The somewhat mixed reception that Guly received on Saturday was a disgrace and could have cost us three points.

Over the past year or so I have noticed a worrying trend at this football club and that is to give abuse to certain players, of course crowds will often have a scapegoat and take a dislike to some players, but this is more than that and at any given time there are sometimes three or four players in our squad where a hate campaign seems to exist amongst sizeable sections of the crowd.

Some of you will perhaps point a finger at me for comments I have made about players on this site, but that is different, I make the comments only on here (OK down the pub as well) and I try to back up my opinions with facts, when I go to the match I gave and in some cases still give those players support.

It was perhaps two years ago this manifested itself at least in the past few years, Jason Puncheon was awful in the opening games of 2010/11 and the crowd started to get on his back, more than he deserved, but when I went to Doncaster Rovers last year for the first time ever I saw Saints supporters not just moaning at a player, but openly abusing him, "Guly your F*cking sh*t" chanted a little group of so called fans who were older enough to know better, this abuse got worse as the season wore on and to be blunt Guly who was having a decent season up to that point with eight goals and a number of assists to his name didnt deserve it.

Even two goals on Boxing Day as we beat Palace 2-0 plus another in a 3-0 drubbing of Forest at the City ground didnt silence the boo boys and the same chant as at Doncaster was heard.

It cant be a coincidence that after that Forest game Guly would not score again and whilst it cant be denied that his form was dropping, the abuse he was receiving had to play some part in it, quite frankly a sizeable chunk of our support put abusing Guly in front of achieving promotion.

The abuse has continued this season, but Guly has had several victims of this abuse joining him Danny Fox gets a lot of undeserved abuse and then there is Artur Boruc, yes his opening performances werent great, but to get the abuse he did after only 1 1/2 games for the club and most of it from supporters who probably hadnt seen his debut at West ham smacks of mob mentality.

But on Saturday the abuse got to the stage of being totally unacceptable, when Guly appeared on the touchline with 11 minutes to go  large sections of the crowd could see no irony in their abuse of Guly as he came on, only minutes earlier the praises of Nigel Adkins were being sung, well it is the manager who decides who comes on and off, if you dont like his choice of sub, then blame him not the player.

But this turning on a player by the crowd could have backfired, we were leading 1-0 in a vital relegation clash against a big rival, the team needed to see and hear that the crowd was right behind them, the positive support was driving them on, this negative vibe emanating from the stands towards Guly could have cost us dearly, it could have made us lose concentration and god knows we have done that enough times this season without contributing to it ourselves, those who booed Guly on Saturday or even expressed concern about the substitution should take a long hard look at their actions and how it could have affected the team and with that the result.

Time and time again I read on message boards about how united this club is and how this is a great time to be a Saints supporter, if thats the case then being united means being behind ALL our players and not just selected ones, of course there will always be favourites and always be those that the crowd never quite take to, but the time and place to slag off players is away from the games themselves, make no bones avoiding relegation this season will be tough, lets not make it tougher than it has to be by barracking our own players   

Photo: Action Images

moran89thmin added 00:38 - Dec 11 No one in the Kingsland/Northam corner booed Guly and I have never booed any Saints player, not even Steve Baker. I'm a supporter - I support.
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DJI added 08:20 - Dec 11 It was interesting to see Fonte turn to the KIngsland crowd and, while gesturing with his hands, asked "Why are you doing that?" He looked bemused and angry that our crowd would boo one of his team mates for coming on to the pitch. He kept doing it until the applause started and then he applauded back. I was glad Jose did that to make a point to the boo boys in Kingsland and stick up for his team mate. I was ashamed hearing the boos from our supporters. I think it would help if the Northam started chanting him as soon as they see him to give him a confidence boost next time. Fair play to the Northam though for making a right noise for him to drown out the boos. However, Nick is right and this has been going on for ages now. I remember being at Coventry away and he was getting all sorts of stick (some racial), just before he assisted 2 and scored himself. He was the difference for us that day but still got pelters from some quarters of the crowd. It has to stop; it is becoming a bit of a joke amongst some fans now and personally, I don't like it.

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Whatsforpud added 14:53 - Dec 11 Perhaps one of those people who booed him as he came on could actually explain their logic, so that the rest of us would then know.
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thingummy added 19:54 - Dec 11 he looked more than tidy when he came on. If AL is unavailable, GdP will be important for us ........
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saintstowin added 21:29 - Dec 11 it made me so angry to witness the treatment and i along with many others thankfully made sure he was welcomed on. it would have been wonderful if the long range shot or his closer in attempt had gone in. i recall our 1st and vital goal against coventry was after guly played a really intelligent cross to lallana to shoot. idiots who felt he had got it wrong because the ball wasn't played directly into onrushing teammates in the box had already started groaning and you could pick that up on replays afterwards. it was a great ball and i think epitomises guly's thoughtful contribution. i'm glad when he is involved.

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Alyson added 01:21 - Dec 16 My husband and I sit in Kingsland. Every home match we have to put up with a group of so called long term supporters. Right from the beginning of the game to the end they are screaming abuse at team members and linesman. I find it very embarrassing to hear some of the language that is aimed at both our own players and officials, and if Guly comes on, the abuse shouted about him is appalling. when will these so called supporters get behind our players no matter who they are, and actually support our team? I often wonder why these people attend, because it is obviously not to support the Saints.

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