Just under a month ago Saints V Orient attracted 21, 468 to St Mary's, just four weeks later and the visit of Colchester saw 17,857 as the official attendance, for those that want to be pedantic thats a deficit of 3,611 and to be blunt thats a hell of a drop in attendance.

Of course the situation at Saints is a major factor in this decrease but the worrying trend is that the crowd has decreased in each of the four home games so far.

At the end of last season optimism was high and Saints were in an ideal position to capitalise on the wave of support generated by Wembley, however the fact of the matter is we havent done that, but even worse we have actually moved backwards and alienated supporters.

A look at last seasons fixtures showed that Colchester also visited in September last year, back then 17,070 saw the game, yes this years attendance is slightly up on that, but to balance things out, this time last year we had approximately 2,000 season ticket holders less than we have now.

The gate on Saturday would have seen only around 3,500 - 4000 Saints fans buy a ticket for the game after taking into account season ticket holders and away fans and this is a low figure, in life many things are about perception and i feel that in this case the fans are percieving that the extra fees imposed on supporters buying individual tickets for games either on the internet, by phone or indeed on the day are putting fans off.

Whilst I accept that three of the opening four league games have not been attractive fixtures, our average is 19,805 already nearly 1,200 down on last season, to be blunt we have not capitalised on the roll after Wembley and due to ticketing policies both for season tickets and individual sales we are now on a downward curve thats compounded by our lack of corporate seating sales and this cant be good.

The club seem to have looked into trying to arrest this by offering season ticket holders the chance to buy tickets for the Dagenham & Redbridge game for £7.50, we have been down this road before and whilst anything to attract supporters back has to be considered, is it not just turning our season ticket holders into ticket touts ? anmd is it not actually unfair on that season ticket holder to be asked to pay more than the friend he is asking to come along, after all its the season ticket holder that he to buy the ticket so there is issue of time and cost of said ST holder getting the ticket.

Of course if we start winning the crowds will start to return, in football there is for the average fan rarely nothing wrong with his/her club that six straight wins wouldnt put right.

But if we dont win then the trend is downwards and in football once people stop coming on a regular basis, then its difficult to get them to return.   

I want to see St Mary's full or at least as full as it can be, sadly I no longer see the buoyant mood of last season in place, in just under two weeks we play Bournemouth, Im sure the crowd will top 20k aided by 3,000 Bournemouth fans, but if we still havent won by that game, I dread to think what the crowd will be for the visit of Tranmere on the 9th October 

Photo: Action Images

legod7 added 11:29 - Sep 20 In the game prior to Leyton Orient,we had beaten Bournemouth in the CC and everything looked rosy for the season. We had lost rather unluckily to Plymouth in the opening game of the season. When we played Colchester we had lost 4 games on the bounce,without scoring a goal.Walk up fans pick and choose their games,so this did not seem an attractive game to go to.When we get back into the habit of winning,as we did last season,then I think we will see these walk up fans coming to more games.

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patred added 11:54 - Sep 20 Also missing is the results we were led to believe would happen this season Also missing seems to be the effort from the players whilst in between managers Also missing is the manager that chairman was quite happy to leave in charge at the end of last season Alright we replaced the manager eventually, now the players have to respond to replace that hope thats gone since last season. Given the self inflicted reasons that surround ticketing, given the lack of investment in the team. Given the lack of information to fans and to local press. In this division, with these results, 17k is more than they can reasonably expect.

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kelmci added 12:44 - Sep 20 Whilst not entirely 4000 fans – but i would suggest Southampton highways can answer this question as to why some home + even away supporters were missing from the match, as the Redbridge Causeway was nose to tail from 10am until nearly 5pm coming into town being a combination of shoppers, cruises ship’s in, Southampton Boat Show, and the Saints. I was helping my son move house with the expectation that 3 round trips from Totton to Shirley starting at 10am would be finished in time for me to come to the game, yet just after 1pm we had just loaded the van on the 2nd trip. Listening to the radio it was the same old Saints plenty of the ball but little knowledge of what to do with it, also the secret tactics of the Chairman of doing things his way, and not telling people why this or that has happened is looking more like the old Rupert days, awith people possibly voting with their feet. We were all led to believe that this year was all up, but excluding the Bristol Rovers game, it’s been all down’s. As a profile club we deserve better that Atkins who really is a division 1 manager

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geezershoong added 12:47 - Sep 20 Your not taking account of the Boat Show into account, which may have kept some ST & on-the-day buyers away. I was stuck in traffic for 30 mins & made it to the ground with 5 mins to spare. Usually I am 30 mins early. Not too much to worry about methinks.
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wessex_exile added 12:51 - Sep 20 It wouldn't have made much difference, but on the subject of traffic I know of a few U's fans who simply gave up and detoured to alternative matches en route when it was clear they were never going to make kick-off at St Mary's - probably won't account for your missing 4k, but it's a start.
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yateleysaint added 12:58 - Sep 20 I was expecting to see more from Saints and Colchester so maybe the traffic had something to do with it. The M3 was stop-start from Basingstoke at 9.30 so I hate to think what it was like at 12pm!
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PatfromPoole added 13:23 - Sep 20 Also, wasn't the Orient game the first game after Markus passed away, so there were quite a few who turned up for that reason?
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A1079 added 13:46 - Sep 20 Some very good points above. But the reasons for not going seem to outweigh the reasons for going at the moment. On a personal note, I seem to have lost my enthusiasm for the game to some extent. The world cup was a huge disappointment all round, I looked forward to Saints and that has been a huge disappointment and sick and tired of all the baggage that seems to go with Saints and with football generally this year. In the past it didn't bother me, but whether it is age, other demands, lack of cash etc has effected my attitude I do not know. I guess that makes me a fair weather supporter at present, which I know is not a good thing and I must admit I did not go on Saturday as I thought, can I really afford it and if things are that tight do I want to spend money on something I am currently indifferent about and which may only serve to frustrate me more.......sorry, just being honest.

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BLEEDRED added 15:11 - Sep 20 Saints are not encouraging casual fans to turn up, If you heard Radio Solent there was one guy who said I got up in the morning looked out it was a sunny day, I think I'll take a trip to St. Marys Then thought hang on I have to pay £25 for a league 1 match plus traveling and parking costs. NC is charging me extra because I did not plan ahead ,so no I'll sit in the garden with a few beers and listen to the radio. You can be sure that was repeated 100's of times , NC does not want casual fans on the day. Every week more and more are just going to pick the big games that's the only reason you can get a ticket for D & G for £7.50 otherwise in would have been down to 14000. Saints are lucky they have 13000 Season ticket holders (could have been 18000 if they played fair)

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LostBoys added 16:28 - Sep 20 Its more than that. We should be achieving around 25,000 in the same manner as Leeds and Norwich last season. Hopefully this will come when we start winning again.
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SaintNick added 16:45 - Sep 20 in fairness I got a bus from Totton at about 12.15 and got off at the train station at after 12.30 so it wasnt that choc a block
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sholingred added 20:48 - Sep 20 Its no goals or wins for five games,that will affect any teams attendances.win games and crowds will go up,simple as that.
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davej added 07:42 - Sep 21 queuing traffic was back to millbrook flyover at 11.00. easier for buses they have bus lanes...
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SaintNick added 09:03 - Sep 21 There are no bus lanes between Totton and Southampton
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ericofarabia added 10:01 - Sep 21 SaintNick added 09:03 - Sep 21 There are no bus lanes between Totton and Southampton Cortese OUT FFS!!!
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