Not a lot has been coming out of the Club as of late.

In the past week some supporters have got a little irate about the information coming out of the club, some have asked the question as to why things like the retained list and season tickets have been left so late to make an announcement whilst on the other side of the fence others have taken the attiutude that they will tell us when they tell us and its fine, both arguments have their good points but the upshot is that its creating friction and division amongst supporters, I have always maintained that if one supporter goes to a game because of something they have read on here then it has to be positive, so it therefore follows that if one supporter stops going to a game because they are hacked off because of arguing on message boards then that surely has to be a negative.

Let me put forward a statement, its not an original one by myself and some of you will have heard it quoted before, both by myself and elsewhere.

" Professional sport only exists due to the interest of the general public ! Why would you want to deny them access to information that they want to know!"

That statement is on the wall of many sports organisations in the USA and it should be in a similar position on the walls of sporting clubs over this side of the pond.

The boom in football over the past decade or so has not been fuelled by a boom at grass roots level, indeed less people are playing the 1 a side game than ever before and preferring shorter smaller sided versions, indeed a glance at your local park will show very few games of football going on between two scratch sides with jumpers as goalposts, times are changing.

The current boom is fuelled by the media and the increased access to that media, be it through SKY TV where we have 24 hrs a day sports news or through the internet where within minutes we can find out information that only 15 years ago would have been very difficult to get and would probably have involved at trip to the local bookshop to browse.

Across the country the general public whether it goes to games or not is better informed than it has ever been about the game and with that comes a thirst for more knowledge, at least thats what the sports clubs hope, because when the public arent interested be it in their local club or the national game, then bad times are ahead.

The downside of all of this media coverage is that it makes it easier than ever to ignore you local fotball team and become an armchair fan of Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal or Liverpool, if you live in Yeovil, why spend the best part of £20 to see your local side play the unknowns of Hartlepool when you can spend that money on beer and watch a big wide screen TV showing your favourites playing in thePremier league, its not cold and the only wet you will get is inside as you pour lager down your throat, usually at cheap prices.

So this being the case it is surely in the interest of every football club in this country to do its best to get the interest of its target market and keep the interested, think about it, whenever a big film is released its accompanied by a massive advertising campaign, on TV, in the papers, on the internet, even in the cinema's themselves, Why ? because advertising works, its about putting the product into the consciouness of th people and keeping them there and making them want to go and see it, much money will be paid to achieve this exposure.

Football clubs are no different, OK lets accept from the start that there is certain info that has to be kept secret, ie transfer negotiations, contracts etc, even training ground bust ups, but after that there isnt much that couldnt be put out to the people and most of it large proportions of it they want to know, some of it pretty trivial, but when they read it, it whets their appetites for more, it makes them want to go and see a game.

Pirates of the carribean 4 is getting a few ropey reviews, but people will still go because they remember the first three and how good they were and football is pretty much like that as well, you go because of how much you have enjoyed it in the past not because of what might happen in the future.

I could go on about the benefits of putting a football club into the public domain for a lot longer but Im sure that you have got the drift by now, in fact the very fact that you are reading this is because you have an interest in Southampton Football Club and that interest extends far beyond the information on the official web site.

As I have mentioned earlier producers of films spend millions to get their product advertised, football clubs however have to pay very little, they have in the first instance the local media, ask any company what they would have to pay the local paper to give them three pages of in effect advertising every day plus a supplement on Saturdays and indeed extra on Monday's and they would confirm it wouldnt be cheap, likewise find out what a 30 second advert would cost in the middle of the prime time news programme each evening or for the local radio to dedicate a whole afternoon talking about you and your product, well all this is available for free to most clubs in the top four divisions.

Oh and add to that the coverage the national press will also give you and you have to say that most business's in the country would snap that little package up if it was offered it for free.

So this all being the case why is there such a blackout on news from Saints, what cause does it serve not to make announcements quickly and efficiently and more to the point keep the fans appetites whetted, a look at any other club website shows that even in the close season they still pump out a few stories a day, Saints have put out six in the last weekprior to Monday evening  and over half of them havent really concerned the football club at all.

OK its a difficult time for those running the website in that most of the playing staff are on holiday etc and I accept that they cannot speculate about transfers etc, but there is still plenty of other topics they could cover including building up the new kit launch.

I write this story not to make mischief or any other issue with the club, but purely because i want to see Saints succeed and I want to see a full St Mary's week in week out and if there is any way I can help the club achieve that aim then I will do so, I like many others are interested in what is happening at St Mary's I want to see the new kit, I want to see the fixtures etc and more to the point I want to see the club using all means possible to not only use the tools in the media it has at its disposal, but in truth I want to see a united football club again, one where everyone is united in that common goal, be it the Chairman, the staff, the players, the supporters, ex players, corporate(or potential) corporate sponsors  and lastly and not leastly the local and national media.            

Photo: Action Images

SuperKelvin added 09:51 - May 24 They don't even need to produce lengthy, quality articles. Simple short bulletins about how great the new kits going to be, the different opposition next year, pre season plans, season ticket news and general hollow titter tatter will at least maintain some sort of interest, whereas in the last two weeks our official site will have inspired nobody to take any sort of interest in Southampton FC

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Del_Bianco added 10:08 - May 24 I really dont understand all the impatience and desperate thirst for even the tiniest snippets of information from SFC. The season finished for us a little over 2 weeks ago, the season as a whole doesn't finish until the weekend, which by conicidence is the end of the month when the SFC ticket office have said they'll release season ticket information. And seriously, what good is a message on the internet site, "the new kit will be out soon, keep checking here for details" We know this anyway FFS!!

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BlackRod added 10:37 - May 24 It's the end of the season. We got promoted. Players will be taking a well earned break. Retained players have been announced. Not much more to say at the moment. Is this really creating friction and division among supporters? Bit of a non-story this one.
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COYR added 10:38 - May 24 There was complaints from large numbers of supporters last season due to the lack of information and notice on season tickets, as well as informtion on installment plans etc, it seems the club have taken no notice of this and continue to withold information from supporters for no apparant reason.
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Kiwifiedpom added 11:00 - May 24 Personally, I think that was the longest, most boring arguement for something that you, Nick, have had for a long, long time. The term Paranoid springs to mind.
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Del_Bianco added 11:01 - May 24 No they haven't, they've said they'll have season ticket information at the end of the month, which is next week, a couple of days after the end of the season. But only choose to see what you want to see.
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romseysaint added 11:08 - May 24 This is ridiculous. We support a well run club with, in my opinion, one of the most sound chairmen in the football league. Things appear to be done in sensible and considered was without all the leaks and rumours that typified our club for so long and still hit other clubs. I'm happy to wait longer for a good decision, than to have something rushed out that is ill considered and badly thought through. And, yes i will be renewing our 5 season tickets. Stop moaning!!

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mox888 added 11:10 - May 24 The constant flow of excreta from the football media during the closed season and transfer windows has led the average football fan to expect their daily fix of speculation and trivia. Why should our club join them in pandering to this newfound "need to know" over the last 10 years. The club site doesn't need to invent stories to draw in the punter to appease online advestisers, like the classic headline "Arsenal Complete Signing of Saints Wonderkid" from the last transfer window. The end of the season is a blessed relief...if you're a sucker for tittle-tattle prepare to be wound-up for the next few months.

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B3na1i added 11:34 - May 24 People enjoyed the first 3 Pirates films? I suppose it takes allsorts
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st_bangkok added 12:13 - May 24 What short memories some have. I clearly recall in the year we were looking to be saved from going bust there were loads clamoring for info, even the smallest snippets as some one here put it. Now we are doing well, it does not matter?
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saintBob added 12:18 - May 24 Obviously you're desperate for something to say Nick. Sit back & watch the play-off finals, the European Cup Final. Why not take a holiday like everyone else and be less impatient?
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simmo400 added 12:26 - May 24 Last thing we need is transfer rumours. I want to read who we have signed not 20 rumours week in week out. Just gets everyones backs up. People who need payment installments are just stupid. If you payed for a season ticket last year then your installment plan started one the day you paid it. So you had 12 months to save for this years and so on. It aint rocket science is it now. Everyones on holiday and those you arnt are in the playoffs so chill out and wait please. COYR

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bstokesaint added 12:32 - May 24 The fact is we do have a well run club. I for one have a lot of faith in the chairman and can't imagine he's sitting around doing nothing at the moment. He will bring in players and do his best to retain our assets (as he did with Oxo before). He won't be bullied and he'll do things his way. It'd be nice for a bit more supporter appreciation, but so long as we're being successful I don't care too much. I agree it's time for a break. I can understand that some players and fans don't want to lose that momentum for success, but let's have a well earned rest and concentrate on real news when it's made available. PS Nick, The Pirates of the Carribean is not a good example.

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geezershoong added 12:38 - May 24 Stop stirring the shite.
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winchesterbob added 13:08 - May 24 Bloody hell Nick you must be bored?
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arfurdent added 13:11 - May 24 prefer cider to lager
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SaintNick added 13:50 - May 24 I popped out for a few hours after i put this article up and I was surprised by a few things on my return, firstly that virtually no one has actually interpretted the artice in the manner in which it was written replies were all in the main way off the mark and ranged from "we have the a great chairman" to " I dont want to read anything about Saints" to "all things in the media are rubbish anyway" I stated several times that what is needed wasnt snippets of transfer gossip etc but stories which the fans are interested in and want to know and talk about, ironic that this story perhaps unique at prsent in that it hasnt had to re hash rumour should attract so many replies and indeed mean that by lunchtime we had had as many page hits as the whole of monday, ironic that many of these people do not state that they arent interested in saints news and gossip but still scour the internet for saints stories, which perhaps proves my point, the fans want to know things about the club, they are interested so tell them. Whatever you think of my opinions they are at least several things, honest and genuine, researched and i always try to back them up with examples, sadly when i do this i get accused of being negative from those who will usually declare total faith in the way the club is being run, but cant really back that up with fact because the club doesnt actually tell them very much about what is happening. As I say the club and Chairman do a lot of good things, as a supporter i want to see them get it right 99% of the time, Im sure that Nicola Cortese doesnt tolerate failure in the football club so why should i be any different as a fan

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zippy added 13:56 - May 24 "I write this story not to make mischief or any other issue with the club"........ here we go again the irony beggars belief "In the past week some supporters have got a little irate" ... you are the only "supporter" i know who is irate and we all know why that is Mr Cortese i have my Ticket for Pirates of the Caribbean 4 why the hell has nick the only fan that counts not got his speculation and trivia .... dear god man drop what ever you are doing and give nick his gossip or he will be on the echo saying "All" fans are not happy with whats going on the season is not even other and your going about this shit get over ya self mush its boring WATCH OUT JOHNNY DEPP NICK IS COMING FOR YA JOB ..... WITH HIM STARING IT NO ROPY REVIEWS FOR 5

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Clawsfour added 14:13 - May 24 With seven official press releases on the Official Site in the last three days it rather looks as neither the author nor some of the contributors actually read what the Saints are putting out. It tends to make you think that this article was specifically written to cause annoyance where none previously existed - not what I would expect from someone who claims to have the best interest of the club at heart (but entirely in line with other articles on this site!)

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zippy added 14:14 - May 24 You are wrong about the the page hits it came up on news now under the headline Is No News, Good News ...... there was me thinking we might have a talk that southampton was playing a waiting game on things trying to sort some players out you know that kinda thing waiting to come out say something that is going to be worth reading and all the fans would be happy and over joyed with the news that has come out of the club and not just gossip ..... thats why his page had so many hits is i knew what it was about would hell of red it for sure its boring . you keep going about about the saints posting some stuff the fans might want to read how about you doing the same ?

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SaintNick added 14:19 - May 24 FAO Clawsfour, I cannot see seven official press releases on the official site, as Stated I counted the number of news stories when the piece was written on Monday evening, since then two stories both about Danny Butterfield have been put up. I am surprised at the venom this story has provoked, people tell me to chill out, but many on here seem to have taken it very personally

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zippy added 14:39 - May 24 Ok lets stop the venom then but that goes both ways ... can you do a post about some good things that are happening at saints and how the future is bright and red and white, would be not hard would it now
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SaintNick added 15:00 - May 24 I would love to post some stuff that fans would love to hear, but like the local media i can only write what i know about and comment on what they put out, the club doesnt have to put out transfer gossip or sensitive stuff just something interesting, if they were doing you wouldnt have bothered coming here from news now as you would have it all on the official site.
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Clawsfour added 15:09 - May 24 There are indeed 7 (I have listed them below) in the last three working days which seem to meet the criteria set out in your article of items of interest to Saints fans. Three about players, one about another Saints team, one about tickets for a stadium event and two about Saints fans. Not bad for the start of the close season frankly, and enough to keep me monitoring the OS for other news as it comes up - including transfer deals when they are done and ticket prices when they are announced. The only reason I ended up reading your article is that the news monitor I use to track SaintsFC stories threw it in my direction and I presumed the title would lead to a discussion about whether we needed to strengthen the team in the transfer window. Unfortunately it didn't - and even more unfortunately I still read the polemic of someone who could clearly start a fight in an empty room. I merely thought such poor writing in the name of a 'fan' shouldn't go unanswered, but hey - it might be what you really think. Takes all sorts I suppose. 24.05.2011 Butterfield Pleased With Progress 23.05.2011 Lallana Misses Out 23.05.2011 England vs Norway Tickets On Sale 23.05.2011 Go Sky High With Saints! 20.05.2011 Released List Announced 20.05.2011 Annual Programme Fair This Weekend 20.05.2011 Saints Girls Finish On Top

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legod7 added 15:43 - May 24 FFS Nick. It must be soooooo boring at home that you have to write such drivel in the first place. You are getting so many replies bacause YOU seem to be the only one who wants information,however trivial, from the club. And if you don't get your daily dose you spout on here about it. First of all NA & NC have to sort out whether Gobern & Connelly are signing,then if Puncheon & Mills are staying or going. There you are is that enough to be getting on with. Yes it is trivial BUT it is true

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