Why us as fans

[tdmickey3]

But the fans are still here.

Last season we were a laughing stock for our pathetic showing in the PL.

We have been ridiculed for the 9 nils.

And now this utter disgrace, a stain that will hang around our necks for years, like a shit scarf.
 

What have us fans done to deserve this.

[Sergei Gotsmanov]

12 minutes ago, tdmickey3 said:

 

But the fans are still here.

Last season we were a laughing stock for our pathetic showing in the PL.

We have been ridiculed for the 9 nils.

And now this utter disgrace, a stain that will hang around our necks for years, like a shit scarf.
 

What have us fans done to deserve this.

I think we had won 4 games in 52 games in September and were still playing in front of full houses. Nobody ever gives us credit for that but if it had been Newcastle of Man City.....

[Verwood Saint]

Nothing! 55+ years a fan, plenty of ups and downs for sure but nothing like this! 
 

SR have been horrendous owners, so many awful decisions but this should be terminal for all of them.  Punishment is harsh but we cheated.  Where is our integrity - should bin the appeal for starters imho.  
 

We need to make it clear to SR this is NOT how our club should run.  

[S-Clarke]

There have been some great moments, the rise under Adkins, the evolution under Poch and Koeman. The takeover at the 11th hour by Markus. 

But I can't help but feel that since SR have got hold of us, the clubs trajectory has been negative to extreme levels. Bar that play off win against Leeds, it's all been misery under these losers. 

This evening has been the lowest of the lows for me, the 'takeover' sagas were stressful, but this just feels like a new low. And like you say, none of us have asked for this. We've kept going, we've kept paying, we pay more when the prices go up etc etc. We do it all in good faith ourselves, and expect the club to act in good faith too.

Edited 20 hours ago by S-Clarke

[Saint86]

This could get a hell of a lot worse still... This "punishment" is quite possibly an example of yet another club killer dished out by the authorities against the smaller clubs.

Would imagine the entire playing squad had 40% wage increase clauses in their contracts as a minimum for promotion. They can probably take legal action against the club for some of that. Likewise anyone good in dressing room will want out now, and other clubs will know we can't really negotiate from a position of strength.

Scienza, THB, Charles, Jander as a minimum gone this summer, for less than should have been the case. No chance we sign Peretz. 

Fans have understandably turned against the board, so the atmosphere will be toxic terminally I suspect.

Attendances will be down. 

Sponsorship deals will be reduced due to the club's reduced attractiveness as a brand.

Squad morale will be through the floor and need an entirely new rebuild.

Club attractiveness to new signings will be very uncompetitive.

Likely we give in to calls to sack Eckert and spors, or they'll be suspended, or they'll leave off their own backs... So a new manager and new director of football, we will be rudderless going into the summer whilst trying to rebuild.

£15M drop in earnings this season coming, a £45M drop in earnings if we fail to get promoted next year.

And we made losses in the prem before we even got relegated.

Not sure fans have really clocked how bad this can get.

Edited 19 hours ago by Saint86

[Osvaldorama]

This is a horrendous evening, no doubt. 
 

The last half of this season has been so, so good and now it has all been for nothing. 
 

Can’t do much else apart from crack on and get autos next season now. 

[SNSUN]

We've seen SISU screw Coventry and the Venkys screw Blackburn and even though I never liked SR, I often felt it could be worse. Then we had the 2026 resurgence and I started to think maybe they knew what they were doing.

Then this. 

It would be poetic if Kat Liebherr becomes our saviour.

[St. Ciervo]

Is there a world where the fans could take collective actions against SR? Please tell me we are living in that world...

[Pamplemousse]

11 minutes ago, St. Ciervo said:

Is there a world where the fans could take collective actions against SR? Please tell me we are living in that world...

We'd all be rich if we could

[The Wyvern]

I think Sports Republic have been consistently shit for us, but would we be getting the same reaction from supporters if the panel had found us guilty and just whacked us with a heavy fine and nothing else? 
 

A lot of this is an emotional reaction from our fans to the severity of the punishment, rather than the “crime” itself. 

[St. Ciervo]

No, no, no... I am up in arms about the crime(s) AND the amateur defense we put forth. 

[tdmickey3]

7 hours ago, Osvaldorama said:

This is a horrendous evening, no doubt. 
 

The last half of this season has been so, so good and now it has all been for nothing. 
 

Can’t do much else apart from crack on and get autos next season now. 

The squad will be decimated, whether by the need to sell or the players wanting out after the coaching set up fucked their chances.

[S-Clarke]

3 hours ago, The Wyvern said:

I think Sports Republic have been consistently shit for us, but would we be getting the same reaction from supporters if the panel had found us guilty and just whacked us with a heavy fine and nothing else? 
 

A lot of this is an emotional reaction from our fans to the severity of the punishment, rather than the “crime” itself. 

Yes, because either way, however unproportionate the sanctions are, another absolute charade has happened on their watch.

Everything they touch goes to shit. They will feel the full heat of the fans on this either way.

[The Wyvern]

5 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Yes, because either way, however unproportionate the sanctions are, another absolute charade has happened on their watch.

Everything they touch goes to shit. They will feel the full heat of the fans on this either way.

You just appear to be another one of the over emotional Karens on this forum. 
 

Sports Republic have been consistently shit for us as I stated above, but if we’d just been hit with a heavy fine and were playing at Wembley in a couple of days your reaction would be completely different. 

[Wiggles31]

It feels like a curse. Watching Bournemouth get to Europe also didn’t help. 
 

SR need to fuck off. 

[Patrick Bateman]

4 minutes ago, Wiggles31 said:

It feels like a curse. Watching Bournemouth get to Europe also didn’t help. 
 

SR need to fuck off. 

One of a couple of very very well run clubs at the moment (like Brighton). Good for them tbh. 

[Gloucester Saint]

12 minutes ago, The Wyvern said:

You just appear to be another one of the over emotional Karens on this forum. 
 

Sports Republic have been consistently shit for us as I stated above, but if we’d just been hit with a heavy fine and were playing at Wembley in a couple of days your reaction would be completely different. 

I don’t think his reaction would though, nor mine. The smoking gun for me last night which made me turn my back after 43 years was Parsons’ stupidity and the lack of any oversight on what Tonda was up to. Spying on Oxford United as a parachute payment team and them in the bottom three sums up the staggering ineptitude.

If any of that had happened in my workplace, as a senior manager I’d be having a call with the CEO and HR Dept to confirm my contract was being terminated. 

The EFL are a shitshow too, and I don’t think football as a sport is for me any longer. There’s longer-term issues here which have put a lot of distance already between me and the club and this is a final straw - SR, Reed’s arrogance, Higgins, MLT going loopy, Gao being allowed to own it despite failing FAPP, two 9-0s. Further back, a far right political leader today chaired the club in the 90s and 00s and took a picture outside of the stadium.

The only thing I have in common with SFC is 1) I was born there and 2) the fans.

The only way out for SR is clear the debts in full and get the club on the market debt-free at an attractive price to sell quickly. That’s the only apology they can make to Southampton as a city. They’ve damaged the city’s institutions for many years. 

Edited 9 hours ago by Gloucester Saint

[Saint86]

1 hour ago, Gloucester Saint said:

I don’t think his reaction would though, nor mine. The smoking gun for me last night which made me turn my back after 43 years was Parsons’ stupidity and the lack of any oversight on what Tonda was up to. Spying on Oxford United as a parachute payment team and them in the bottom three sums up the staggering ineptitude.

If any of that had happened in my workplace, as a senior manager I’d be having a call with the CEO and HR Dept to confirm my contract was being terminated. 

The EFL are a shitshow too, and I don’t think football as a sport is for me any longer. There’s longer-term issues here which have put a lot of distance already between me and the club and this is a final straw - SR, Reed’s arrogance, Higgins, MLT going loopy, Gao being allowed to own it despite failing FAPP, two 9-0s. Further back, a far right political leader today chaired the club in the 90s and 00s and took a picture outside of the stadium.

The only thing I have in common with SFC is 1) I was born there and 2) the fans.

The only way out for SR is clear the debts in full and get the club on the market debt-free at an attractive price to sell quickly. That’s the only apology they can make to Southampton as a city. They’ve damaged the city’s institutions for many years. 

An emotive but well put piece GS. What they've done to the club is a gut punch. Heart-breaking in some ways. Chasing the dream of premier league football under SR has seen the club sell its morals and undermine its very identity. In some ways, this latest episode is merely a symptom of the underlying malaise/cancer that's been afflicting the club since SR took over and began dismantling everything existing about the club, department by department. We are simply not run by anyone who understands the club or the fans anymore, let alone its heritage, or the city/wider area. We're just a plaything for people getting paid (partly with the fans money), only to waste years of passion and support. This latest instant will be a generational impact. How many kids will be hiding their support this summer, will want to see us play next season etc? League 1 and -10points was better because it galvanised the supporters. I fear that won't happen this time around and the club will simply wither away to a shadow of its best days.

Edited 8 hours ago by Saint86

[Saint Garrett]

I know most fans think they're hard done by, but we must be one of the worst teams to support. Continued barrage of shit thrown at us, as soon as anything starts going well we get fucked over. Whether thats our players being sold, managers being taken, owners going / dying, losing every week, and now cheating. 

It's so fucking depressing, why do we bother.

[SNSUN]

1 hour ago, Saint Garrett said:

I know most fans think they're hard done by, but we must be one of the worst teams to support. Continued barrage of shit thrown at us, as soon as anything starts going well we get fucked over. Whether thats our players being sold, managers being taken, owners going / dying, losing every week, and now cheating. 

It's so fucking depressing, why do we bother.

Well, we ain't boring. Imagine being in the same League for years... *cough BRISTOLCITYPRESTONQPR  cough*

[Osvaldorama]

1 hour ago, Saint Garrett said:

I know most fans think they're hard done by, but we must be one of the worst teams to support. Continued barrage of shit thrown at us, as soon as anything starts going well we get fucked over. Whether thats our players being sold, managers being taken, owners going / dying, losing every week, and now cheating. 

It's so fucking depressing, why do we bother.

It’s so bad. Our attendances and atmosphere have been quality all season as well. 
 

Fans genuinely don’t deserve this at all. 

[S-Clarke]

1 minute ago, Osvaldorama said:

It’s so bad. Our attendances and atmosphere have been quality all season as well. 
 

Fans genuinely don’t deserve this at all. 

Yeah, the atmosphere at Wembley, the craziness at Leicester and the atmosphere at home to Arsenal were fricking amazing. Felt great to be part of all this again.

But now it all feels so sour, appeal or no appeal. Can't get over that.

[Miltonaggro]

With a fair wind at least these fuckers wont be able to afford the fireworks, goal music and marching band next season.

[Charlie Wayman]

17 hours ago, tdmickey3 said:

 

But the fans are still here.

Last season we were a laughing stock for our pathetic showing in the PL.

We have been ridiculed for the 9 nils.

And now this utter disgrace, a stain that will hang around our necks for years, like a shit scarf.
 

What have us fans done to deserve this.

Cheer up, it'll all be forgotten in a couple of weeks.