Some of the comments I have heard and seen over the past few days have been nothing short of disgraceful and some need to get a reality check.
Sometimes I write a story with my heart clearly on my sleeve and this i one of them, yes I can see why some would be upset by going out of Europe so cheaply, but it is not the end of the world as we know it, merely a set back in a long path forward.
Apologies to the two people that stood behind me in Denmark for the comments I made to them, but I like several others around them were enraged about the tirade of abuse aimed at our own players with barely 15 minutes of the game gone, two people with us walked out and found another seat, as they felt that it was going to end with them punching them.
Now that is not the way to do things, I am certainly not condoning that, but you have to ask why someone would travel over 1,000 miles and spent a considerable sum to scream abuse at Graziano Pelle and Ronald Koeman for 90 minutes rather than offer encouragement to the football team they purport to support.
Now I know everyone has a right to an opinion, but opinions are for the pub or internet message boards not for the when you are watching the team play an important match, I understood those who shouted abuse at the players at the end of the game, I felt their frustration, however the sizeable minority who were heckling, no that word is not strong enough "abusing" players of Southampton Football Club before the games are barely 15 minutes gone need to take a reality check.
Saints have come long way in the past six years and last season we made a big jump forward, sustaining the gains made was never going to be easy, however we have a great base to do so.
Yes there will be players wanting to leave, but that is not the fault of the club, the Premier League is big business these days, there is little loyalty, all a club like Saints can do is try and manage the situation, of course we do not want the mass exits of last summer, but the reality is that success is always going to be followed by the big clbs wanting our players, this is nothing new its been happening for 50 years.
The reality is that the players that leave our going to bigger clubs, I dont like typing that, but it is true, if they were going to Leicester City or Sunderland then I would be worried, but they are not, the sad truth is as we get better players we get players whose ambition stretches beyond Saints and at present we cannot do anything about that.
So when I read the social media comments or hear about the so called supporter phoning 5 live and demanding that Ronald Koeman be sacked I am dumbfounded. Ronald Koeman came here a year go and performed a miracle and now he is being slagged off because he hasn't (yet) repeated that this season.
But lets get a reality check, we have a great squad, our issues are about injuries to it at the moment which has meant we have been unable to play the side we have wanted to, when we do then im certain things will change.
But for some that is not good enough, they accept nothing other than winning games (every game) and think that every player sold is a step backwards, yes it might be temporarily, but we have a long term strategy in place, we have to be patient.
So perhaps some supporters should remember this and back the team not scream abuse at individual players, lets be blunt the season has barely started and if we beat Norwich today by two goals we will rise to 9th in the table only two points off the top four, if we do that where is the meltdown in that, it will be a solid start and with players coming back from injury will give us a good springboard.
But this doesn't appease some supporters, every game not won is a setback, every setback is terminal.
Football is all about long term lets remember that and get behind the team, not behave like spoilt children everytime things don't go our way.
Reality check, last season we had our best season in 30 years, in terms of league position there has been none better in all of that time we have had only our second European campaign in that same period, we have a manager who really pulled things round in a stormy period, indeed I can't think of anyone else who would have been able to do what Ronald Koeman did for us. This season we have only played three league games, WTF do some people want !
One thing I should make clear though, 90% of our support is brilliant it gets behind the team and stays behind it, however that is being ruined by the other 10% for whom nothing is ever good enough, most of the Saints fans in Denmark where superb as they have been in the other away games this season and the home games as well, this rant is not aimed at them, its aimed at the other 10% whom Im sure will give the standard hecklers reply that they have paid their money they re entitled to their opinion, that is true, but why do we go to the game and why are we called supporters ?
The answer is we go to see our team do its best and we go to support them, some need to look up the word supporter and then realise what that entails and that we should be supporters not "Slaggers"