So here we go again, the football league season is barely three games old and already my proud chimes of hope, expectation, optimism blah blah blah have begun to deflate. Welcome to the life of being a Southampton fan.
After a few turbulent seasons the once well established Premier League side find themselves dabbling in the lower echelons of English football, currently sat bottom of League One due to a ten-point deduction and reeling after an embarrassing 3-1 loss to Huddersfield at the weekend. Oh dear.
“An inadvertent bi-product of relegation is more expectation; a belief that a relegated team should bounce back immediately”
Well, before the Gordon Strachan regime Southampton were constantly involved in the relegation dogfight, escaping by the skin of their teeth usually by means of a Le Tissier wonder strike to send the Saints fans into delirium. Only to watch their beloved Saints do it all again the following season. Strachan transformed Saints from relegation scrappers into a team that (on their day) were able to compete against the so called 'better' teams, even leading them to an FA Cup final and subsequently a brief affiliation with Europe’s elite in the UEFA cup, only to fall at the first hurdle.
Those were the days eh?
Strachan had built a decent team, comprising of Michael Svensson and Claus Lundekvam at the heart of the defence backed up by the simply awesome Antti Niemi. The likes of Matt Oakley, Chris Marsden and David Prutton (before he went mental) provided the legs in midfield. The firepower up front of James Beattie and then later on Kevin Phillips were always guaranteed to get goals while Anders Svensson (the likeable Swede, very much in the Luka Modric mould ) pulled all the strings and was the creative spark. Flimsy Frenchman Fabrice Fernandes (the left footed right winger, how very modern) was also key, a player who was as frustrating as he was creative. Even Rory Delap (possibly the most awkward midfielder you will ever see) would put in a good shift from time to time. Ah, mid-table security had been achieved, lovely.
Fast forward to the present day, the picture has very much changed. This sad demise could be attributed to a whole host of factors; a list in fact which is comparable in length to the amount of managers to have occupied the hot seat in the past few seasons. Whether it’s due to the aforementioned managerial merry-go-round, the constant shuffling of the boardroom or the financial insecurity coupled with the fact that we have become a “selling club” (either flogging our home grown talent such as Theo Walcott or Gareth Bale or profiting from players who have been reinvigorated during their time on the south coast, such as James Beattie or Peter Crouch) I'm not sure. But none of those factors can have helped really, can they?
Regardless, we are where we are. An inadvertent bi-product of relegation is more expectation; a belief that a relegated team should bounce back immediately and I was once of this opinion. Sometimes it happens. Leicester City bounced straight back after relegation to League One (annoyingly at the helm was Nigel Pearson, former Saint’s boss who’s contract was not renewed despite keeping us up, nice one!). However sometimes it doesn’t happen.
On a more optimistic note, Alan Pardew is the right man for the job and with Southampton’s financial situation now assured, the foundations are in place (not forgetting that we still have an excellent youth system, a great stadium and a fiercely loyal fan base). In Richard Lambert, Saint’s have acquired a proven League One goal machine and persuading Kelvin Davis to stay was the ace in the pack. After so many seasons of frustration, disappointment and acquired pessimism, the only way is up. It has to be. Successive relegations are unthinkable though sadly not completely improbable. Only time will tell.
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