Saints fans need to unite behind the team on Sunday against Everton to help it get three points, rather than turn against it.
Social media is full of Saints fans indignant at our current situation, they complain that the club has no ambition, that this is not what they "signed up for" when they bought their season tickets, that they are not being entertained and that Les Reed should be sacked, Ralph Krueger is incompetent and a whole host of gripes.
Whilst it cannot be denied that there are issues at the moment on the pitch that need addressing, those who have followed the club over the past 30 years or so are a little bit more realistic about what the club has achieved over the past four years, in what has been our most consistent period in our history.
The end of last season marked our best ever run of finishes in the top flight, never before had we managed such consistency, yet many told the World very loudly that this was the worst ever season.
Now I am not going to tell anyone that they have not got the right to have an opinion on whether the club is going wrong or not, all I am going to say is base that opinion on reality and use a little reasoning, rather than ranting.
We all need to look at what we want from this season, do we want to pull away from the relegation zone or do we want to see ourselves dragged into it, personally I want Saints to win every game and pull away, I want Mauricio Pellegrino to succeed, even though at this moment in time I can't see that he will, it is not personal it is purely about winning games and then entertainment, in that order !
This being the case we have to look at what we want from Sunday's game, do you see it as a vital game that we need to get three points from, or do you see it as a chance to have a go at the manager and try and convince the board that he should be sacked.
If it is about winning the game and pulling away from the relegation zone, then we all need to be behind the team for the whole of the game and helping it find the motivation that at the moment they areclearly not getting from the manager, if we still lose the game there will be plenty of opportunity to rant and rave at the manager etc once the final whistle is blown.
If for you it is about showing the board that Pellegrino should be sacked, then don't even bother going to the game, history shows that vocal protests against manager's often force the board to show they are in command by keeping him in the job, it often prolongs the tenure of said manager and means that with a toxic atmosphere dragging down the team all it actually achieves is making it that much more difficult for his successor to repair the damage.
If you truly cannot get behind the team (And I mean the team here not the manager or board) then your best way of protesting is by staying away, you still make a big point to the board with the raft of empty seats, but you do not harm the teams chances. Football boards are swayed by lost revenue not a few people shouting in the stands or on social media.
Back in the early 90's things were much worse than they are now, I can assure you of that, the manager Ian Branfoot was determined to play a certain way and he was not getting results, the newly formed Southampton Independent Supporters Association orchestrated a campaign that although focused on making the fans views clear to the Saints board, also made sure that during games the fans got behind the team.
This meant that we saw some stirring victories and the crowd carried the team through and when Branfoot was sacked, his successor Alan Ball was able to keep the team up because of vital points gained during this period.
The message was clear then, protest only before the start of the game and after it, once the referee blew the whistle for kick off the Dell was passionately behind the team, not the manager or the board, but the team.
Of course times have changed in football, but not that much that we cant learn from the 1993/94 season, on Sunday we need the fans to be unified in their backing for the team, it needs to be one of those special St Mary's atmospheres.
This is a good squad of players, they are all proven in their abilities at this level, there is no reason why we should not win a few games and move up the league, we are still nearer to the top ten than the bottom three, that tells you something.
We have been spoilt over the past few years, I wouldn't quite say we have punched above our weight, but we have really hit the par score for Southampton FC, we have some great foundations, they are still there, it just doesn't feel like it at the moment due to the lacklustre performances on the pitch.