As news emerged that West Ham Owners David Gold & David Sullivan plan to erect a security barrier in front of the directors box for the clash on Saturday, Saints need to use the situation to their advantage.
Back in the 90's and the 00's we have seen plenty of fan protests at Southampton FC and we know how situations like this can either be used to the advantage of the team if handled in the right way, or can turn the atmosphere so toxic it makes it virtually impossible for the team to concentrate and get vital wins.
Whilst we are not advocating a situation that could turn very violent, something that the owners of West Ham Gold & Sullivan are obviously concerned about with plans emerging to build a security barrier in the are of the directors box to prevent disgruntled fans getting near them, it cannot be denied that a complete meltdon on the ptch for the home side would be very much in our interest.
Back in the 90's Saints fans protested against Ian Branfoot, but the protests were well organised and the fans were united in whilst proving a point to the manager and board, in staying firmly behnd the team during games and turning the energy into a positive during the 90 minutes, that is not the case at West Ham were various fan groups are bickering about what should and should not be done and death threats made to certain fans group leaders.
This has led to the situation they experienced at their last home game that saw multiple pitch invasions by individuals as well as a mob gather in front of the directors box during the closing stages of the game.
As I said it is hard to play in front of a toxic atmosphere for a home side and as much as we don't want to see a repeat of the incidents of a few weeks ago, if we can take the game by the scruff of the next and break the West Ham teams fragile confidence we can certainly use the atmosphere to our own advantage.
From our our own viewpoint we go into the game with a new manager and a new confidence and we have to hope that like other sides down the bottom who saw initial surges in form when they sacked the old and appointed a new manager, we can see the same.
Te reality is this is a very key game, win it and we take a big step towards safety, lose it and it will be very difficult to get out of the mire.