Gemmel Posted 23 March, 2009 Share Posted 23 March, 2009 I don't know whats happened and no clearly defined line in the sand as to when it did, but last year (And 20 of the last 30 seasons before) I'd have checked the league table about 4 times a day and gone through the different permitations of results and upcoming fixtures, trying to work out how we would stay up. This time feels different, lethergy has set in and i'm resigned to going down. I love this club and always will, but something has happened along the way and the fight has gone. I actually hope it is just me, but from the forum and matches, i get the sense that there's a few more going through the same emotions and that some of the magic of the club or being a Saints fan has gone for the time being. Hope i'm wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bailey Posted 23 March, 2009 Share Posted 23 March, 2009 It's not just you, a lot of people are resigned to League One football next season. I'm possibly the most optimistic fan you'll ever speak to, and so there is still a small part of me that believes we can do it. It won't be easy, but three points against Charlton and this board may have a very different feel to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitey Grandad Posted 23 March, 2009 Share Posted 23 March, 2009 It's not just you. Maybe it's the pattern of results. When we won 3 in a row I momentarily felt a brief surge of optimism but we're not winning one, losing one, we seem to be stuck in a run of draws and I don't get the feeling that the players have the belief or determination to get us out of this. In the home games against Preston and Cardiff there was a desire and confidence that seems to have evaporated of late. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amesbury Saint Posted 23 March, 2009 Share Posted 23 March, 2009 when I read the OS I find very little to inspire me. Still hoping to read about the loan signing which says the club is serious about trying to stay up. Buying a ticket / going to a match often feels like a duty visit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harvey Posted 23 March, 2009 Share Posted 23 March, 2009 I don't even bother with the match reports at the back of the Echo anymore, same old same old :neutral: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Channon's Sideburns Posted 23 March, 2009 Share Posted 23 March, 2009 It's not just you. Maybe it's the pattern of results. When we won 3 in a row I momentarily felt a brief surge of optimism but we're not winning one, losing one, we seem to be stuck in a run of draws and I don't get the feeling that the players have the belief or determination to get us out of this. In the home games against Preston and Cardiff there was a desire and confidence that seems to have evaporated of late. Maybe the players raised the bar following the protests...now the pressure is off.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitey Grandad Posted 23 March, 2009 Share Posted 23 March, 2009 Maybe the players raised the bar following the protests...now the pressure is off.. They're certainly not playing like they were. maybe complacency set in when they thought we were going to be safe. I don't know whether singing "the Saints are staying up" was tempting fate a bit too much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obelisk Posted 23 March, 2009 Share Posted 23 March, 2009 Nope. Not just you. I'm starting to find that football is actually ****ing me off these days. Crap entertainment, over-priced, over-hyped, over-exposed, etc, etc. Yeah, I go to plenty of games and keep an eye on the score when I'm not there but the tension in the pit of the stomach has gone. I expect us to go down but, in truth, I'm not sure I really care. Not really felt like this in 45 years of supporting Saints. Except maybe when I discovered the alternative entertainment involved in s e x but even that's .... maybe too much information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the boy from saints Posted 23 March, 2009 Share Posted 23 March, 2009 Hope is the word. If we stay up, we'll be left with Wilde and Lowe i.e. the cheap option i.e. no hope and relegation next season. Relegation this season will probably mean administration - i.e. no hope again. No wonder there is lethargy with regards to Saints! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamilton Saint Posted 23 March, 2009 Share Posted 23 March, 2009 Well. I am studying the table after each game, and comparing our fixtures and results with those around us. I've not given up all hope yet. We can still survive. Where there's life, there's hope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saintwarwick Posted 24 March, 2009 Share Posted 24 March, 2009 Well. I am studying the table after each game, and comparing our fixtures and results with those around us. I've not given up all hope yet. We can still survive. Where there's life, there's hope. Absolutely, where there's hope then we still have a chance, lets not give up yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Fan CaM Posted 24 March, 2009 Share Posted 24 March, 2009 Trouble with me is I've lost hope...despite wanting everything to go right - the team to win - I've seen the club underachieve through lack of ambition for too long now. How can even the most ardent supporter continue to believe in a club that has slapped its loyal fans around so badly despite years of faithful support? How can anyone really believe that the players in this team, the management and coaching staff have got what it takes to fight and stay up? Past evidence unfortunately flies in the face of hope...the club is on its knees waiting for the guillotine to fall...at least that's how many people feel I'm sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manzo Posted 24 March, 2009 Share Posted 24 March, 2009 Trouble with me is I've lost hope...despite wanting everything to go right - the team to win - I've seen the club underachieve through lack of ambition for too long now. How can even the most ardent supporter continue to believe in a club that has slapped its loyal fans around so badly despite years of faithful support? How can anyone really believe that the players in this team, the management and coaching staff have got what it takes to fight and stay up? Because we're three points from safety with seven games left. Because our fixtures don't look any worse or better than the teams around us. Because some of us used to watch teams that had no right to be in the Premiership stay up year after year. Because if you can't hope for the best for your football team then why are you a football supporter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wes Tender Posted 24 March, 2009 Share Posted 24 March, 2009 No, Gemmel. It isn't just you. Likewise I really can't feel that bothered about it all. I began to feel this way the minute Lowe and the Quisling returned and dismissed Pearson. Earlier in the season, there was still an expectation that the failure of the mad experiment with the double Dutch would have resulted in a mass boycott which would have precipatated the departure of Lowe and Wilde, but instead of boycotting in serious numbers, we pussyfooted around with marches instead. Lowe being so thick skinned and stubborn in the head, it was water off a duck's back to him. He has persevered and now that the end of the season is nearly upon us, I just feel numb. At the moment, I really don't feel that bothered whether we go down, go into administration, whatever it takes to rid us of Lowe, Wilde, Askham and all the other dross that has brought about the decline of our once great club. Once they're gone, I'll return with a ST, but if we somehow manage to survive and they remain, I won't be attending next season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hughieslastminutegoal Posted 24 March, 2009 Share Posted 24 March, 2009 (edited) I don't even bother with the match reports at the back of the Echo anymore, same old same old :neutral: Probably because they are NOT match reports. Oh for the journalistic days of Brian Hayward. Even Bob Brunskell's reports covered events in the match. Now we get event-less wishy-washy drivel in what purports to be a match report, supplemented with club-prompted tripe out the "mouth" of that week's nominated player who repeats the mantra "we are disappointed but still confident.... blah blah." Utterly pointless. I read the "report" of the Blackpool game and was none the wiser about the match when I'd finished. Edited 24 March, 2009 by hughieslastminutegoal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hughieslastminutegoal Posted 24 March, 2009 Share Posted 24 March, 2009 Nope. Not just you. I'm starting to find that football is actually ****ing me off these days. Crap entertainment, over-priced, over-hyped, over-exposed, etc, etc. Yeah, I go to plenty of games and keep an eye on the score when I'm not there but the tension in the pit of the stomach has gone. I expect us to go down but, in truth, I'm not sure I really care. Not really felt like this in 45 years of supporting Saints. Except maybe when I discovered the alternative entertainment involved in s e x but even that's .... maybe too much information. This is the real problem. Most older blokes for one reason or another eventually start to lose that nervous expectation and it all becomes rather unexciting. Previously they were replaced by youngsters who naturally had that "I can't wait for the next game" buzz, but now they have other things to do, the tv is full of top quality football, and the football being served up outside the top level just isn't worth what is being charged to watch it. I couldn't afford to take my kids to watch, so there are fewer interested kids who will encourage their friends to go along. The euro-league will come, and lower level football will become like it is in Holland, Belgium, France and just about everywhere else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfc6mufc3 Posted 24 March, 2009 Share Posted 24 March, 2009 With defeats at home to the likes of Donacster, Blackpool and Forest we deserve to go down - they are hardly footballing greats. In recent times we have fallen behind teams like Hull, Wigan, Bristol City, Swansea and now it would seem Barnsley. We have a clueless chairman, who appoints clueless managers and the days of fielding a team brimming with internationals are long gone ie Crouch, Niemi, Svensson, Walcott, Bale, Jones (if you go back even further then the names are more impressive). The only posistive spin I can put on this is that the drop may make us stronger in the long term.............however I did think that when we dropped from the premier league. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jed64 Posted 24 March, 2009 Share Posted 24 March, 2009 I don't know whats happened and no clearly defined line in the sand as to when it did, but last year (And 20 of the last 30 seasons before) I'd have checked the league table about 4 times a day and gone through the different permitations of results and upcoming fixtures, trying to work out how we would stay up. This time feels different, lethergy has set in and i'm resigned to going down. I love this club and always will, but something has happened along the way and the fight has gone. I actually hope it is just me, but from the forum and matches, i get the sense that there's a few more going through the same emotions and that some of the magic of the club or being a Saints fan has gone for the time being. Hope i'm wrong. The difference for you my friend is for the last 20 of the 30 seasons you went to the games but now you don't . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemmel Posted 24 March, 2009 Author Share Posted 24 March, 2009 The difference for you my friend is for the last 20 of the 30 seasons you went to the games but now you don't . Haven't missed a home game for 4 months Seriously though, you know why i'm not going as much and it has nothing to do with what league we are in. When the politics takes a back seat to the football and the players at least look like they are trying, i'll be back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry the Badger Posted 24 March, 2009 Share Posted 24 March, 2009 I have still been going to games but I do know what you mean, I don't feel quite so attached to it. I think I have probably taken a subconcious step back from it as it's just too bloody painful to think about where my club (that I used to be so proud of) now sits. Last season felt like a blip which we could overcome and then get back to battling for promotion, this season has brought the realisation that this is not a blip, it's where we are as a club. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capel Saint Posted 24 March, 2009 Share Posted 24 March, 2009 I think it is the general feeling that the club has been going backwards since relegation from the Prem. The ongoing war in the Boardroom, a plc structure that deters outside investment and gives too many oppotunities for people to play with the club and the fairly rapid decline of the quality of the squad and the continual change of managers has all taken its toll. I don't want administration but I see it as the only viable way to get rid of this viscious downward spiral the club is now in (along with Lowe & Wilde) and hopefully will get a new Chairman/consortium in who can move the club upwards and strengthen it back towards the Prem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jed64 Posted 24 March, 2009 Share Posted 24 March, 2009 Haven't missed a home game for 4 months Seriously though, you know why i'm not going as much and it has nothing to do with what league we are in. When the politics takes a back seat to the football and the players at least look like they are trying, i'll be back. I remember when you hated cricket and went to watch saints play, now you don't go and have saved up for tickets for this years:mad: Ashes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junior Mullet Posted 24 March, 2009 Share Posted 24 March, 2009 Nope. Not just you. I'm starting to find that football is actually ****ing me off these days. Crap entertainment, over-priced, over-hyped, over-exposed, etc, etc. Yeah, I go to plenty of games and keep an eye on the score when I'm not there but the tension in the pit of the stomach has gone. I expect us to go down but, in truth, I'm not sure I really care. Not really felt like this in 45 years of supporting Saints. Except maybe when I discovered the alternative entertainment involved in s e x but even that's .... maybe too much information. I know how you feel mate. Football now is very different to the game I used to watch with my dad and mates as a kid - not sure I like the sterile and expensive modern version too much. As for the alternative entertainment - you could try and rediscover that - only this time try doing it not on your own ;0) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Ron fan Posted 24 March, 2009 Share Posted 24 March, 2009 I don't know whats happened and no clearly defined line in the sand as to when it did, but last year (And 20 of the last 30 seasons before) I'd have checked the league table about 4 times a day and gone through the different permitations of results and upcoming fixtures, trying to work out how we would stay up. This time feels different, lethergy has set in and i'm resigned to going down. I love this club and always will, but something has happened along the way and the fight has gone. I actually hope it is just me, but from the forum and matches, i get the sense that there's a few more going through the same emotions and that some of the magic of the club or being a Saints fan has gone for the time being. Hope i'm wrong. Lowe's involvement with Saints has made it, for me, like having a close family member become an alcoholic, drug addict or member of a cult. At first you think they'll come to their senses and you continue to give lots of love and support. Eventually though, it starts to have a big effect on you and those around you, so you decide the only thing to do is cut them off - if they are going to continue to destroy themselves, there's nothing you can do about it, you finally realise. You still hope that one day they'll snap out of it, but you can't live on hope any more. Instead, you prefer to just remember the good times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sperm_john Posted 24 March, 2009 Share Posted 24 March, 2009 I still think theres a massive hangover from the elation everyone felt when strachan had us doing so well, to fighting for survival in the championship, its not that the so called 'spirit of southampton' has gone, its just we are all waiting to have something really to get excited about, when we made the FA cup final people who werent even saints fans that I knew got interested in the club and started following football, and I feel its much the same for the reverse side of things, people dont want the emotional and financial bother of it if they arent getting anything in reward ...that said, im not one of those people, and will support the club and go as much as i can whatever im being served up, thats just my idea of what a fan is, obviously from reading this forum lots of people think we are owed something for being southampton fans...when, we are really not Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tac-tics Posted 24 March, 2009 Share Posted 24 March, 2009 Football itself has lost that feeling.Its not just Saints. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Window Cleaner Posted 24 March, 2009 Share Posted 24 March, 2009 Football itself has lost that feeling.Its not just Saints. that's because all the best players are concentrated in a handful of clubs nowadays. When watching anything but Liverpool-Man U you get the idea that you're watching second class football. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldNick Posted 24 March, 2009 Share Posted 24 March, 2009 that's because all the best players are concentrated in a handful of clubs nowadays. When watching anything but Liverpool-Man U you get the idea that you're watching second class football.But even those dont have the same feeling as watching the Big Match on a sunday afternoon 20 years ago.No doubt the football was slower but it had an edge that modern football has lost.There are a number of things that have made it so boring, wall to wall football on tv has contributed.Seeing players earn 50k a week and they cant pass a ball more than 3 yards, their demi godstatus and losing connection with the fans.The pitches being like bowling greens have made it quicker but those games on muddy pitches had a different feel to them.All seater stadia also has dulled the feel of a game, and of course time has blunted the enthusiasm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank's cousin Posted 24 March, 2009 Share Posted 24 March, 2009 I dont think its just you, but its something that many have said in general about football and in a way it has been kind of inevitable.... this is not just a saints phenomenon either although we are naturally strugggling with it more than most given our predicament. I believe its symptomatic of how over the last 10 years the gaps between the big and medium and small clubs has expanded exponentially meaning even long established clubs with histories of success far better than ours can are only ever chasing 5 at best or worrying about relegation and the huge impact/destructive nature that that can bring. Remove fair competition from sport and make the whole thing so relient on money that most dont have and you erode the dreams that fans have - the dream that your club will one day have a chance to compete at the very top as we did in the early 80s, or Forest did in 78/79 - something never possible again and something taht underpins what and why fans suppoort their local side rather than all rushing in to jump on the lastest bandwagon success, be it ManU, Arsenal, Chelsea or LIverppol. Add to that our quite rapid decent from the prem to the current struggle and its easy to see why many have become completey dissillusioned and disheartened to such a point as to be ambivilant towards our fate - fine we can blames Lowe, Wilde and some Crouch and the other shareholders for all this , but even if we had survived in the prem or been promoted, there might be bigger crowds but the make up of those fans would be different as then its more about the idea of the prem, than the 'old school saints til I die' I seriously question whether football in this country as we know will still be in existence in 20 years time - because the money in the game so heavily skewed towards the top few sides will eventually make 92 professional clubs unsustainable - we will propbably end up with a top division of pro clubs and then semis and amateur clubs... will these still get the support, with the kids wanting that association with the 'best' and success rather than 'local' and 'culture'? I think I sort of remain philosophical about it because I have never associated supporting sainst with any real success - the odd occasion has been teh exception rather than teh rule, and when as a kid in teh mid 70s, I started supporting a mid table 2nd div side, it was precisly because it was local and unique - almost cultish to do so rather than jumping on a particular bandwagon - and I guess I will continue to do so because we seem merely to have returned to our roots! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocknrollman no2 Posted 24 March, 2009 Share Posted 24 March, 2009 Im feeling the same as Gemmel. There used to be a time not so long ago when i would look forward to watching Saints and i couldnt wait to meet my mates in the pub beforehand and we would all talk about the footy. Now,although i still wants Saints to win every game,i dont really care about attending anymore.In fact im begining to find different things to do with my weekends,things that dont make me so depressed. I think im just fed up with the whole Lowe/Wilde fiasco and the fact that so many of the bad things that have happened to Saints,could have been so easily avoided if we had someone in charge who actually cared about the club. Next season i wont be buying a ST and have decided not to go to games during the week,because i dont think the effort is worth it. Hopefully i will regain my passion for Saints,but i think those who are in charge will have to leave first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carriage and wagon Posted 24 March, 2009 Share Posted 24 March, 2009 As a similarly longstanding supporter - parents , grandparents - stool on the Archers Road end etc - the spirit of Southampton meant a small club - my club - fighting with integrity against the big boys. At the away matches with big john, sydenham, paine and Ron and channon and other fans calling us animals the big thing was that we were a family club - my family club - achieving against the odds. Now we are just the same as all the other commercial rubbish with trash like Lowe and Wilde squabbling over the remains. No wonder you've lost hope. its not to do with the league position there are two divisions below us. Its the lack of ownership and the feeling of betrayal, the hype and the nonsense. This isn't my club any more. When it is I'll return. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitey Grandad Posted 25 March, 2009 Share Posted 25 March, 2009 I think it's called: 'getting old' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHAPEL END CHARLIE Posted 25 March, 2009 Share Posted 25 March, 2009 (edited) I'd like to disassociate myself from the wave of ambivalence sweeping this thread , if we do get relegated I'm going to be as mad as hell about it - I will tell you this boy (in full Rab C Nesbitt mode now) that damn cat better start running now if it wants to avoid a bloody good kicking . :mad: NB - don't let my suave Bogart Avatar fool you , I scarily close to looking like Rab - but without the string vest . Edited 25 March, 2009 by CHAPEL END CHARLIE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teamsaint Posted 25 March, 2009 Share Posted 25 March, 2009 A struggling team, or being in a lower division would be much less of a problem if there was ANY kind of feeling that its OUR club. The feeling is always there that the Lowes and wildes will fight over the bits when times are hard, and take the money and glory in the good times. Looking forward to the day when a visit to SMS brings some kind of spirit of togetherness amongst the fans. Could be a long wait though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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