Southampton supporters have been up in arms of late about away fans in home areas at St Mary's, now the club has issued a statement to the fans about the measures it is taking and what it is doing in Block 1 in the Itchen Stand.

If there is one criticism that can be aimed at Southampton Football Club it is that it has consistently failed to communicate with it's own supporters over the past few years.

It has been good at issuing PR blurb about it's abysmal choice of kits this season, but in talking plainly to the fans and addressing their needs it has fallen down.

One prime example is the issues surrounding Block 1 in the Itchen, the club's own Saints Voice set up a few years ago to talk to the club and then communicate with the fans has failed miserably, that is not the club's fault, their intentions were good, the problem has been that with one or two notable exceptions aside, those on this panel have not understood the role that they are there to play, nor have they been visual to supporters to allow the fans themselves to get them to lobby the club on the issues.

As I said that is not the club it self's fault, but they have been slow to recognise at least publicly how inneffective it has been and remedy that by communicating with the fans not only directly but more often.

That has lead many to believe that Saints are unaware and doing nothing about the problems it currently has in it's own stadium, this is far from the truth and back in August i met with the club and communicated on this site some of our discussions, but they themselves said little and this riled up the fan base more . You can read this article using the link below.

https://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/southampton/news/58226/saints-looking-for

The big issue for many is away fans in home areas, in essence this is a problem that has always been there and in truth is difficult for the fans to stop, to be blunt if you are an away supporter in a home section you have usually got there by one of two means, the first is that you have been bought a ticket by a Saints supporting friend or the second you are on the club's data base, perhaps because you live locally.

Personally, I don't have an issue with an away support getting a ticket in home areas as long as they comply with the unwritten code of a travelling football fan, that is if you have to sit in with the home fans, you don't wear any colours, you are not vocal in supporting your team and you don't stand up and cheer if and when they score.

If you comply with that then probably no one will know who you support and you will watch the game peacefully and without the fear of ejection, indeed those next to you will probably not be bothered even if they find out you support the opposition.

The issue is with those who make themselves known and they fall into two categories, those that know the score and like to make a scene and those who don't usually go to a game and are unaware that these days you can't just wear your colours in home sections, in short they are armchair fans taking a rare chance to see their team.

But those in glass houses should not throw stones, when we travelled to take on Wimbledon in a do or die game to stay up in May 1999, we took over Selhurst Park, although we had 10,000 tickets officially, the other three sides of the ground were full of Saints supporters who made themselves known throughout the game.

To a lesser extent in May 2011 when we travelled to Plymouth, despite the rest of the ground being full of empty seats including blocks next to the away section, they refused to sell us extra tickets for a game that eventually did secure us promotion to the Championship, we had a lot in the home sections that day, those that did reveal themselves were attacked in some sections and others stayed quiet.

We didn't complain about away supporters in home sections back then, we glorified it.

The issue though is usually only with the Big Six clubs although rarely with Manchester City funnily enough, they are the ones with the fans a little more locally to us, although Everton have also been a problem in recent years.

The problem has been made worse by the impression that Saints are doing nothing to stop it, truth is they can usually do little before the event other than refuse entry to those wearing shirts and as i say that is usually the armchair fan who lives locally and takes his son to a game with their Chelsea shirts on etc, most are in hiding till their team score and then bedlam takes over.

To be fair in most parts of the ground they are removed without much fuss, the people are not aggressive and the worst they leave to is a bit of verbal abuse.

But for those who inadvertently get tickets in the Northam or more recently the Itchen North, they have found a much warmer welcome and there has been some disorder take place.

Now however the club has spoken out about the issues it has faced and what it has been doing to tackle them.

"We, along with all Premier League clubs, are aware of ongoing issues surrounding away fans trying to access seats in home areas.

“All ticket sales are subject to checks to look at postcodes of purchasers and throughout the sales journey, we have prevalent messaging that tickets are for home fan use only.

"This has been highlighted even further this season and we have several games where tickets are only available to those with previous booking history.

"However, we are also mindful these parameters restrict legitimate new Saints fans from attending these games.

“We have increased awareness and trained staff to be extra vigilant on this issue.

"So far this season we have ejected over 120 fans within the stadium itself, and there has also been a number of fans turned away when collecting tickets.”

This is good news, however the 120 ejected highlights that for all the precautions the club does take, they are ultimately never going to be able to prevent every away supporter entering the ground, lets be blunt here, these are probably those that have got their tickets from Saints supporters themselves and to be honest it is a sign of the times that this cannot be done, although these times have been with us for many years now.

The club have also commented on the issues that have led to the closure of Block 1.

"The measures taken in Block 1 have stopped the issues of movement towards opposition fans and associated behaviour, which the Safety Advisory Group are satisfied with.

"This solution will remain in place for the foreseeable future whilst the club considers alternative measures so that we can look at re-opening the block.”

This is a more serious matter as i alluded to back in August, whilst can see why many would consider this in the main just creating atmosphere, it has led to more worrying issues and the Everton game that saw almost 30 missiles thrown between Block 1 and the away section was not about the odd away fan in home sections.

Yes the Everton supporters responded with enthusiasm and could be held equally to blame, but the ground Safety Advisory Group who licence the Stadium are not quite seeing it that way and perhaps rightly so, they see it as something that could lead to serious injury.

From this perspective I know the Police and club itself have worked hard to sort the issue out, neither wanted the closure of Block 1 or indeed block 2 and as i mentioned in ky article back in August were working hard to find solutions, sadly the Everton game was a step too far and the club had to act, in truth it has been proactive rather than let the Safety Advisory Group be reactive,

Photo: Action Images

Jesus_02 added 10:18 - Nov 4 There needs to be zero tolerance with away shirts. That includes the kids. If a parent cant control what they wear then what hope do we have, shouldn't be allowed in either. Give them a chance to bin the shirt if not. No entry, no refund. I've also seen away fans be moved. We shouldn't be doing that they should be ejected. Make it in the T&Cs when you buy a ticket, like if you lend out/borrow a season Ticket

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NewburySaint added 15:24 - Nov 4 Saw 2 lads with uncovered Arsenal shirts on ridiculously trying to get in the Northam before the last game - obviously the steward stopped them from going in but they didn’t seem to understand what the problem was until they were “helped” in understanding by some Saints supporters.
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saint901 added 15:46 - Nov 4 I was in the Kingsland toward the Chapel end for the Arsenal game and we saw perhaps half a dozen people helped out of the ground for standing and cheering their goal. Next to me however was a man, woman and child of perhaps 8 or 9. They spoke to each other in perhaps a Polish or eastern European language. The guy was careful to applaud politely when we did well but the boy was not able to exercise self control. I could have reported them but did not. The boy wanted to watch "his" team, he was causing no trouble and to have been thrown out would have ruined his experience. Kicking out gobby inconsiderate types - absolutely. Moving on those who may not support us but who show some respect - no.

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collo60 added 16:06 - Nov 4 If we had more fans then this situation couldn’t happen. But in this day and age it is unbelievable that we cannot put up with someone supporting another team in your area of the stadium. As long as the away supporter keeps reasonably quiet and there are not great numbers of them then who cares? With large numbers infiltrating an area this is a recipe for trouble but if the fans grew up and just enjoyed the GAME for what it is I.e. a GAME then why should we have a problem? You can go into pubs in Southampton and mix with opposition supporters before the game and not have trouble but as soon as we get near or in the stadium the battle lines seem to be drawn and away we go. It’s about time the tribalism was abandoned and yes support our team but for goodness sake enjoy the game for the craic and don’t worry who you’re stood next to. (Unless of course it p….y).

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Southamptonfan added 17:31 - Nov 4 Collo60, nobody cares if an anonymous away fan shows respect and keeps quiet. I can tell you now, most can't keep quiet and they cheer and take the p!ss in our own sections. Saints are sh!t at the moment and having away fans next to me smiling and taking the p!ss is not what I want. It's bad enough watching the team lose every week, let alone people celebrating around me. They are mostly glory hunting idiots who should be supporting their local team, or travel 300 miles to "support" the team they say they support. We don't want then there, cheering in our faces. More and more, the gimps rub it in how sh!t we are and how great their top team is, with a smile, a cheer or an in your face celebration. Why should we put up with that? Saints need to make it harder to get tickets against the top 6 clubs. Yes, Saints arn't selling out, because many proper Saints fans have been priced out for the tourists and glory hunters. That's also not right is it? And we have won something like two home games in about 35. So that's why the Saints fans arn't clambering for a ticket. But if they want even more Saints fans to desert the club, the sure way to do it is have away fans laughing in our faces as we lose game after game in the home end.

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cocklebreath added 20:13 - Nov 4 Collo60 new age fan who has no passion, I know it’s backward but if some mouthy c&nt starts gibbing off for his team in the home end then he needs a good old punch to the nose. I’ve been in home ends and managed to keep quiet, it’s not f&ck in hard, just show some respect
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ItchenNorth added 09:21 - Nov 5 "Everton game that saw almost 30 missiles thrown between Block 1 and the away section". Let's get the facts right. I watched this happen from Block 3 and I would guess that probably 95% of what was thrown came from the away end before a single thing left Block 1.Yes, some objects were returned but in all honesty, if I had been stood in Block 1 or 2, just seen an away goal, then got covered in drink (as most of what was thrown was half empty coke or drinks bottles); id have been pissed off as well. "Yes the Everton supporters responded with enthusiasm and could be held equally to blame, but" No, Everton were far in away to blame. I think what really annoys Saints fans is that, and using the Everton game as an example; it just feels like the club are using this to excuse their actions. They don't want noisy home fans in these sections, as this is where hospitality is. Yet stewarding does nothing to stop away fans standing or throwing flairs or smoke bombs. They say they have closed Block 1 to stop the crowd surging towards the away end, yet stopped selling general ticket sales, leaving plenty of empty seats in the sections to move around in! All we hear is what the after affect is on our supporters, but have Everton been fined by the FA or Premier League? Will Everton have a reduced away ticket allocation (at all grounds) until their behavior stops; who knows, probably not.

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