Southampton FC: A game of love and 8

Article by e-Southampton Correspondent Samuel Wilkes

The Beijing Olympics started at 8 seconds and 8 minutes past 8 on the 8th day of the 8th month of 2008. It is a mythical, lucky number in eastern cultures for bringing wealth and prosperity. And Southampton have 8th place in the Premier League nailed down with two games to go.

This can only be a sign that the club is destined to a prolonged period of glorious success. Perhaps Katharina Liebherr should check the yellow pages for local glaziers to craft the massively enlarged trophy cabinet that will surely follow. Saints fans should start booking up flights and hotels to Milan, the venue for the 2016 Champions League Final and Adam Lallana should start making room for the letter M-B-E at the end of his name.

Except that he won’t be at Southampton. Nor will Luke Shaw, Calum Chambers, Harrison Reed or the rest of the academy starlets. Or the kid serving over-priced bottled beer below the Chapel end, he is off to the glamour of Salford in a £40m deal. The portly steward in the Northam Stand has also put in for a transfer request to patrol the quiet, well-behaved fans in North London. Luckily Dani Osvaldo will be sticking around, keeping the peace and setting up a charity for retired pirates.

Funnily enough, some of these things may be made up. Deal with it, there is nothing you can do to stop me.

As long as nothing illegal is reported, journalists are free print as they wish. According to footballtransferleague.co.uk, The Guardian is the most accurate UK newspaper with a massive 35% accuracy. The Metro scrapes the bottom with 13%. With my C grade in GCSE maths, I make that to be the best getting two thirds of all rumours wrong while the worst offender gets nearly 90% wrong. If 90% of my work was inaccurate or wrong, I would be out of a job and into the dole queue quicker than you can say “Saints to sign Messi”.

What is for certain is that Mauricio Pochettino has guided Southampton to match their highest points total and position in the Premier League. With two games to go, fans should be on a high, celebrating the achievement and the way that it has been achieved.

As Chelsea have proved, winning for the sake of winning can be incredibly dull. As West Ham have proved, watching West Ham is invariably dull. If Saints pick up one more win, it will be the most wins in a Premier League season and playing the type of football that fans can be proud of.

At times it has been frustrating to watch and there is definitely a feeling that the team could have done more. Without the losses to Aston Villa, Cardiff, Norwich and the woeful winter, Saints could legitimately have pushed for a European place. But this season has been so much more than league positions. I have found the reason why people are hooked by soap-operas. It has been about drama and beauty in equal measures. Training ground bust-ups, four England internationals, boardroom shake-ups, Lallana’s goal against Hull, n ice-hockey chairman, PFA players of the year and Dani Osvaldo.

They say that truth is stranger than fiction. In that case, I am happy for journalists to keep pedalling lies so long as we get to watch the dynasty on the south coast. Players and managers come and go, fans and their clubs are for life.

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