Benali: 'I don’t think we’ve seen enough of that this season'

Just looking at the broader picture a little bit, I know there's probably been plenty of conversations about how players have performed up to this point.

I'm trying to look at it maybe from a club perspective, almost everyone's perspective within the club - the ownership, the players and the staff.

This summer could see real major change. 'Overhaul' is maybe the wrong word, but we're going to have players who are thinking, 'We're going down.'

There'll be players who want to stay, there'll be players who want to go. There'll be ones looking at the manager’s scenario thinking, 'Well, is he going to be here next season?'

And if so, that's going to determine how they feel. And if he is off, who's coming in? So there's a lot of uncertainties in many ways.

There are some players out on loan as well. What will their views and opinions be about coming back? Who do we want back?

Ultimately, who do we want to keep within our squad to take us forward? I think there's so many decisions to be made in that area.

How do they go about that? There’s clearly an element of people wanting to be part of the journey moving forward. As supporters, we want to see that too.

We want to see players that want to be here and are willing to fight and scrap and give everything for the club and the shirt - to bring some pride back again.

There’ll be some players thinking, 'I'll sit and wait and see what happens.' Others will want to know what’s happening.

There are probably lots of players speaking to agents, and agents speaking to the club about contracts, etcetera.

If I cast my mind back to my contracts, I’m sure it’s probably like the same today that if the club drops out of the Premier League, that affects their salaries.

All these things factor into decisions about what players may want to do. I don’t want to use the word 'mess,' but there’s so much work to be done.

The club have got the managerial decision to make if they haven't already made that. If there is going to be a change from Ivan Juric, who is going to come in?

It’s not an ideal scenario because the track record shows already that that hasn’t been a successful thing, certainly with one or two appointments.

The big thing again is the identity of how we want to play our football moving forward. We’re back into that whole cycle of yet another manager.

Clearly, it hasn't gone as any of us would have liked, none more so than Ivan, I would imagine, since he's come in in December. 

That’s not to put him down at all, but there's been no real change, no impact. Off the top of my head, I can't remember how many managers it's been in the last few years.

We can't deny the fact that it's too many. We need some kind of consistency now. There are all these different pieces of the jigsaw that need to be lined up.

In the end, everything always comes back to results on the pitch. That’s the main thing. The results define how everything else is perceived.

It’s a shame because so much good work is done at the club in various departments. The club offers so much on match days and non-match days.

As an ambassador for Saints Foundation, I know there’s fantastic work being done in the community, but the reality is, if results aren’t there, everything else gets viewed through a negative lens.

There’s also the here and now. People are still paying their money to come and watch games and follow the team. They want to see something from the side now.

We want to see players out on the pitch showing some pride for the club and giving everything. That’s a responsibility the players have as a minimum requirement.

I don’t think we’ve seen enough of that this season. It’s one thing whether you’re good enough or not, but there’s nothing to stop you from giving 100 per cent.

That hasn’t been the case, in my opinion. Otherwise, we would have seen some different scenarios throughout the season.

These remaining games give the players a chance to put some faith back into the supporters and hopefully build confidence moving into next season.

Fans will have their opinions on certain players. There are always players that supporters don’t like and players they absolutely adore.

But players themselves have to do everything in their power to show they care and want success as much as the supporters do.

If the players showed that, at the very least, supporters would say, 'Okay, I may not like how he plays, but at least he gives everything.' That’s all they ever want.

Up the Saints,

Franny Benali.