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Would you encourage a grand-child still to be a Saints fan


OldNick

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All the angst that Saints have given me, and the ruined weekends, is it right to encourage the disease to our grand children. Let them support Man U or Man city, at least they wont go through what we go through.

Afterall it is a business, owned by Chinese/Swiss not the club that really represented my home city that I was so proud of as I grew up

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That's the worst thing for me.

I can cope with relegation, it's been on the cards for a year - been there, done that, it's just football.

Then you look at your grandchild in a little Saints kit and you feel responsible for their misery.

I guess it'll be character-building...

And to address the direct question, I'm not happy about it but I'd rather this than seeing them hop between Man City and Chelsea etc for the rest of their lives!

That is a road of shame that only the most feeble tread.

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That's the worst thing for me.

I can cope with relegation, it's been on the cards for a year - been there, done that, it's just football.

Then you look at your grandchild in a little Saints kit and you feel responsible for their misery.

I guess it'll be character-building...

And to address the direct question, I'm not happy about it but I'd rather this than seeing them hop between Man City and Chelsea etc for the rest of their lives!

That is a road of shame that only the most feeble tread.

Why put them through it though. We as grandparents know the hurt , its like telling them its ok to put their finger in a light socket.

Perhaps its me , but last night I was in such a foul mood, something Im not normally, all over Saints.

If she ends up supporting a top team I will not worry. I engrained Saints on my daughters and they have to live with it, another mistake in my parenthood

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All the angst that Saints have given me, and the ruined weekends, is it right to encourage the disease to our grand children. Let them support Man U or Man city, at least they wont go through what we go through.

Afterall it is a business, owned by Chinese/Swiss not the club that really represented my home city that I was so proud of as I grew up

 

Still our city and our team that will never change

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I want to say yes. I've had some amazing times as a Saints fan, both at home and away and met some great people as far away as Dubai and Latvia. I can deal with the ups and downs, relegation and promotion.

 

Where I struggle is losing to big clubs and having to listen to their smug, cocky fans. Nothing more irritating than listening to some Bristolian kn*bhead gloating about how his team in Manchester beat mine because a Chinese banker spent the cost of a Eurofighter Typhoon on some Portuguese midfielder with a sh*t haircut and history of sex offenses.

 

That's the worst thing, the whole soulless feel of the place. That's all we are now, an investment for a banker to keep his money away from the Chinese government. I don't have the heart to go to games anymore and I'm not sure I'd want to inflict the same on my children/grandchildren.

 

That said, you can spend over £50 watching Miley Cyrus miming for a couple of hours, so someone's going to con them out of their money eventually.

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Took my 7 year old grandson to his 3rd away game yesterday. He told me after the game that he is now going to support a different team each season as we are not very good.
It would have appalled me 20 years ago. I would have frowned upon it as a case of disloyalty to our city. Now football is so detached from the people, I can accept it. My daughter said that my grand-daughter said similar to your grandson, and said she might support Man City as her first team. She is on holiday in Italy and was watching Soccer Saturday..a 6 year old. Do they really need the disappointments Saints bring. Her hero is Ryan, but why get a shirt with his name on because you know he will be gone as soon as anyone is in for him. Kids just cant have a hero as they up and go
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Nothing has changed it's still the club that represents Southampton and it was always a club that was owned by someone. This idea that it's all gone to **** because we are now a business, is nonsense, the club has always been run on these lines. If you want some cute club run on the back of money from a couple of local business men then we wouldn't be anywhere near the premier league and your grand daughters wouldn't be interested in us.

 

Good times don't last and bad times don't last. But I'm glad I'm a proper football fan rather than a southern Man U or Liverpool fan because they are ******s and every football fan thinks they are ******s.

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I go with my 14 year old son and I do feel somehow responsible for putting him through it. But he is more upbeat than me about the situation. He hasn't accepted relegation yet though, so it will be interesting to see how he copes, but essentially he is still looking forward to going to games no matter what happens.

 

He's only been getting into football over the last couple of years, and initially it was Liverpool that he wanted to support. But of course after his firsts trip to SMS that changed and he hasn't looked back. Perhaps it should be the kids looking after the adults in times like this.

 

Sent from my SM-T580 using Tapatalk

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Nothing has changed it's still the club that represents Southampton and it was always a club that was owned by someone. This idea that it's all gone to **** because we are now a business, is nonsense, the club has always been run on these lines. If you want some cute club run on the back of money from a couple of local business men then we wouldn't be anywhere near the premier league and your grand daughters wouldn't be interested in us.

 

Good times don't last and bad times don't last. But I'm glad I'm a proper football fan rather than a southern Man U or Liverpool fan because they are ******s and every football fan thinks they are ******s.

Fair point and I want that, but it has changed dramatically in the last 5-10 years. I don't support Saints because we are PL anyway, frankly I would have been a Saints fan had we been Division 4 when I first started going in 68. I have seen what it has done to me on a Saturday night like yesterday and after the Newcastle game.

It is a disease as I believe it became too important to me in my formative years. Had I started going when I was 20 or something it would be easier to take

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They've ruined many days in my life but also provided some of the best. My children will be born in the city and will be supporting them hopefully as loyally as I do, even if they **** me off like nothing else.

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Yesterday was hard to take I stopped listening and went off to the supermarket to get the food in. The whole way around I was thinking about the team and walking round like I had lost a family member. We cocked it up big time, but so what we will come back. When I got back my 7 year old had changed into his full kit and had a Saints flag draped around him, his is naive and hopeful. But that's what football is about for me, forget the reality of the current premier league there is always the hope that we can do something.

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I will always encourage my grandkids to support the Saints !

Ups and downs are inevitable !

I detest 'glory hunters' - if you are only interested in supporting the winning team of the moment then you have no passion, only self aggrandisement which is rather pathetic IMHO !

Yes, we are in a bit of a hole right now but see no reason why that should change things !!

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I used to work with an Arsenal fan. He had had a season ticket at Highbury and often referred to "The Invincibles" from that season when they never got beaten.

 

Football for him was one long struggle. It was no fun supporting a big club. "So what that Arsenal had won the FA Cup . It wasn't the League." "So what that they had won their Champions League group.They were bound to get knocked out in the next round. "

 

Man U fans are not happy at the moment. Out of the Champions League and no hope of winning a trophy this season. Next week they will watch their City rivals win the League by beating them. They are not a happy bunch.

 

Sport often ends in disappointment . There is no guarantee that supporting a big club will make you happy. Get your grandkids supporting the Saints. They will enjoy it more.

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I intend to keep my grandkids away from English football altogether.

 

I’ll get them into ice-hockey or something Alpine

 

This, get them into another sport which hasn’t dined with the money ball devil, otherwise if it is to be football, go to your local non league club.

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You can only truly appreciate the highs once you haves lived through the lows. Remember that last min semi final winner at Anfield, that win over Inter Milan at St Mary’s, winning at Old Trafford two years in a row, so many top moments in the last 7 years that some clubs lower than us will never experience. A mate of mine is trying to get his kids to follow him in following Swindon Town, imagine that.

 

Should be proud to follow your club than some plastic soft kid in the play ground who will never see the inside of Old Trafford but try to claim some glory knowing it’s a hollow victory with no soul having followed them purely as a glory hunter.

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This is the sort of rubbish i's expect from our entitled snowflake fans. 'Ooh I want my child to support a big club, I only want them to experience the highs of victory, I don't want them to experience the slings & arrows of outrageous fortune, which is all part of life's rich pageant' Bloody hell, we used to win wars in this country. Lets surrender to Russia now, get it over with.

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My nipper turned to me as we were driving home from a game at Swindon in league 1 and said “ why make me support Saints”. He then had 6 or 7 of the greatest seasons and memories that’ll last him a lifetime.

 

 

 

 

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Edited by Lord Duckhunter
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My youngest is 11 and he's seen some of the best years as a Saints supporter. The rise from League 1 and success in the Prem. Two cup finals in Wembley and a Semi Final to come. Plus a couple of celebratory pitch invasions and meeting the players who signed his shirt. NONE of the glory hunting kids in his school have experienced any of that. Yes it's been crap since the Cup Final but that just makes the next revival more enjoyable. Of course you should encourage grand children to be Saints! :)

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This is the sort of rubbish i's expect from our entitled snowflake fans. 'Ooh I want my child to support a big club, I only want them to experience the highs of victory, I don't want them to experience the slings & arrows of outrageous fortune, which is all part of life's rich pageant' Bloody hell, we used to win wars in this country. Lets surrender to Russia now, get it over with.
Like fighting a war lol. I bet you haven't been near a war.
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We have to keep things in perspective. The last decade has been amazing to be a saints fan. I wouldn’t swap our experience with many other clubs.

 

Having said that, I’ve taken my son to about 15 or so games over the last 14 months at SMS and he’s seen us score 2 maybe 3 goals and we’ve often been abysmal. That really doesn’t help at all.

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I used to work with an Arsenal fan. He had had a season ticket at Highbury and often referred to "The Invincibles" from that season when they never got beaten.

 

Football for him was one long struggle. It was no fun supporting a big club. "So what that Arsenal had won the FA Cup . It wasn't the League." "So what that they had won their Champions League group.They were bound to get knocked out in the next round. "

 

Man U fans are not happy at the moment. Out of the Champions League and no hope of winning a trophy this season. Next week they will watch their City rivals win the League by beating them. They are not a happy bunch.

Sport often ends in disappointment . There is no guarantee that supporting a big club will make you happy. Get your grandkids supporting the Saints. They will enjoy it more.

 

I would have thought that being in the semis, they still have a chance of winning the FA cup !

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Mrs DBP and myself are just back from ten weeks down under looking after our darling grandchildren as their mum got a new "job of a lifetime" just after christmas and couldn't arrange childcare in time. I've been a staunch saints fan for most of my life having loved going to watch them for over 55 years now and enduring all the joy and heartache through those years. I still love going as much as I did as a raw 11 year old, and to show it I got off the plane at LHR on Thursday night and then went to West Ham yesterday!!

 

We've got three kids, all grown up; two are massive saints fans, both living abroad - but the youngest has no interest in football at all (but I love her as much as the other two!!) Our grandchildren are 2 and 5 and are already seeing the light! You know you are winning when the youngest says "grandad, you've got your football shirt on!" (my entire travelling wardrobe was made up of Saints t-shirts, polo shirts and football shirts plus three Iron Maiden T's), and the older one comes running in and says "Grandad, quickly Saints are on television!"

 

I've never forced our kids or grand-kids to follow saints (but may have unknowingly encouraged them!), but it must be infectious when they do it on their own accord.

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If you want your kids\gand kids to grow up in a winning only culture then yes, get them to support a team like Man City and the like. The majority will never see their heroes live in the flesh, identify with people in the city they live in and experience the highs and lows of following the team and can identify with. They also wont make the countless friends I have made following Saints up and down the country, I have some wonderful memories and I personally wouldn't change a thing.

 

Some of you are forgetting how special the rise up the leagues has been and I wouldn't swap the last 10 years with any other club, 2 promotions, 2 European adventures, a league cup final, now an FA cup semi final on the horizon. Stop being such utter melts, grow a pair and do something we keep criticising the players for, stand up and FIGHT (ie support) for the last 7 league games!

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If you want your kids\gand kids to grow up in a winning only culture then yes, get them to support a team like Man City and the like. The majority will never see their heroes live in the flesh, identify with people in the city they live in and experience the highs and lows of following the team and can identify with. They also wont make the countless friends I have made following Saints up and down the country, I have some wonderful memories and I personally wouldn't change a thing.

 

Some of you are forgetting how special the rise up the leagues has been and I wouldn't swap the last 10 years with any other club, 2 promotions, 2 European adventures, a league cup final, now an FA cup semi final on the horizon. Stop being such utter melts, grow a pair and do something we keep criticising the players for, stand up and FIGHT (ie support) for the last 7 league games!

Not everyone lives or was born in Southampton. As for the 2 promotions etc, there was football before the premier league and we spent 27 years in the top flight. So getting the promotions were wiping out the relegations before that.

As for not wanting to swap for other clubs , ok most of them but there any many who have experienced a lot more. We don't know what it feels like to experience what the fans of top clubs feel, we've never had the chance.

Anyway my daughter tells me that my grand daughter wont change and will be a Saint.

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In a heart beat. I’ve had the best times following Saints with my oldest son. His first season as a 7 year old was our last relegation from the top flight. I remember him sobbing after the final whistle at the Utd game, and feeling so bad for him, but he has taken so much from that, and the fall and rise since. Knows his football, and treats triumph and disaster just the same. The whole packaging of football now is sheer unmitigated bull****, but our shared experience, and the laughs and fun we’ve had, are anything but. Find something to share with each of your kids. That is my advice.

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Football clubs represent where you were born, they're your culture, your history, the links to your family and friends, they embody the local pride you carry with you. You don't choose your team, it chooses you due to where you were born.

 

Plastics who choose a team from a place they've never been are f*cking weirdos, and not deserving of respect as football fans in my opinion.

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Football clubs represent where you were born, they're your culture, your history, the links to your family and friends, they embody the local pride you carry with you. You don't choose your team, it chooses you due to where you were born.

 

Plastics who choose a team from a place they've never been are f*cking weirdos, and not deserving of respect as football fans in my opinion.

 

Interesting- what would you say to Americans/Chinese etc who want to follow Premier League football? To support nobody? In all honesty I respect our international fans who support us and not the top 4/top 6.

 

As for the wider question, I think a father should do his utmost best to get their child to follow their club. However, if they chose to be a part of the glory hunting culture then that is their problem, and I certainly would never finance their trips or games should they wanna go watch a Utd or a City.

 

And nothing frustrates me more than when a Utd or Liverpool fan talk about how big they are and how many trophies they have won, particularly those in Kent where I live who have no affiliation to the club- it is like they want me to suddenly change the club I support.

 

Little do these dic*heads know that without the support that every other PL team has, it is the atmosphere generated by those supporting the smaller clubs that make it the package it is today.

 

Just imagine if fans only supported the top 6 teams in the UK, there'd be empty stadiums everywhere.

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No one should be encouraged or discouraged - let them decide.

 

I have supported Saints for over 40 years, and whilst it's been very challenging at times, I haven't regretted it one bit. It's a bit like life - it's not always rosy, and that's what's wrong these days - people expect instant and constant gratification, but sadly it doesn't work like that.

 

The current malaise will pass - hopefully whilst I am still able to enjoy/attend. I have moved from the area now, but still attend as often as I can. I don't have any grand kids (yet) or boys, and my girls are not in to footy at all, but I go with my god son and he stills loves the Saints - bless him. Such passion and is actually quite good at football himself - hoping to trial with Saints soon, and I would give anything for him to play for them one day!

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Interesting- what would you say to Americans/Chinese etc who want to follow Premier League football? To support nobody?

 

Yup exactly that. Support your local side in whatever country you’re in to help them grow and just enjoy watching other leagues on tv. You don’t actually have to support anyone to enjoy the game.

 

 

 

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You can only truly appreciate the highs once you haves lived through the lows. Remember that last min semi final winner at Anfield, that win over Inter Milan at St Mary’s, winning at Old Trafford two years in a row, so many top moments in the last 7 years that some clubs lower than us will never experience. A mate of mine is trying to get his kids to follow him in following Swindon Town, imagine that.

 

Should be proud to follow your club than some plastic soft kid in the play ground who will never see the inside of Old Trafford but try to claim some glory knowing it’s a hollow victory with no soul having followed them purely as a glory hunter.

 

This. Football clubs are for life, not just for Christmas. If you cant handle the bad times, you dont deserve the good times.

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This. Football clubs are for life, not just for Christmas. If you cant handle the bad times, you dont deserve the good times.

 

Very true Soggy I have been supporting SFC and Hampshire since 1960 will continue to do so for as long I am live.

 

Live near Reading now I am very supportive of all the locals who support Reading and are going through a bad spell but they like us have had good times recently

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Football clubs represent where you were born, they're your culture, your history, the links to your family and friends, they embody the local pride you carry with you. You don't choose your team, it chooses you due to where you were born.

 

Plastics who choose a team from a place they've never been are f*cking weirdos, and not deserving of respect as football fans in my opinion.

 

Spot on, as usual.

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Football clubs represent where you were born, they're your culture, your history, the links to your family and friends, they embody the local pride you carry with you. You don't choose your team, it chooses you due to where you were born.

 

Plastics who choose a team from a place they've never been are f*cking weirdos, and not deserving of respect as football fans in my opinion.

 

Bizarre logic.

My daughters were born and live in Manchester but are Saints fans through and through. I was born in Devon but have only ever supported Saints. Why?

My Dad, my mum and 3/4 of my grandparents and great grand parents were all from Southampton.

Southampton are the family team, most of my uncles, cousin's etc all support Saints.

 

Despite the current poor form both my girls remain loyal to saints despite all their friends supporting city.

 

But hey, I guess we are all plastic weirdos to you! Knob

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Bizarre logic.

My daughters were born and live in Manchester but are Saints fans through and through. I was born in Devon but have only ever supported Saints. Why?

My Dad, my mum and 3/4 of my grandparents and great grand parents were all from Southampton.

Southampton are the family team, most of my uncles, cousin's etc all support Saints.

 

Despite the current poor form both my girls remain loyal to saints despite all their friends supporting city.

 

But hey, I guess we are all plastic weirdos to you! Knob

 

Exactly, you cant be absolute about these things. My son was born in Kent and has copied his dad and that's natural and so what about the kids of glory hunters who are just following their dads. I feel sorry for them having to explain themselves all their lives, but are they really glory hunters. My mate a Man U fan takes his boy to Brighton games to try and make him support his local team.

 

I had a list of teams my boy could have followed, the saints, a grand dad's team or a local team, I might have stretched to West Ham. But there was no way I would have let him support Chelsea, Spurs etc and I would have staged and intervention if he started liking any northern club. But he went to few saints games when he was 5 and that was it, hooked from day 1.

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Like fighting a war lol. I bet you haven't been near a war.

 

Yeah, I wasn't being entirely serious. "Slings & arrows of outrageus fortune' 'Life's rich pageant' I thought it was a fairly obvious ****take! (do we still own Jackson's Farm?)

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