Southampton's Fan Advisory Board (FAB) has done what the club itself has refused to do. It has spoken clearly and honestly, with the full weight of fans' frustration in every syllable.
In a letter sent to chief executive Phil Parsons, the FAB described the club's communication throughout the spygate crisis as “poor.“ They noted that whatever information supporters received came largely from non-club sources rather than official channels. They stated unambiguously that the silence since the failed appeal has been deafening.
They are right on every count.
A club that has failed its own supporters
The FAB has called for an emergency meeting and fans' forum within the next week, demanding that Parsons and owner Dragan Solak face supporters directly and answer questions live rather than hiding behind carefully worded written statements. Not that many of them have been forthcoming either.
This is not an unreasonable request. It is the bare minimum any supporter base should expect from the people running their football club in the wake of a scandal of this magnitude.
Southampton fans are described in the letter as utterly disaffected. That phrase should alarm everyone at the board level. Fans are not fringe voices or agitators.
The Fan Advisory Board exists to represent the broad mass of the fanbase, elected specifically to provide feedback in an open dialogue with the club.
When even that body is describing supporters as utterly disaffected, the situation has moved well beyond manageable discontent.
The FAB has also raised the matter of season tickets, calling for a price reduction for next season and some form of refund for those who attended the play-off semi-finals against Middlesbrough. Both requests are entirely reasonable.
Supporters paid good money to watch those games in good faith. They were not to know their club was operating a “surveillance operation“ behind the scenes. They turned up, they celebrated, they invested emotionally and financially in a campaign that was subsequently voided by their own club's misconduct.
Leadership must show its face
The lack of any further apology since the initial statement has been noted by the FAB. So has the failure to recognise the impact on supporters and the absence of any sense that the club is fighting for its fanbase.
There has been no live interview. No forum. No genuine accountability from the people at the top of this football club.
Players have shown more courage and more transparency than the boardroom. That is an extraordinary state of affairs.
The FAB wants explanations. Supporters want to look Phil Parsons and Dragan Solak in the eye and hear them explain, in plain terms, how this happened and what they intend to do about it.
If the club refuses to engage meaningfully with even those modest demands, the Fan Advisory Board may be left with no option but to recommend the most powerful tool supporters possess.
A coordinated season ticket boycott would send a message no boardroom could afford to ignore.
Southampton fans have been patient long enough.
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