Saints Fan Forum Repetitive But Got Supporters Feelings Over Wednesday, 8th Feb 2023 09:46 It had the potential to be explosive, but in the end the Saints fans forum was calm and collected, but a little repetitive as supporters were mostly concerned about getting their point across about Nathan Jones. What would usually be a fairly quiet fans forum at this time of year suddenly took on more meaning after a run of games and Nathan Jones car crash interview after the Brentford game. Southampton FC were obviously concerned and announced that due to logistical reasons the forum would not be broadcast live, but would be but on line the following morning. This led some fans to claim that the club would be vetting fans and questions and would only broadcast those that they felt were sympathetic to the club and manager. Host Paul Belverstone explained before the meeting that this was not the case and the forum was not being broadcast live as most of the Saints video team were filming the FA Youth cup tie taking place against Fulham. I'm not sure that this was 100% the case give the current situation, but I would say that from the club's point of view, it served no purpose to risk showing it live and potentially see it descend into a free for all or worse. Showing that to the nation and perhaps having to shut down the live feed would not have shown the club in a bad light, this is not the club's official reason, purely my take on things. In the end the club put the footage out a little later that evening, showing that perhaps the media staff were not so hard pushed and how little editing was needed. The truth is that although the hour long meeting enabled supporters to get things off their chest, it struggled to stay on agenda as fan after fan basically asked the same question about the manager.
Whilst it certainly got the feelings of the majority of the fanbase about Nathan Jones over, it did not make for great watching. This article is not going to cover the nuts & bolts of what was asked and replied to the panel consisting of Rasmus Ankersen & Henrik Andersen from Sport Republic along with Martin Semmens & Toby Steele from the club. On the subject of Jones, Andersen covered that with virtually the first question, and said that while he understands the feeling among fans given the club's position at the foot of the table, he says there are reasons to still back the manager. "With any Premier League manager, it is a high pressure environment. It is no secret that if you keep losing games, you can't do that forever, at some point you hit the point where it is enough. "I appreciate you are looking at it from the outside and you have certain reference points with the games and what is said after the games. When we are on the inside, we have a lot more reference points. "We see what goes on every day and we see the quality of the work that is being carried out, the relationships with the players and all these things. Do they look right? Are we comfortable that all of these things will lead to better results? We are not happy with the results. You are not happy with the results. "But our job is to try and improve it. And as long as we think that the work that is being carried out by Nathan and the team, and the players at the training ground every day is high quality, then we have something to believe in, that this is going to get better and we can turn it around." This became the central theme of the evening and there then followed virtually each supporter asking when Jones was going to be sacked and what was the point of no return for the manager. Again I understand why Rasmus Ankersen would feel that he has answered the question, the real answer has to remain private within the club, this is why I don't attend forums very much, what the club can reveal are always limited.
Ankersen & Sport Republic may well be on the verge of sacking Jones as they answer the questions, but they cannot say that publicly, not until they have contacted the manager and told him personally, that is the right thing to do whether you are an employee of a company outside football or a Premier League football manager. Although he had answered the question and MC Belverstone tried to keep things moving in other areas, the questions mostly seemed to always come back to the same things, how is Jones still in the job and when will he be sacked. As I said although it certainly got the points over, it did not make for interesting television. One thing that the club did manage to get some dialogue going aside from the manager, was the question of stewarding, away fans in home areas and Block 1 in the Itchen Stand. On another day this would have been the constant topic of the night, but was merely an aside on this one. In short the club are aware that there is a stewarding issue, it stems from the Covid break were a number of stewards did not wish to return to the job afterwards and therefore the club has basically had to recruit in two areas, firstly their own in house stewards and secondly agency staff.
This is not a problem that is just a Southampton FC thing, most other clubs in the Premier League & some below are suffering the same issues, the new in house stewards take time to recruit and train up properly and the agency staff although fully qualified are not used to a football match environment. Truthfully there could have been a lot more time spent on this subject as it has many issues, firstly the away fans in home areas issue and secondly safety issues, I see a lot of things on match days at St Mary's that although may seem trivial, actually could lead to far greater consequences, a lack of organisation in queueing to get in for instance and also if the stadium should need to be evacuated. I do not see much that fills me with confidence, although the long term stewards the club has are in the main excellent, there are far too many with neither the training or empathy needed to safely steward football fans.
The good news though was that the club are applying to the ground Safety group to reopen block 1, it is early days yet and a lot of things need to be agreed, but in short the target is the Tottenham Hotspur fixture in March. So in short this was a fans forum that certainly got the point across and I think that although repetitive, it served it's purpose, whatever your view on those on the panel, you now cannot accuse them of not knowing what the fans are thinking. They will say that it is the long term view that counts, they explained that in a little detail and both Kraft and Ankersen were at pains to state that Sport Republic are in it for the long term and that although relegation would be a blow it would only be a setback to their plans. Personally I am not too sure of what it takes for them to sack Jones, what they see on the training ground etc is of course a part of it, but ultimately it is what is seen on the outside on which they are judged, you don't get an extra point in the Premier League for a good training session on a Thursday.
What the fans see is a manager who is not calm and collected in running his squad and a team that is constantly changed with players who don't know what their role is from week to week, plus of course the poor results. Leaders in football clubs whether they are the team coach/manager or those running the club need to be decisive, the manager is nowhere near decisive, the board now need to be. Ralph Hasenhuttl was given the chance to turn things around and by the end the atmosphere was turning toxic, I truly fear for the club on Saturday when we play Wolves in what will be a game that could see us cast adrift. The players and fans need something to give them a boost before Saturday, it is hard to see it coming unless something changes. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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