The way that Southampton Football Club has conducted itself in the current Corona Virus crisis has made some fans change their mind about the leadership behind the club.

The last couple of seasons on the field and to be fair a lack of communication from the club itself led to a lot of criticism on Social Media that the it had no leadership that Gao was only interested in money etc etc, the vitriol sometimes aimed at it was usually based solely on results and those running the club were seen as faceless.

But come the hour come the man as they say and from this crisis comes some hope that the club can start to move forward after all, they have worked behind the scenes to produce the Saints As One initiative and have concentrated on the current issues not football.

They have also done a lot of things behind the scenes, staff have been phoning season ticket holders over 70 to check on their welfare for instance.

But they hit the headlines when they announces that they would not furlough staff but continue to fund them 100% of their wages, a decision that would have been made right from the top Gao himself.

That isn't the actions of a man who does not care about the club itself and only cares about money, the fact that we haven't furloughed and claimed from the Government means the money has to be found somewhere and directly or indirectly that comes out of Gao's pocket.

This at a time when other clubs were dithering and making decisions based on money and not the current issues, we led the way.

But it shows the spirit in the club that our manager and players agreed to defer wages in order to provide funding to keep the non playing staff on full wages, it shows our players are in touch with reality, unlike the players union the PFA, who are employing a high profile and therefore high fee's Lawyer to "protect" their members interests when being asked to defer wages etc.

This paints professional footballers in a bad light and that is unfair and whilst it can't be denied that there are some players earning offensive money that do not care about anything other than themselves and their own wallets, that is not the truth about the majority of players to varying degrees.

So the fact our squad have so quickly come to an agreement with the to defer wages is a sign that the club behind the scenes is in better spirits than some would have had you believe.

It should not be a difficult decision, after all the players are not donating or taking a pay cut, they are merely deferring them until times are better and that makes it all the more obscene that other club's have been so slow in reacting or reaching agreements.

From a Saints perspective each player's weekly deferment of an average of around £6,000 will pay the wages of perhaps a dozen non playing staff for that week, although this is harder to quantify due to the great variance between the actual wages paid to non playing staff due to job roles and hours worked.

But this is a great gesture from our players, yes some will be cynical and say they can well afford it and yes they can, but they have still made this gesture before anyone else and that is significant and we have led the way at a time when the PFA seem to be trying to protect greed and not benevolence and charity.

So from a supporters perspective it is great to see our club showing initiative, it is great to see that there is leadership up in the boardroom and that offers us some hope for the future.

It should prompt us to do one thing when this horrible crisis is over and that is to show our appreciation by giving Gao and the club a chance to show it can overcome it's own issues and move forward, this gesture doesn't mean that everything is fine behind the scenes, but it does give us hope that they can be in the future given the chance.

Certainly I have seen posts on social media praising the club from supporters who a few months ago were demanding that Gao go etc, perhaps that has given them a little faith that behind the scenes things are changing.

This works from both sides of the fence, if the fans have to show some tolerance and patience then those running the club have to show too they understand it's supporters and their concerns.

This crisis has perhaps been a lesson for everyone surrounding Southampton Football Club, if we all learn from it we will emerge from these awful times stronger not just as people nut also more tolerant and caring towards others.

Photo: Action Images

redwight added 11:55 - Apr 11 Go easy with the garlands. This is a wage deferral, not a cut. Effectively it is an interest free loan to the club which will have to be paid back at the earliest opportunity. Personally I would have been happier if they had followed the lead of the big Bundesliga clubs or Barcelona, where players have all taken substantial pay cuts. This arrangement will undoubtedly leave the club poorer if we assume the TV companies receive compensation. Alternatively, perhaps PL players might consider giving a helping hand to the lower league clubs, many of which look unlikely to survive this crisis.

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Saintsforeverj added 16:22 - Apr 11 This situation is seems very chaotic. Every PL club should be donating up to 5 million into a pot keep lower league clubs from going bust. Every PL player should be donating, not deferring, St least 20 % of their wages to pay for other staff. Most people in the country are getting paid 80 %, they won't get that 20% back. Why should players on 60k a week get full pay, albeit deferred?

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the_saint added 17:30 - Apr 11 Could be a lot worse look at what levy doing at spuds, what a total moron that bloke is. Proud of my club and players for not sponging off the tax payer, as they will still pay tax on deferred wages And after all that spurs are talking summer targets if they spend on transfers the government should take all the money spurs claimed back
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