier League, we have to keep moving forward, if we are not selling players then we are not succeeding, it shows that no one wants them, we have a strategy in the main it's working.
Last season wasn't our worst season ever, nor was the one before, historically neither are anyway near, they were just poor seasons, all football clubs have them, we are still in the Premier League we are stronger for the experience.
So get behind the team, be proud of Southampton Football Club, lets get rid of this air of negativity that is dragging us down, enjoy what it means to follow a football team, the good times are better when you have been there for the bad times.