Hear me out on this one.
I know it’s all hypothetical, it’s a situation we can’t do anything about and I hope everyone is safe, well and coping okay.
A lot was said about our incredible form during Project Restart and the start of this season. It was claimed the absence of fans meant we could build up from the back, recycle the ball and choose our moments, without a toxic, impatient, nervous atmosphere screaming at our defence to ‘get it forward’.
Well now that our form has declined to a record breaking run of league losses, I’m wondering if that has also been a result of the absence of fans?
For many of us, our last live football was Saints vs Newcastle, over 11 months ago. When Djenepo got sent off, it was felt in the ground that the wrong decision had been made, sparking the greatest atmosphere St Mary’s had seen in years – that 15 minute straight rendition of ‘Pompey Get Battered’ was the best atmosphere I’ve experienced since the cup final. Ultimately, we lost, but a (supposed) injustice had brought unanimous support and had even gotten the Chapel rocking. I bring this up because we have faced so many actual injustices over the past couple of weeks.
The Djenepo decision was, in the end, the right one, once we’d got home and viewed it – and yet us fans responded with such passion – imagine how we’d be reacting to the calls of the past couple of weeks… We have a situation in which the players and Ralph are just having to merely accept these shocking decisions, or risk punishment. They have no one to fight their corner, to back them up. But without this becoming a debate on how influential VAR is becoming in the absence of fans, which I think is a slightly different argument, I’m more interested in how the players would react with a riled up fanbase behind them. You can see it’s demoralising, having perfectly good goals ruled out, getting a man wrongly sent off, the inconsistencies of the penalties today, and they’re only human, they do lose heart.
After Wolves’ penalty, and especially after ours wasn’t given for an identical offence, our heads dropped and there was no reaction. We can be quick to say that’s not a good enough attitude, it’s not, and maybe we are using decisions to mask another poor performance. But I don’t think we lose that game with fans in the ground. Or Villa. Brave thing to say, given our reputation for getting on players’ backs and being responsible for shattered confidence in the past, but I think we would no longer be on 29 points had we have been there the past few weeks.
As much as Ralph can try and encourage from the side lines, he’s feeling as helpless as the players. I think we all wish we were in the stands, cheering the players on and letting the referees and VAR know what we think of them. I like to think we now know the potential of these players, and wouldn’t immediately get on their backs after making a mistake. I feel like we understand our way of playing more, the importance of patience and possession. So I like to think as a fanbase we’d be more unified and supportive, encouraging these players to reach the heights they did when we were sitting top of the league and scoring for fun. That’s what the squad needs now. Support and encouragement. Someone who’s got their back. Someone to pick them up when they’ve been knocked down. That’s our role as fans, the twelfth man, and it’s so frustrating not being able to influence and play our part in our team’s success (also a reason why I worry an FA Cup win might feel hollow).
Maybe I’m wrong. Like I say, we still ended up losing the Newcastle game despite a rocking atmosphere, and maybe the crowd only livened up because we knew it would be our last time at St Mary’s for the foreseeable. Maybe we would quickly revert to being a negative fanbase, jumping on mistakes, breeding nervousness and getting in the players’ heads more than the decisions. (Mind you, we certainly have needed shouts of ‘Get it forward!’ when chasing a game in injury time, especially with a man advantage… just a bit of urgency, get it up the pitch, a Plan B, that extra burst of energy that’s radiated from our voices.) There’s only so much we could have done, and the squad have had to face a lot, from decisions to injuries. And at the end of the day, everyone is in the same situation.
But, I like to think that, with the fans right behind them, the players would be fired up by the injustices, rather than feebly accepting them and using them as an excuse, with little response. Bring on the day we’re back in the stands.
Let me know what you think.
Owen The Saints 