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Big Crowd Needed On Saturday
Tuesday, 19th Aug 2014 09:22

There are plenty of tickets available for the first home game of the season on Saturday against West Bromwich Albion, it is time for Saints supporters to back the club.

The home crowd against Bayer Leverkusen for the pre season friendly was outstanding, as was the travelling supporters who bought up the full allocation for the trip to Liverpool and made a constant noise, now however is the time for Saints supporters to get behind their team for the Premier League season at home.

Of course there are some Saints supporters who are disillusioned who think the club have no ambition etc and these are probably the ones who did not renew their season tickets and whose seats are going to be empty on Saturday, but being realistic did they ever truly believe that we were going to make the Champions League, did they ever stop to think what was involved in achieving that aim and the jump needed from where we stood at the end of the 2012/13 season in 14th leapfrog to 4th ?

It's fine to have ambition, but it has to be realistic, it has to be achievable, but football has moved on and its virtually impossible to break into the top 4 now unless you are one of the big clubs with big support and money.

But some fans didn't see that they thought that because they had been told it was the aim, that it actually was, we now know that it was really only the pipe dream of one man, who even as he was saying it was preparing to leave the club.

Many people use the phrase the "new owners" the truth is that it is the same owner we have had for four years, their ambition to build this club up and to compete in the Premier League is there, it is exactly the same, but they know it has to be worked at and isn't achieved overnight.

Now some Saints fans have to realise that and look to back the club, after all how can we expect Katharina Liebherr to have ambition unless we have it ourselves, if we want her to put her hand in her pocket, isn't it realistic for her to expect us to do the same and buy tickets for the game.

Of course it is a two way thing and the club has to realise that supporters loyalty should not be taken for granted and the price increases for this season were not a wise move, perhaps they were set before the events of the summer overtook us, but it didn't take mystic meg to predict that there would be turmoil, at worst the prices should have remained the same.

Along with that there is the fact that so many pubs etc are showing the live feeds of the games nowadays, this is perhaps the biggest threat to full houses in football grounds, after all with tickets £35 plus for a fixture like West Brom watching it on a big screen for free with a beer in your hand is a good cheap option.

So thats two good reasons why there will be empty seats at St Mary's on Saturday before we get on to the biggest problem and that is some supporters perception of our current ambition and whether that is just an excuse for some.

Football clubs are constant, so are the fans, good times come and go, the perception of some is lack of ambition, yet we have spent more money in this transfer window than we have ever done before, on paper we have the most qualified manager we have ever appointed and we have some exciting players, I would say its time for the fans to keep backing the club, show the owner that we back her and show her why she should keep reinvesting money in the club, if we want the club to keep moving forward then we have to keep moving forward alongside it.

Of course I end up with one of these rallying cries at the start of every season and whilst I accept that there are those that for very good reasons have to stop going either family, financial or geographical, the real truth is that these are just a small proportion of the empty seats that there will be on Saturday as will be proved when the big boys come to town or if we end up at Wembley in one of the cups

So there is plenty of time to get your seat for Saturday's game, this season has every chance of being more exciting than the last one now we have a manager and an owner who see winning the FA Cup or getting into the Europa League as being progress and something to aim for rather than just a distraction from trying to get into the Premier League.

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BarnetSaint added 10:05 - Aug 19
I'm coming down from Barnet with son and also taking nephew from Glastonbury.
Northam only has singles left so we're in Kingsland corner.
Looking forward to it and praying for a win.
Has the K Alfred closed down?
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SaintNick added 10:23 - Aug 19
I think the king alfred reopened last season
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SanMarco added 11:40 - Aug 19
There were of course often empty seats when we still had 'ambition'. I wonder whether it is time to draw a close to the ambition vs realism debate. I fully agree with the points made in this article but can we move on? Cortese did a lot of good things for the club and he made mistakes but he has gone now. His small band of worshippers will never change their minds - it is a religion for them (complete with fantasies of a 'second coming'). That doesn't mean we should be uncritical of the club - it just means moving on.

PS I wonder whether 20-20 finals day might keep some away??
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halftimeorange added 12:48 - Aug 19
You're preaching to the converted. Only a promising or winning start to the season (such as that enjoyed by Eastleigh) or the visit of one of the top five clubs will take us near to capacity sell-out because many people are still on or paying for holidays at this time of year. Between 25K and 30K should be expected on Saturday. Anything less should set warning bells ringing for the club.
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SaintNick added 13:07 - Aug 19
Given our past attendances in our six Premier seasons at sms so far i would say that less than 28k should set the alarm bells ringing
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ItchenNorth added 13:20 - Aug 19
Sadly poor attendance has a great deal to do with the fact that ALL games are now available on tv or on the internet. Home or away you can always find a pub with it on or you can just sit at your PC watching it. Forget Sky and BT millions (briefly anyway !) it is the emergence of live streaming that has seen more noticeable effect on lowered attendance at each club in the last 2/3 years.
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SaintNick added 14:27 - Aug 19
I would agree with that to a degree, although it doesnt seem to affect Liverpool, Man Utd, City, Chelsea, Spurs and Arsenal all of whom are dearer than Saints to watch and all of whom sell out every home game, i read a lot of quotes on here saying last season was the best team ever etc yet we had a lower attendance than the year before,
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saintmark1976 added 14:58 - Aug 19
Nick,all the teams you mention in your last post have a realistic chance of winning the league or a cup.Failing that then they have a good chance of a place in Europe by finishing in the top few places.

For the supporters of teams other than those you mention admission prices are just too expensive hence our attendance declined last season and will, I suspect, do so again this.
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skippysaint added 15:29 - Aug 19
Just ordered my ticket, coming down from Coventry, can't wait!
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SaintNick added 15:57 - Aug 19
you are right in your first paragraph but not in your second as suddenly tickets prices are not too expensive when a team is doing well, but you are intristically right, the club should not have been increasing prices but looking to decrease them slightly to give the perception that its a bargain and attract support
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saintmark1976 added 18:10 - Aug 19
Nick, thanks for agreeing with me in regard to ticket pricing.

My concern is that there is so much broadcasting money given to the clubs that supporters attending becomes less and less important to them.I am beginning to wonder if we are now just a nuisance hence the club has no problem in increasing prices season after season.So what if fewer fans attend? The loss of revenue is now just a drop in a bucket to the business.After all, you do not need a crowd to be able to play football,just as long as people pay to watch it live on T V.

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