Councillors Dish Out Money To Highly Paid Officers and Decide the Budget in Secret - And Now Southampton City Council Is Near Bankruptcy

 

Former Councillor Andrew Pope
Speaking on BBC South Today

by Andrew D Pope*, 27th February 2023

Last week, at the February 2023 Budget Full Council of councillors, Southampton residents were horrified to hear the dire warnings of the state of the finances of Southampton City Council. This is public money, after all.

As reported by Southampton Independents, the Budget Full Council heard that councillors had been spending public money "unsustainably", leaving the Council in a "precarious financial position". The Council is near bankruptcy because it could soon be having to issue a Section 114 notice. Put simply, Labour has been spending too much money.

The warnings came from the Chief Financial Officer John Harrison, who we exclusively reported has now left. It appears from Mr Harrison's LinkedIn posts available to the public that his departure was planned months ago with the knowledge of Council officers - and presumably with the knowledge of the Leader of the Council, Councillor Satvir Kaur. As far as we are aware, no other local media outlet has reported his departure, and the Council itself was silent in its press release on the Budget. Such silence is worrying, given the parlous state of the City.

So where did the money go? Southampton Independents has reported on the profligate spending of Labour over the ten years it has spent and mis-spent millions if not billions of public monies at the Council.

Like ten of the least eleven years, Labour has been in control of the Council money and the Council Budget. This is not public money. This is not the Labour Party's money. It belongs to the people of Southampton. The Budget Full Council is decided in public, but last week there were items on the agenda that were deemed to have to be discussed without the press and public being able to see it.

Southampton Labour Allows More High Pay for Council Officers

In April 2022, the Taxpayers Alliance compiled a Council "rich list" of high pay at councils in England.

Southampton City Council appeared on that list. According to the information, the Labour-run Authority had doubled the number employees paid a six-figure sum - £100,000 or more.

It was reported that:

"During the 2020 and 2021 financial year, 12 staff members took home a six-figure salary – up from nine the previous year."

Whatever your views about the pay of Council officers being paid over £100,000, it is councillors that have allowed it. But it is only a special select group of councillors - most are not involved.

Millions Of Public Money Dished Out In Secret By A Few Councillors

But it is not just the Budget that has elements decided in secret. The decisions over employment of senior officers and their pay is also done behind closed doors. 

It is councillors who decide the salary of senior Council employees and who choose chief officers. But it is only a select group of councillors that do so. The vast majority of councillors are not involved in the committee that decides. It is called the Chief Officer Employment Panel. 

This Panel is normally just a handful of people, even as low as three councillors and usually the Leader of the Council, Leader of the Opposition Group and possibly one or two others. The meetings are minuted but the vast majority of the detail is hidden from public view behind agenda items that involve exclusion of the press and public. When you add up all these officers on more than £100,000 each the total becomes millions of pounds.

Making Decisions in Secret But You Voted Them In To Act For You

It is that small group of councillors that the people of Southampton should be asking questions of, because they are ones responsible for the appointment of these officers and their pay. And the dire state of the public finances is mostly down to the Labour Party that has been in control of the Budget for ten of the eleven years since 2012. Officers are supposed to advise councillors, and councillors are supposed to provide strategic oversight and direction to officers.

Neverthess, the total of senior officer pay is a small amount compared with the overall budget of the Council. However, the parlous state of the Council and its finances are decided by councillors, in co-ordination with officers who are supposed to provide wise advice to councillors. At the 2023 Budget, a long paper was presented to councillors to remind them of their responsibilities. It remains to be seen quite why they needed reminding. Surely councillors are already acting responsibly. Or are they?

Since the Taxpayers Alliance research, Labour has restructured the senior officers. The Chief Executive was changed. And now the Chief Financial Officer has left. Such turnover does not breed confidence in the leadership by Labour and in particular by Satvir Kaur, who is also Labour's Parliamentary Candidate for Southampton Test, with incumbent MP Alan Whitehead "retiring".

The People Voted Them In And Can Vote Them Out

There will be all-out elections in May 2023. The people can choose who represents them, because all 51 council seats will be up for election due to boundary changes. Whether the people will be able or willing to boot out those responsible for the current financial disaster, remains to be seen.

* Andrew Pope was a Southampton City Councillor between 2011-2019, being affiliated to Labour between 2011 to 2015 and Independent 2015 to 2019. He holds a Masters degree in Global Politics from Southampton University and is in training with the National College for the Training of Journalists.

EXCLUSIVE: Southampton City Council Warned Of Bankruptcy By Chief Financial Officer Who Left Immediately After

And the Council Chief Executive Officer declines to comment...

by Andrew D Pope*, 25th February 2023

Andrew Pope, former Independent Councillor

Southampton City Council is in a financial crisis and the captain has just left the boat after telling everyone that it is sinking. But the rats are still on board.

At its annual Budget meeting on Wednesday 22nd February 2023, Labour-run Southampton City Council was warned that it was near bankruptcy, in a "precarious" financial position and was spending unsustainably. 

The warnings came in the report to elected councillors by the Chief Financial Officer (a.k.a. Executive Director Finance and Commercialisation [S151]) John Harrison, who Southampton Independents can exclusively reveal has now left the Council, just days after signing off the reports that were presented to councillors. Mr Harrison's departure, confirmed by his LinkedIn page, seems to have been immediately after his warnings. Nevertheless, his name appeared at the top of the report to councillors, as shown on the Council's own website. 

So was the ship sinking? Or was it not sinking? Mr Harrison would also have signed off the Section 25 under the Local Government Act 2003, a very grave duty for an Officer of a Council. 

The report to councillors states:

"The Chief Financial Officer is required to make a statement on the adequacy of reserves and the robustness of the budget. This is a statutory duty under Section 25 of the 2003 Local Government Act. This statement is longer than normal, because of the considerable financial risks the authority now faces."

Several pages follow to underline the risks, including warnings of a "precarious" position, consideration of cuts to budgets, a potential serious S114 notice stopping all but essential spending and more.

Ultimately, in a democracy, it is the Leader of the Council Satvir Kaur that has to answer to local residents at the ballot box in May. That is, if residents are aware of this crisis.

We are trying to determine the full reasons for Mr Harrison's departure, but we understand that his departure may have been planned. Without any statement from Mr Harrison or from the Council at budget time, who knows? Mr Harrison cannot be contacted at the Council any longer.

But the timing could not be worse for our City or its finances. Perhaps the Council could have clarified this, but the Council did not mention Mr Harrison's departure in its press release on the Budget. Neither have other local media outlets, at the time of publication of this article.

Southampton Independents reported on the dire inancial warnings earlier this week. The Chief Executive Officer Mike Harris was offered the right of reply, as both he and the Leader of the Council, Labour Councillor Satvir Kaur, were named in the article.

Chief Executive Declines To Comment

In his response, Mr Harris declined to comment. He said:

"Your article is a political blog, and as a politically neutral council officer, I have no comment to make"

Mr Harris would have known about Mr Harrison's departure. He could have commented. But he did not.

At the time of writing, Councillor Kaur has not responded to our request for comment. She would also have known about Mr Harrison's departure and his replacement, Mel Creighton. Ms Creighton was in the same Chief Financial Officer (S151) post before Mr Harrison.

We also contacted the (now former) Chief Financial Officer Mr Harrison by email. An automatic email response was returned (more junior officers have been redacted, because we only name the most senior officers):

"I am now on leave ahead of my final day in post with Southampton City Council on Friday 24th February 2023. .<redacted>.. From Monday 27th February Mel Creighton will take up the post of Executive Director - please redirect any queries to her at Mel.Creighton@southampton.gov.uk after this date, or contact her PA <redacted>"

Labour or Tory, Same Old Story

The usual blame game gibberish has been spouted by Labour Council Leader Satvir Kaur in trying to blame the Tories. As reported by us in our analysis of who has been in power, the Labour Party has been in power in Southampton's Civic Centre for a decade from 2012 to now, except for just one year in 2021/22 when the Conservatives took control. 

And in response the Conservative Spokesman for the Council Budget, Councillor John Hannides has tried to blame Labour. Labour councillors have been the ones making the decisions for almost all of the last eleven years. 

Yet Tory councillors have applauded many of their decisions, with Tory Councillors like Jeremy Moulton even claiming some of the Labour decisions as their own. To put the Council finances in context, the Conservatives have been in power in Westminster since 2010 and as reported by us previously, have savagely cut grant funding to councils, restricted council tax rises and left the country in an economic mess.

As a Former Councillor, I Warned The Council And Residents

In my eight years on the Council, I sat through and spoke at annual Budget meetings, challenging spending and the decisions of whomever was in control of the Council. I was also due to takeover the City's finances as Cabinet Member for Finance. But I declined the opportunity, because I knew that the officers at the council and the other councillors in Cabinet were not up to the job, in the context of the Westminster party system and Leader and Cabinet model of running the Council. 

The current situation proves that I was right. I was not going to go down with the Council under the captaincy of Labour's failed leaders. Instead of joining the Labour Cabinet, in 2015 I quit Labour to become an Independent councillor. And with Southampton Independents and its team, I worked to warn residents and hold the Council's failures to account. I am still doing it, now as a volunteer and reporter - not a councillor. It appears that Mr Harrison has made a similar calculation, after providing the dire warnings officially this week.

Think About The Future Of Southampton

Amid the boring and predictable Labour and Tory bickering, one thing is for sure, as we always say, it's another case of Labour or Tory, same old story. And it's the people of Southampton who will pay the price for the failures of the Westminster parties, their councillors and of Westminster MPs to protect our City.

There will be all-out elections in May for the Council. The people of Southampton could vote a Modern Committee System in later this year, as voted for by the people of  Sheffield and Bristol, if Independent councillors are voted in. Let's see whether that happens or whether Southampton gets more of the same old story.

* Andrew D Pope is one of the co-founders of Southampton Independents and was a councillor between 2011-2019, being Labour between 2011 and 2015 and an Independent between 2015 and 2019. He chose not to stand in 2019.

Southampton City Council Nearing Bankruptcy Warns Chief Financial Officer - Who Has Been In Power?

 

Independent Councillor Andrew Pope*
on BBC South Today opposing an Elected Mayor

Sadly, it's another case of Labour or Tory, same old story.

by Andrew D Pope*, 23rd February 2023

At yesterday's Full Council meeting of Southampton City Council, councillors considered the budget proposed by the Labour-run Authority.

The budget papers presented to councillors contained dire warnings by the Chief Financial Officer John Harrison of a: 

"precarious financial position of the authority, the high level of financial risk currently faced and the lack of adequacy of reserves".

The chief legal officer also felt the need to remind councillors of their duties on behalf of the public and public money. Why did they need reminding? And aspects of the budget were kept secret. Why? It's our money that they are spending.

Reports have even mentioned that Mr Harrison warned that Southampton could face bankruptcy. Reserves of public money have been drained by profligate spending by councillors over many years and many budgets. When I was on the Council*, I raised many objections about spending, doing so behind the scenes, speaking at public meetings and via Southampton Independents campaigns.

Who Is On The City Council?

The majority of councillors are Labour. The Council also has Conservative councillors and one Liberal Democrat. There are no longer independent councillors. I was one of them but in 2019, I had had enough after eight years of serving the public (trust me, if you represent your council area properly and hold those in power to account, it can be very stressful)*.

Is Labour Credible with Our Public Money?

In short, no - not nationally and not locally. And neither are the Tories.

Today, the Leader of His Majesty's Loyal Opposition, Labour's Sir Keir Starmer has pledged that if Labour wins the next General Election his aim will be to make the UK the highest growth economy in the G7 group of industrialised nations. Labour has also promised to "give power away" to local councils such as bankrupt Croydon and elected mayors such as the soon-to-be-sacked Marvin Rees in Bristol and Police interviewee Joe Anderson in Liverpool.

Can Starmer's promises be believed? Not really, based on the evidence of Labour's record nationally and locally.

How credible can Starmer's promises be, given Labour's record in national Government and in local government? They are not credible promises. Yet the Tories have also now ruined our economy.

Can we trust Labour in power in our Council chambers? Not if you look at Southampton, or Croydon, or Bristol, or Liverpool and many other Labour-run councils.

Let us not forget that the last Labour Government led by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown bankrupted the nation's finances, with Labour Minister Liam Byrne leaving a note to say that "Sorry, there is no money left" and Labour's economic meltdown allowing the Conservatives to be elected to Government with the Liberal Democrats as their junior Coalition partners.

It is useful to look at the record of Labour in Southampton in managing the City Council's finances, and of the financial context of Government decisions. England has a highly centralised government system, unlike other countries like Germany, the USA and Australia that operate a federal system of government. The vast majority of power lies in Westminster, not in Council chambers.

Nevertheless, councils wield power over public money and large authorities control large budgets of tens or even hundreds of millions of pounds.

Labour councillors have been in power of Southampton City Council for every year since 2012, except for just one year when the Conservatives took control between 2021-22. The Conservatives were in power before Labour in 2012.

Therefore the City Council's budget has been decided by Labour councillors for 10 of the last 11 years.

Spending decisions such as wasting tens of millions on the Arts Complex, as investigated and published by Southampton Independents, were made by Labour councillors. Some of those decisions, including on the Arts Complex, were also backed by Conservative councillors. The current Leader of the Council Satvir Kaur and now Chief Executive Mike Harris were heavily involved in some of these decisions over this time. 

And as a Councillor, as shown in the minutes of Council meetings and on the Southampton Independents website, I questioned these decisions and neither Councillor Kaur nor Mr Harris could not or did not provide adequate answers on many occasions. They will be offered another opportunity in a right of reply to this article.

How Is The Council Funded?

The context for City Council funding is that Council finances depend not only on locally-gathered monies from council tax paid by residents and business rates paid by businesses, but also on Government grants from Westminster.

Who Has Been in National Government? The Tories, Mostly

The Tories have been in power since 2010, and have cut Council funding savagely. Conservatives and Liberal Democrats were in Government between 2010-2015, under the David Cameron and Nick Clegg partnership. Cameron took control briefly between 2015 and 2016 and resigned when he failed to lead the Remain campaign in the EU Referendum. 

Since then, our country's people have suffered serial failed Prime Ministers - Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and now Rishi Sunak.

Tory Government has brought us disaster after disaster including delaying and then bungling Brexit, their disastrous and in my opinion, near treacherous handling of the Covid-19 Pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis caused at least in part by disastrous economic management by Rishi Sunak as Chancellor, followed by the brief "lettuce" Prime Ministership of Liz Truss with Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng.

The Tories deserve to lose the next General Election. They already got battered at last year's local elections, including in Somerset where they lost control of the County Council. It looks like they will be clobbered again in May across England and various sources tell me that the Tories are not optimistic. Let's not forget the above - that Labour's record shows that they are not a better alternative, proven by their failures nationally and locally.

Does The Tory Government Let Off Labour's Failings in Southampton?

No, because the Council decisions over its large budget have also been the wrong decisions with the wrong priorities, and it has not just been the Arts Complex. It is carrying on, right now and in yesterday's Budget. This is why the Officer has issued this warning. It is his duty on behalf of Southampton's people and our public money.

So...Who (Again) Has Been in Power?

Yes, it's Labour or Tory, same old story - with the Liberal Democrats agreeing to cut Council funding when in Coalition with the Tories. Whether nationally or locally, these Westminster parties have let us down.

What Is To Be Done?

If only there was someone or a group of independent campaigners who knew about Council finances from the inside and could sort it out. 

Southampton Independents was originally formed precisely to do this. Our activity was paused between 2019 and 2022, with a watching brief operated by our co-founders on matters in Southampton. What we saw being done by Labour and Conservative councillors was deeply worrying.

There are City Council elections in May where all seats will be available. If you think you could be a Councillor, get in touch with Southampton Independents. We will provide advice and support.

And if that does not happen, it will simply be more of Labour or Tory and the same old story.

Southampton Independents

* For full transparency, Andrew D Pope was a backbench Labour City councillor from 2011-2015 and resigned from Labour to become an Independent councillor for Southampton Independents between 2015-2019. He chose not to stand for election in 2019. Andrew holds a Masters degree in Global Politics and International Relations from Southampton University.

Southampton City Council Wants You To "Celebrate" The Demise of City Reds Buses - And Nobody Wants To Mention The "M" Word

Southampton City Council
Facebook Page

"We have no current plans to increase fares but we must be mindful of the increase in our own costs due to the current high level of inflation" say Bluestar

by Andrew D Pope, 21st February 2023

Southern Daily Echo
"Fares will not be increased"

UPDATE (25/2/23): Neither Councillor Eamonn Keogh, nor Conservative Group of councillors, nor Liberal Democrat councillor, nor Bluestar have responded to our request for comment. We did ask.

The Labour-run Southampton City Council has asked members of the public to celebrate a "new dawn", in the almost Maoist China sense, of a monopoly in buses in Southampton, by going along for a photo opportunity at the Bargate. Yes, that's right, Southampton now has a monopoly for buses with City Reds going under.

Just a day before this "celebration", Labour Councillor Eamonn Keogh who is the Cabinet Member responsible for transport in Southampton, spoke on the Council's Youtube channel from Vincents Walk, near to the Bargate. Councillor Keogh that it was a "sad day" that City Reds had gone, but "fortunately" Bluestar would help bring "innovative" buses to the City. Opposition councillors from the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have been asked to comment. Councillor Keogh has also been asked for a response. There are currently no independent councillors.

What is a Monopoly and Why Should I Care?

A monopoly is when one company is the only one providing a product or service. In the UK, monopolies are supposed to be regulated and prevented by the Competition and Markets Authority. But not it seems, when it comes to Southampton's buses. Perhaps buses are exempt from competition? But not according the records of the CMA because previous investigations have been undertaken in other parts of England. And various Government guidance has been issued, for example here.

Monopolies are regulated because according to economists who believe in economic theory, and they would say that significant evidence supports the theory, monopolies can abuse their position. Customers can suffer, suppliers can suffer, prices can go up. Nobody can go to a competitor, simply because there are none. Whether this will happen with Southampton's buses remains to be seen. What is the difference between centralised state control, for example in China or the Soviet Union, and a monopoly run by an exclusive company?

Contrary to what many people believe, Southampton City Council does not own or run Southampton's buses. As I discovered when as a City Councillor I ran an Inquiry, and produced a City Council report, into buses and sustainable transport at Southampton General Hospital, the Council subsidises some routes ran by commercial bus operators with public money. Buses used to be run by councils, but that was a long time ago before they were privatised by the Conservative Government.

Now there is no market for buses. Passengers cannot choose between competing bus providers. It is now a monopoly. So what are the differences between public ownership in a monopoly and private ownership in a monopoly? Southampton passengers are about to find out.

City Reds Is Dead and Bluestar Is Now The Only Southampton Bus Company 

Yet despite its new dawn of a monopoly, Bluestar has not commented on the monopoly position that they now enjoy, despite being asked directly by me. Bluestar's parent company Go South Coast have also taken over other bus services in the South and West of England, when competitors have gone bust. 

When it became clear that City Reds was going to disappear, in January 2023 I contacted Go South Coast's Managing Director Andrew Wickham, whom I had observed praising Southampton City Council and other Council's policies on Twitter. This is strange behaviour for the managing director of a bus company. Mr Wickham has also backed the very unpopular Portswood Broadway closure being promoted by the Labour-run Council, in an email response to Southampton Independents.

Are Local Media Asking The Right Questions?

Nobody seemed to be asking the questions that concern consumers in a monopoly - and in this case let's call them passengers. If local media were asking, the answers did not seem to be being covered in a big way by local media outlets. Of course, any advertising revenue received from Bluestar would not tarnish the editorial or journalistic decisions by those outlets. Surely, those media outlets would always provide impartial and clear information for Southampton residents, regardless of the advertising revenue. 

The demise of City Reds has been covered, but the new monopoly has not. The word monopoly was not used in the above article in the Daily Echo (see top of article). Neither does another recent Echo article. And this BBC article, despite the BBC not being a commercial news organisation does not mention the "M" word either! So much for journalism in Southampton? According to the Press Gazette, a recent BBC review of economics coverage found a lack of knowledge and impartiality, so perhaps it is not surprising.

The Bluestar media release to local media outlets may have been caused by the questions that I asked them and not by any questions raised by the Daily Echo.  Indeed, the article above reads like a press release. I have asked Bluestar's PR agency.

Will Prices Go Up and Will Services Be Cut?

I asked Mr Wickham about Bluestar's new monopoly position in Southampton, with the question:

"What would your company say to passengers and citizens of our City to assuage any concerns that Bluestar might abuse its monopoly position?"

You may notice in his response below that Mr Wickham does not really answer my question on the monopoly. He does not even mention the monopoly but he does mention the demise of City Reds (First Bus). And he does not rule out price rises. You can draw your own conclusions from his response. 

"My team has worked hard to ensure people living and working in the area will continue to enjoy comprehensive bus services here from Sunday 19 February. We are also offering employment to existing Southampton First Bus drivers - with improved pay and conditions - to minimise the impact this decision could have on their livelihoods.

Our investment in a fleet of low emissions buses in the city means those who travel with us enjoy comfortable, convenient, journeys across Southampton - and we are looking forward to welcoming new customers over the coming months. I can assure local people that we will continue to look for ways to improve our offering here. 

We have no current plans to increase fares but we must be mindful of the increase in our own costs due to the current high level of inflation, so we will be monitoring this situation continuously and will react accordingly."

Bluestar has been receiving Government subsidies for fares. This will end. Will prices go up then? Will services be cut? Time will tell, especially when the City Council's celebration at the Bargate fades into irrelevance.

What do you think? Get in touch and tell us.

Southampton Football Club Doubles Commitment to Women's and Girls' Football

 

St. Mary's Stadium, Southampton
England versus Wales

Owners Sport Republic confirm long-term support for female football at Saints

by Andrew D Pope

Fans of the Southampton Football Club Women’s Team will be relieved to hear that Sport Republic, the owners of Saints (“The Club”), have re-affirmed their commitment to the girls’ and women’s programme at Saints.

A source close to The Club, who asked not to be named, told me:

“the club is investing over £2m into the programme annually.”

This reassurance and the doubling of funding from 2019 follows fans’ concerns over the men’s team struggling at the bottom of the Premier League, that there might be “a little bit of history repeating”, as Dame Shirley Bassey once sang.

Under previous owners in 2005, when the men’s team struggled, the women’s team was dropped and redundancies followed, including the sacking of Southampton women’s football legend Sue Lopez. Lopez was head of women’s football at Saints at the time.

Fans of the new Saints women’s team, which was started in 2017, did not seem to know of Sport Republic’s ongoing commitment and were fearful of the future, despite promising signs and progress up the leagues since the team rose, phoenix-like and twelve years on from the ashes of the scrapped 2005 team.

So as a fan myself and upon learning this, I did some research and found that unlike other football clubs in the Barclay’s Women’s Super League (WSL) and Barclay’s Womens’ Championship, the finances of the Saints womens’ programme were not transparent, at least according to the records at Companies House.

Records at Companies House submitted by the owners of The Club showed that while there was a separate company for girls’ and women’s football, it was a dormant company. Therefore it was not possible to see the finances of Saints women’s programme separate to the men’s team and the parent companies of The Club.

In other words, female football was completely financially dependent on male football.

The approach of Saints to their football company structures was in contrast to other football clubs in the WSL or Championship, who had already submitted separate accounts and returns for their women’s teams, with those returns being for separate companies for womens’ football. More information about female football can be gleaned from those clubs’ returns, but not for Saints.

There was a lack of transparency for Saints because the finances for the women’s team were not shown separately from the records at Companies House. Instead, they were bundled under the parent company or group of companies. Opacity instead of transparency.

The Club’s accounts at Companies House stated an intention to transfer the girls’ and women’s programme to the dormant company, at some unspecified future time.

That time has now come, my investigations have now discovered and as confirmed directly to me by The Club.

To get a reassurance for fans under this veil of opacity, I approached The Club for comment, to see if they could help. They were helpful.

A spokesperson for The Club, who asked not to be named but who agreed to be quoted, told me:

"Thanks for your message and interest in the women’s teams.

We have indeed transferred the women’s and girls’ programme to a separate legal entity as required by the FA, with this season (22/23) being the first season in that structure. 

Up to season 21/22 the revenues and costs were included in the Southampton Football Club Ltd results.  I’m afraid I’m not able to provide any detailed financial information on the women’s and girls’ programme other than to say the club is investing over £2m into the programme annually.

You are correct that the women’s first team was only recently restarted but the closure of the team pre-dates my time here I’m afraid and I don’t believe there is anyone at the club now who was involved with the women’s team at that time."

The Saints women’s team is relatively new. It was formed in 2017 and won Division 1 of the Hampshire County women’s league in its first season. In 2019, it was reported that The Club would invest £1 million annually to reach the WSL, according to Managing Director Toby Steele.

So not only has Sport Republic’s commitment remained. Spending has also now doubled from that time, I have confirmed directly with The Club.

Saints have risen dramatically since being formed in 2017. They are now in the second tier of women’s football, in the Women’s Championship.

In addition to the doubling of funding, Saints Women now play their matches at St. Mary’s Stadium in Northam, Southampton. St. Mary’s is the home of the men’s team too. In the 2021/22 season, the women played at AFC Totton’s ground on Salisbury Road in Totton, just over the River Test from the West of the City of Southampton.

During the 2022/23 season, attendances at St. Mary’s have boomed. Interest in women’s football has increased massively since the England team’s success at the Women’s European Championships. The Coach of Saints Women, Marianne Spacey-Cale, commented positively on “the boost” shortly after the win in July 2022.

Southampton FC are capitalising on the boom. I attended my first Saints Women’s match at St. Mary’s Stadium in 2022 and I am one of many new season ticket holders.

Thousands of other fans now enjoy the home matches and crowds are continuing to increase and to get louder at St. Mary’s.

New songs are being invented for the women’s team to add to the traditional “When the Saints go marching in!”, which is played by the Saints Brass band and sung at every match.

Some of the new songs are being invented by a dedicated supporters group that has grown substantially during the 2022 season.

Jude from the Southampton FC Women’s supporters group, which is affiliated to the Football Supporters Association (FSA), asked the owners at the recent Saints Fans Forum about their commitment to the women’s team.

And in their response to Jude’s passion for the women’s team and their success, the owners represented by Martin Semmens and Toby Steele, confirmed their commitment once again to the girls and women’s programme.

This commitment to the women’s team comes regardless of what happens with the men’s team.

So things are looking very bright for Saints Women, with them in third position in the Championship and firm commitments from Sport Republic to the future of the women’s teams and the future of the girls’ programme. And the supporters are being rewarded for their commitment to the women’s team with an increased media profile for female football, a voice for fans, matches at the same stadium as the men and trials of coaches to away matches.

It seems that there will not be a little bit of history repeating under the ownership of Sport Republic, at least when it comes to female football.

*Article reproduced with permission from Andrew D Pope's exclusive article on his Substack Blog.