To protest or not to protest, that is the question 08:32 - May 9 with 5384 views | PatfromPoole | I think some on here would say that: 1. we are not the most unified of fanbases 2. in this sanitised social-media era, we don’t have the passion to instigate change as was the case towards the end of the Branfoot era. I would suggest that regardless of the scoreline on Saturday (as we are down whatever happens in the Fulham game) everybody just gets up and walks out in the 76th minute? 76 represents the greatest event in the club’s history and I think is symbolic. People don’t have to risk bans by invading the pitch. As a visual protest, everybody getting up and leaving is as big an up-yours to club management and players as you can get. It should even appeal to the Tik Tok fanatic oddballs. More importantly, it would show that the fans can stand up as one and be unified. That would be something for Sport Republic to seriously worry about. | ![](/images/avatars/1961.gif) |
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To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 09:35 - May 9 with 3781 views | dirk_doone | I don't really understand the point of this or the timing of it. What exactly would it make them do? Fan protests are usually about getting either the owner or the manager out. We already know Selles will be replaced. As for the owners, it could very well be a case of out of the frying pan into the fire. Anyway, owners, understandably, always want to get their money back when they sell and they won't get anywhere near that if they sell us as a Championship club. [Post edited 9 May 2023 9:36]
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To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 09:42 - May 9 with 3758 views | PatfromPoole |
To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 09:35 - May 9 by dirk_doone | I don't really understand the point of this or the timing of it. What exactly would it make them do? Fan protests are usually about getting either the owner or the manager out. We already know Selles will be replaced. As for the owners, it could very well be a case of out of the frying pan into the fire. Anyway, owners, understandably, always want to get their money back when they sell and they won't get anywhere near that if they sell us as a Championship club. [Post edited 9 May 2023 9:36]
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The point is to do something visual as a mass collective. It’s not violent or anything that could be construed as a mob mentality by the Club’s propaganda machine which has already outed Block 1 as an unruly mob. If people just blindly accept failure, they will be served it up for many more years to come. The other thing is that as a fanbase, we are very fractious and there is very little unity. We need to do something to be more unified and give us a sense of identity going forward. I am not going to start comparing our fanbase to other clubs. There is already plenty of that. If anybody has any better ideas, please feel free to share them. | ![](/images/avatars/1961.gif) |
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To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 10:24 - May 9 with 3696 views | saintwizzler | What would Liverpool fans do? | ![](/images/avatars/10139.gif) |
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To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 10:48 - May 9 with 3664 views | SFC_Referee | Why would we protest now when we actually have some owners that will invest, whilst we did nothing over like 4 years of having an owner that did bugger al? As yeah SR haven’t had a good season whatsoever, but at least they’ve tried, invested and actually cared a bit about the club. As yeah they do clearly wanna make money outta the club, and our transfer strangely of buying young players really didn’t work out, but at least we did try something. As we shouldn’t be protesting after just 1 season after all the years Gao got away with doing nothing, which really is just as big of a factor in why we’ve gone down, as our transfer strategy has been. As this coming summer transfer window and season is the one where we will get to see what SR is all about, as we can see if they’ve learn from their mistakes but will still give a toss about us, or now that we’ve gone down will just jump ship and just give bugger all to us. Either way the point is that protests aren’t going to get us anywhere and for what many other owners have gotten away with I don’t see why we’ve waited until now to even talk about any. | ![](/images/avatars/29913.gif) |
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To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 10:52 - May 9 with 3655 views | saintwizzler | The owners have spent, on Championship standard players. | ![](/images/avatars/10139.gif) |
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To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 11:13 - May 9 with 3619 views | WestEndBoy | Should be mass boycott of Fulham game .no reason for people to go unless you want to see us mathematically relegated .stay in the pub and leave it to the 3000 happy clappers | ![](/images/avatars/8322.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 11:29 - May 9 with 3583 views | Hollywood56 |
To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 10:24 - May 9 by saintwizzler | What would Liverpool fans do? |
Steal the seats | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 11:34 - May 9 with 3577 views | Hollywood56 |
To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 10:48 - May 9 by SFC_Referee | Why would we protest now when we actually have some owners that will invest, whilst we did nothing over like 4 years of having an owner that did bugger al? As yeah SR haven’t had a good season whatsoever, but at least they’ve tried, invested and actually cared a bit about the club. As yeah they do clearly wanna make money outta the club, and our transfer strangely of buying young players really didn’t work out, but at least we did try something. As we shouldn’t be protesting after just 1 season after all the years Gao got away with doing nothing, which really is just as big of a factor in why we’ve gone down, as our transfer strategy has been. As this coming summer transfer window and season is the one where we will get to see what SR is all about, as we can see if they’ve learn from their mistakes but will still give a toss about us, or now that we’ve gone down will just jump ship and just give bugger all to us. Either way the point is that protests aren’t going to get us anywhere and for what many other owners have gotten away with I don’t see why we’ve waited until now to even talk about any. |
They might have spent a lot of money on younger players that where sort after with RH, then they sacked him before he even had the chance to take them for ONE training session, swiftly followed by TWO incompetent unprooved, under qualified so called managers, and people wonder why after 11 reasonable years in the premiership we are relegated, we got exactly what we deserved. | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) | Login to get fewer ads
To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 11:52 - May 9 with 3536 views | saintwizzler |
To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 11:34 - May 9 by Hollywood56 | They might have spent a lot of money on younger players that where sort after with RH, then they sacked him before he even had the chance to take them for ONE training session, swiftly followed by TWO incompetent unprooved, under qualified so called managers, and people wonder why after 11 reasonable years in the premiership we are relegated, we got exactly what we deserved. |
RH was sacked in November. The transfer window closed the start of September. | ![](/images/avatars/10139.gif) |
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To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 12:07 - May 9 with 3504 views | Buggalugs | Chances are we’d be 3 down before the 76th minute, so already back in the boozer. | ![](/images/avatars/10200.gif) |
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To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 12:12 - May 9 with 3496 views | franniesTache |
To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 09:35 - May 9 by dirk_doone | I don't really understand the point of this or the timing of it. What exactly would it make them do? Fan protests are usually about getting either the owner or the manager out. We already know Selles will be replaced. As for the owners, it could very well be a case of out of the frying pan into the fire. Anyway, owners, understandably, always want to get their money back when they sell and they won't get anywhere near that if they sell us as a Championship club. [Post edited 9 May 2023 9:36]
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Surely the point of any protest is to tell the board we've had enough. Had enough of the cheap option for rmanagers. Had enough of being overly "clever" and thinking statistical analysis wins football games. Had enough of buying to sell, instead of buying to grow. Had enough of wishy washy marketing over real strategy. Had enough of prioritising away fans over home fans. Had enough of being taken the p*ss out of by the people that own and run the club. Right now our fanbase is soft. The owners and board can get away with it because they think we'll just accept it. And to be fair we do, there were utter muppets clapping the side last night after the game, our dinlows sing about going to away games in the championship instead of stringing the board up from the Itchen Bridge. Semmens, Ankersen and a few others should be booted out of our club and city, but instead our fans care more about "stripes" on the kit, or singing about libraries. And yes, i'm f*cking angry this morning, but then again shouldn't we be f*cking angry? | ![](/images/avatars/13008.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 12:59 - May 9 with 3410 views | SaintNick | You make some good points Pat, but what is missing is what we would protest against, I have always maintained you protest about the things that you can change not those you cant. As you say we are just about down, so what you are suggesting isnt a protest but just making a point. From that perspective why bother, walking out is very much dependent on getting people to join in and can be scuppered by events on the pitch, it can be counter productive if not enough do it because Saints are 3-0 up. But it all comes back about what we are actually protesting against, which is essentially having had two poor transfer windows and having three managers. You would hope that Sports Republic would learn from their mistakes and I'm not sure a protest would alter their thinking that much. Protests are pretty much about things that affect fans rather than poor decisions, ticket prices, owners that dont care about the club etc etc. Anyway never ask someone do do anything you wouldnt do yourself Pat, you organise it and ill publicise it on here and across social media and make sure all the media get the press statements etc, e mail me over the manifesto etc plus a few good quotes from yourself and we can make a start | ![](/images/avatars/1032.gif) |
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To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 13:02 - May 9 with 3406 views | SaintNick |
To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 10:24 - May 9 by saintwizzler | What would Liverpool fans do? |
In fairness the clubs who have the most plastic fan bases such as Liverpool, United, Chelsea, Arsenal & Spurs also have the most organised fan groups . I don't know what Liverpool fans would have done, but I know what they wouldn't have done what we have done for the last 15 years, which I would suggest in general is a mixture of chairs, backsides and a big fat zero.
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To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 13:15 - May 9 with 3383 views | SaintNick |
To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 12:12 - May 9 by franniesTache | Surely the point of any protest is to tell the board we've had enough. Had enough of the cheap option for rmanagers. Had enough of being overly "clever" and thinking statistical analysis wins football games. Had enough of buying to sell, instead of buying to grow. Had enough of wishy washy marketing over real strategy. Had enough of prioritising away fans over home fans. Had enough of being taken the p*ss out of by the people that own and run the club. Right now our fanbase is soft. The owners and board can get away with it because they think we'll just accept it. And to be fair we do, there were utter muppets clapping the side last night after the game, our dinlows sing about going to away games in the championship instead of stringing the board up from the Itchen Bridge. Semmens, Ankersen and a few others should be booted out of our club and city, but instead our fans care more about "stripes" on the kit, or singing about libraries. And yes, i'm f*cking angry this morning, but then again shouldn't we be f*cking angry? |
You are right, but the trouble is we are already starting to deal with that, we are bringing in a director of football who will hopefully know something about appointing managers and the trouble is being overtly cleaver and statistical analysis is high on the agenda of most clubs these days not just Saints Buying to grow is unfortunately impossible these days, you can try to grow all you like, but it is the players that have the power, we tried to keep Van Dijk and Fonte a few years back and look where that got us, this is the modern day game it is all about money, back in 2014 we used the money we got well, buying and selling is the only way to survive unless you are one of the big 7, this is the reality of the modern game. When you are able to keep a player it is generally for one reason, no one else wants him. The marketing at the club is appalling I would agree with that. I can't see where we prioritise away fans over home fans, the strategy used by the police is different in away sections than it is in home sections. I havent seen Sport republic take the p*ss out of the fans yet, but that could be because it is early days, but we have to give them a chance to show they can take us forward rather than condemning them just because someone has spent their money badly. Our fanbase has been soft for 15 years, I cant see that changing. There were people who clapped the team after the game, I wasn't one of them, but there were a couple of players out there who deserved to be clapped so perhaps they were clapping them. I also know that there were people who spent most of the game singing that "we're going down " song and screaming abuse at certain players because they had given away a throw in, that was equally as bad. Ive been angry for years at what has happened but I try to be angry at who is to blame and not who isnt | ![](/images/avatars/1032.gif) |
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To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 13:55 - May 9 with 3344 views | saints__fan__73 |
To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 13:15 - May 9 by SaintNick | You are right, but the trouble is we are already starting to deal with that, we are bringing in a director of football who will hopefully know something about appointing managers and the trouble is being overtly cleaver and statistical analysis is high on the agenda of most clubs these days not just Saints Buying to grow is unfortunately impossible these days, you can try to grow all you like, but it is the players that have the power, we tried to keep Van Dijk and Fonte a few years back and look where that got us, this is the modern day game it is all about money, back in 2014 we used the money we got well, buying and selling is the only way to survive unless you are one of the big 7, this is the reality of the modern game. When you are able to keep a player it is generally for one reason, no one else wants him. The marketing at the club is appalling I would agree with that. I can't see where we prioritise away fans over home fans, the strategy used by the police is different in away sections than it is in home sections. I havent seen Sport republic take the p*ss out of the fans yet, but that could be because it is early days, but we have to give them a chance to show they can take us forward rather than condemning them just because someone has spent their money badly. Our fanbase has been soft for 15 years, I cant see that changing. There were people who clapped the team after the game, I wasn't one of them, but there were a couple of players out there who deserved to be clapped so perhaps they were clapping them. I also know that there were people who spent most of the game singing that "we're going down " song and screaming abuse at certain players because they had given away a throw in, that was equally as bad. Ive been angry for years at what has happened but I try to be angry at who is to blame and not who isnt |
Angry for years Nick? You've done well in disguising that. The only time I've seen you angry is when we were going through our most successful period since the early 80s. You were livid then. | ![](/images/avatars/11710.gif) |
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To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 14:25 - May 9 with 3311 views | SaintNick |
To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 13:55 - May 9 by saints__fan__73 | Angry for years Nick? You've done well in disguising that. The only time I've seen you angry is when we were going through our most successful period since the early 80s. You were livid then. |
As many teams have found out, Pompey for example, when you are going through your most successful period you find out it is all based on sand. | ![](/images/avatars/1032.gif) |
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To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 15:59 - May 9 with 3223 views | PatfromPoole |
To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 12:59 - May 9 by SaintNick | You make some good points Pat, but what is missing is what we would protest against, I have always maintained you protest about the things that you can change not those you cant. As you say we are just about down, so what you are suggesting isnt a protest but just making a point. From that perspective why bother, walking out is very much dependent on getting people to join in and can be scuppered by events on the pitch, it can be counter productive if not enough do it because Saints are 3-0 up. But it all comes back about what we are actually protesting against, which is essentially having had two poor transfer windows and having three managers. You would hope that Sports Republic would learn from their mistakes and I'm not sure a protest would alter their thinking that much. Protests are pretty much about things that affect fans rather than poor decisions, ticket prices, owners that dont care about the club etc etc. Anyway never ask someone do do anything you wouldnt do yourself Pat, you organise it and ill publicise it on here and across social media and make sure all the media get the press statements etc, e mail me over the manifesto etc plus a few good quotes from yourself and we can make a start |
A manifesto? It’s pretty simple. Stop losing football matches all the time by appointing crap managers and buying players who patently aren’t good enough. | ![](/images/avatars/1961.gif) |
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To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 18:51 - May 9 with 3155 views | saintwizzler |
To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 13:02 - May 9 by SaintNick | In fairness the clubs who have the most plastic fan bases such as Liverpool, United, Chelsea, Arsenal & Spurs also have the most organised fan groups . I don't know what Liverpool fans would have done, but I know what they wouldn't have done what we have done for the last 15 years, which I would suggest in general is a mixture of chairs, backsides and a big fat zero.
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Remember when we beat Villa away on St George’s Day 2016 when they were already relegated? The place was empty. Well the official crowd was 29k, but as we know that includes season ticket holders who didn’t go. There was no where near 29k in there that day. Villa Park capacity is 42k. The best form of protest is with your feet. I will go v Fulham as we are not mathematically down and I will be there to support my team. The final match v Liverpool is a different story. I know if I don’t go I’ll miss the lap of appreciation but I can live with that. | ![](/images/avatars/10139.gif) |
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To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 20:39 - May 9 with 3088 views | barry_sanchez |
To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 18:51 - May 9 by saintwizzler | Remember when we beat Villa away on St George’s Day 2016 when they were already relegated? The place was empty. Well the official crowd was 29k, but as we know that includes season ticket holders who didn’t go. There was no where near 29k in there that day. Villa Park capacity is 42k. The best form of protest is with your feet. I will go v Fulham as we are not mathematically down and I will be there to support my team. The final match v Liverpool is a different story. I know if I don’t go I’ll miss the lap of appreciation but I can live with that. |
We do have a fan base that doesn't seem as arsed as other clubs, Everton for instance go into meltdown over their results and quite right too, we seem to accept it, the mutants down the road have some collective, we don't for whatever reason, maybe it will appear when we're down, we've been smashed into the dust with shit results, selling of the best players, cheap knock offs and low aspiration so there are some valid reasons to why. | ![](/images/avatars/13164.gif) |
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To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 20:51 - May 9 with 3066 views | Southamptonfan |
To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 20:39 - May 9 by barry_sanchez | We do have a fan base that doesn't seem as arsed as other clubs, Everton for instance go into meltdown over their results and quite right too, we seem to accept it, the mutants down the road have some collective, we don't for whatever reason, maybe it will appear when we're down, we've been smashed into the dust with shit results, selling of the best players, cheap knock offs and low aspiration so there are some valid reasons to why. |
Some of the most passionate fans at clubs like Everton, Leeds, West Ham are working class, hard core fans and they are really vocal. That lot down the road, might have 6 fingers and no teeth but they really do make a noise and they fiercely protest when needed. We have a fair few fair weather farm hat wearing happy clappers who just smile and clap. Are some our fans just nice, bit like Norwich? It's strange we don't seem to do much or get worked up. Obviously some of our fans do get worked up, in the Northam but the rest of the ground does nothing. And even in the Northam, the fans just troop out after another defeat. [Post edited 9 May 2023 20:52]
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To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 21:24 - May 9 with 3036 views | 1teeminants |
To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 20:51 - May 9 by Southamptonfan | Some of the most passionate fans at clubs like Everton, Leeds, West Ham are working class, hard core fans and they are really vocal. That lot down the road, might have 6 fingers and no teeth but they really do make a noise and they fiercely protest when needed. We have a fair few fair weather farm hat wearing happy clappers who just smile and clap. Are some our fans just nice, bit like Norwich? It's strange we don't seem to do much or get worked up. Obviously some of our fans do get worked up, in the Northam but the rest of the ground does nothing. And even in the Northam, the fans just troop out after another defeat. [Post edited 9 May 2023 20:52]
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I have been saying this for years . We have too many middle class fans who do not want to make a racket . Just look around the stands , loads of middle aged middle class blokes and women . There’s not really much you can do about that. Away games are better because more lads( so to speak) get involved. Lads that probably don’t bother going to home games because of the type of fan there. | ![](/images/avatars/2020.gif) |
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To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 21:30 - May 9 with 3021 views | Southamptonfan |
To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 21:24 - May 9 by 1teeminants | I have been saying this for years . We have too many middle class fans who do not want to make a racket . Just look around the stands , loads of middle aged middle class blokes and women . There’s not really much you can do about that. Away games are better because more lads( so to speak) get involved. Lads that probably don’t bother going to home games because of the type of fan there. |
I think you're spot on. Lots of middle class fans as you put it just sat there and at away games you're right a lot of "the lads" turn out. I do think we have also lost a lot of fans from "the backstreets" who can't afford to go. I know a few friends from Millbrook and the like who are diehard Saints but they don't go. They arn't sensible enough to save or to get tickets in advance like you have to nowadays etc and they don't have the money. These fans are replaced by tourists and people who have money who just sit there. I don't think we reach out to those vocal proper fans perhaps. We really do cater for rich away fans and tourists rather than the proper local lads. [Post edited 9 May 2023 21:32]
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To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 21:41 - May 9 with 3002 views | MytchettSaint | You can have all the noisy demonstrations you like, the only thing that ever works is voting with your feet. | ![](/images/avatars/3750.gif) |
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To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 21:44 - May 9 with 2995 views | Southamptonfan |
To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 21:41 - May 9 by MytchettSaint | You can have all the noisy demonstrations you like, the only thing that ever works is voting with your feet. |
I'm not sure though. West Ham fans fiercely protested against their directors a couple of years back (and I'm not advocating violence or threatening behaviour) but the board acted the next season, spending a lot of money in the transfer market. It worked in that the board took action after the protests. | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) |
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To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 21:50 - May 9 with 2985 views | MytchettSaint |
To protest or not to protest, that is the question on 21:44 - May 9 by Southamptonfan | I'm not sure though. West Ham fans fiercely protested against their directors a couple of years back (and I'm not advocating violence or threatening behaviour) but the board acted the next season, spending a lot of money in the transfer market. It worked in that the board took action after the protests. |
We’ve spent money this season. I can’t knock SR for that. Just about every other decision they’ve got wrong. I sat in the dell after games, stood in the car park there calling for Branfoot to go, in the end it was 9000 home crowds where people said enough is enough that did for him. If people stood outside St Mary’s I’m sure the smug gits would look out and smirk. Having to look around a sparsely populated ground would make them feel a lot more uncomfortable this approaching summer. | ![](/images/avatars/3750.gif) |
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