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.

All Photos Via Reuters

saintmark1976 added 10:08 - Oct 31 Off subject I appreciate, but the last photo made me really wonder if we wouldn’t now be better off had we stayed at The Dell. Bournemouth going great guns with a ground capacity 4000 less than The Dell and Brentford also with a capacity just 2000 more. The Dell was a proper football ground where none of the opposition liked to play mainly due to the close proximity of the fans who in those days were quite intimidating.

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underweststand added 11:31 - Oct 31 Not difficult to disagree with the sentiment in your test ( Nick). Very few can rejoice in our situation (except those with unreasonable expectations from a new manager who inherited a relegated squad and the bad vibes that go along with that). As a fan of more than 60 years....I can recall many worse situation than the one we are in at present but one sporting phrase that always comes to mind is .." you don't kick a man when he's down ", and it's high time that our "real fans" start to really motivate the team instead of getting upset by "normal footballing things" that occur in almost every match. I've rarely seen that people respond well to negative criticism. They do better if they get encouragement and not angry responses from egotistical managers, or disaffected fans. Those who don't like what they see, should find another club ...or another sport.

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saint_ben added 13:21 - Oct 31 I’m sorry, but it’s madness to even think about sacking another manager, especially when you look at the actual statistics. We’re second in the league for expected goals, with only Coventry ahead of us. That clearly shows the attacking tactics are working. The issue isn’t the system or the manager , it’s the individual errors at the back and our strikers failing to take their chances. The manager can’t be blamed for defenders switching off or strikers missing sitters. We’re creating chances, but we’re also gifting goals at the other end. That’s on the players, not the man in charge. The strikers, in particular, need to take a hard look at themselves. They’re earning big money yet not delivering when it matters. Confidence seems to be at rock bottom, and until they start finding the net, we’ll continue to struggle. For me, the real issue lies in recruitment. We keep bringing in players who look good on paper but lack the fight and character needed when things get tough. We need players who will roll their sleeves up, show pride, and fight for every ball. Now is absolutely not the time to change the manager. We’ve been through that cycle too many times already, and it never ends well. What we need right now is unity, get behind the manager, back the system, and demand more from the players. Confidence and goals from the strikers will lift the whole team.

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StRipper added 16:20 - Oct 31 The right sentiments here. I love Saints. I hate the corporation and the greedy, profit focus at the fan's expense. Along with the opaque decision making that comes with it. Those who are happy to give Still more time, you are welcome to your opinion and I fully respect that and the reasons for it. Please give those of us similar respect who don't agree and see Still as another terrible appointment that needs to be gone for us to see any tangible improvement in the football results. Its all about results, if you have forgotten that. In the same way that Martin spouting on about our possession stats was irrelevant too. If there wasn't some good evidence of the need for change, there wouldn't be a debate. We'd all be behind the manager and the team. None of us really want constant managerial change. And it doesn't matter how many times we have changed managers if the next one that gets appointed is still fundamentally incompetent. I am tired of all the muddying of waters, like blaming the recruitment, pointing to statistics, blaming the players, blaming the owners. Those are issues that can be discussed, yes, sure. They are no doubt a reason for our problems and why we are where we are as a club. Do they make Still a good or bad manager? Nope, totally unrelated. By those same arguments, you could argue that we should have given Nathan Jones more time. Or that we should have given Selles longer to prove his pointlessness whilst very little changed in our results. And we got behind Selles and were patient. How did that work out for us? The real point was, they weren't right for us as a club or capable. I would prefer us to get back to the way we have traditionally played football. Fluid positive Attacking football. Thats what works for us. I don't give a monkeys about statistics when it comes to things like this. I do care about having a manager who I think knows more than the average bloke down the pub. And certainly like Selles, Still just talks about an indefinite period of waiting for improvements. There is no substance of how he's going to achieve that, if you really listen to his interview. And like Selles, Still constantly blames the past and the situation he inherited, when the majority of the squad had nothing to do with last year's abysmal EPL catastrophe. The guy has brought nothing new. And we could end up in a similar place if we give Still too much more time. Beyond help of doing anything good or entertaining in this league. I don't want us to pass it around for ever in our own third, and still lose it when we try to cross the half way line. I don't want us to pack our team with defenders and hope we get to score on the break. Instead, I want to see some tactical nous, rather than a manager that gets sussed out and outthought by his experienced counterpart every match. When we change something, I want it to be based on common sense or to create an advantage, rather than it looking like some random punt that confuses everybody, including the team on the pitch. And I want players to be picked based on form, rather than to squeeze them into some weird ineffective formation that doesn't suit their strengths or characteristics. Enough is enough already. As fans, we've had our heads pissed on for too long and some of us know that that isn't rain. Respect to whoever is planning to protest at the weekend. Sadly, I suspect that the powerbroker at the club isn't listening or all these weird experiments would already have stopped. We'd hire a Struber or at least someone who knows English football like Rosenior (look how he's doing with Strasburg compared to Still's meagre boast about drawing nil-nil with PSG). Some chance. But until we can see some progress and something to get behind, I'm done listening to those imploring me to accept the same old garbage on another day, for however long.

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jameslastfan added 16:31 - Oct 31 I do think the managers who get appointed on the revolving Southampton door make a fundamental mistake and don't seem to see this as a fan does - they can't without just trotting our semantic cliches. They haven't been coming to matches for the last say 6 years ( lots of us many more). History didn't start when Will Still walked in the door, we have seen utter dross for too long and with too many failed managers having their own little go. Coming out with the same stories, the same pig headedness, the same ridiculous reasons for failure is a kick in the nuts to the fans. We heard it all from the last bloke, and the one before him and the one before him etc etc. And it is no wonder people are seeing through this failure quicker than we have before because it is the team's same failure to score goals and win games.

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highfield49 added 16:44 - Oct 31 I'm certainly not convinced by the calls for another change of manager and even the best managers don't have a golden ticket. It's certainly not a given that the new coach will be a change for the better and we've certainly suffered that over the last ten years. However, there's usually a but or however lurking somewhere, I really cannot fathom out substituting our best attacking player and using a consistently underachieving defender in midfield. Experiment or desperation it might have been but it's not the way to get the supporters onboard. I remember a lad called Shearer scoring a hat trick in his first match and see no reason for Oyekunle not to be on the pitch this weekend. Faffing around doesn't win games, putting in form players on the pitch lifts everyone.

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Bowlercow added 17:48 - Oct 31 Nick your original protest did nothing to get Branfoot out The management did nothing for a couple of months Therefore a protest tomorrow is pointless Save your energy to support the team and the coaching TEAM I remember Man Utd supporters calling for SAF to be sacked Imagine if Busby and his fellow directors had done what the fans wanted Compare that to Watford who have had countless managers

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StRipper added 20:36 - Oct 31 Bowlercow you’re comparing Still to a young Alex Ferguson?!? I remember Chelsea stumbling on a few gems in their Managerial merry go rounds if we’re going to make such absurd comparisons
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