Last week saw the 32nd Anniversary of the first organised protest by Southampton fans against Ian Branfoot, with rumours of a protest before the Preston game, there are some good lessons that can be learned from that day back in October 1993.
As one of the founding members of the Southampton Independent Supporters Association that organised that protest, I still see many of those on that first committee back then at the Saints today both home and away.
The first decisions we made when forming SISA was that first and foremost we were Saints supporters, although we had had enough of the manager and wanted him out and wanted to register our disgruntlement to the board of SFC, we did not want any protest to be counter productive, back then we were in a relegation battle and ultimately we wanted the club to win games and stay up, but winning games would not mean that the manager was right for the club.
So when we played Newcastle United on Sunday 24th October 1993 in front of the Sky TV cameras, we sang the protest songs and unfurled the banners before the game, then once the whistle sounded for kick off we stopped and gave the team 100% backing for the whole game.
It worked, in a game that became iconic, we beat the Geordies 2-1 with two classic Matthew Le Tissier goals, but at the final whistle the celebrations stopped and the protest began anew.
On all four sides of the ground thousands of Saints supporter stayed behind and made their feelings known about the manager, it was all over Sky TV, when we were cleared out of the ground, the Dell car park was packed with fans demanding the removal of the manager.
It made a big impact both to those at the game, but also millions watching on Sky TV who could not avoid showing it, also local & national media.
It would take over two months before Ian Branfoot would finally be sacked, but the 3 points gained in this game were ultimately vital, Saints stayed up by a single point, even drawing this game, something that would have been seen as a good result at the time as Newcastle would ultimately finish 3rd in the Premier League, would have seen us relegated and our history could have been a lot different.
So the lessons we learned then are still relevant today, it is important to register your protest in an organised, peaceful way, but if you make it positive then when things do actually change, you can still be on track to achieve your ultimate aim, back then it was avoiding relegation, today it is promotion.
I want Saints to beat Preston on Saturday and start to move up the League, but that doesn't mean that I am happy with the way things are going, it also doesn't mean that all things are rosy and that Will Still is the man for the job, in fairness he might be, win one game and it is a start, wind 3 or 4 in a row and he might be on his way, but at the moment , that does not look like happening.
But we should give him every chance to achieve success at Southampton, back in 1993 we had seen over 2 years of dire football, with Will Still it's just 12 League games.
In 1993 Ian Branfoot was only our 4th manager in 40 years, Will Still is our 4th in 10 months !
So if protests are going to happen make them positive, by all means meet at the Ted Bates Statue, make it loud make it colourful and make it peaceful, but when you enter the ground channel that energy into supporting the team, help them to 3 points and at the final whistle register your protest again.
Back then the term happy clappers had not been invented, today we might have been labelled that, but we weren't wanting your team to win was a no brainer, but we weren't going to stand around and just take it.
The Southampton Independent Supporters Association went on to be a positive thing for Saints supporters and indeed the club for many years, we need a new one, could that be the second positive thing to come out of Saturday.
Lets be blunt here, because you say a few things on social media slagging off the manager and the club, doesn't make you any better than a Happy Clapper, it fact it could be said that you are worse, a Happy Clapper has 100% support for the club, that is their view, they are entitled to it and they are backing it.
Those that want change but sit back and do nothing, expecting others to take the lead, have their view, they are entitled to it, but they are not backing it.
I am not advocating anything here other than protest, should it happen, should be organised , peaceful and without violence or endangering the safety of others, but ultimately should be about getting positive results out of it both on and off the pitch.