Lows, Highs and Lows – A week in the life of a Saints Fan.

It is with great regret and devastation that I have edited my first blog about my beloved Southampton Football club. Hours before I was due to publish this, I received the tragic news that the Saviour of my club, Mr Markus Liebherr, had sadly passed away. My thoughts are with his family and friends at this sad time. My thoughts also go out to all the saints fans in the world that along with me had and still have a special place for Markus in our hearts.
RIP MARKUS, a true saint!

August 7th 2010
The day all football fans look forward to, a day when usually all teams start as equals, a day when after 30 seconds your team could potentially be top of the league or bottom!
The day starts with all the anticipation of the thrills of the coming season. Even after nearly twenty years of being a season ticket holder, I was still awake at a ridiculous time considering the hectic working week I’d had. Approaching the stadium I walked through the tunnel from Northam road, past the mural of Charles Miller and I felt like a young child in a sweet shop! Getting into the ground, tearing my match voucher and handing it to the chap in the turnstile and I felt at home. The slow walk up the stairs of the Northam stand, and finally I arrived at row W. A quick glance towards the drones of Green army fans followed by the greeting of all the familiar faces I hadn’t seen since May. Handshakes galore, stories of summer, and a deep breath and the season is upon us.
The game itself started at a quick pace, the left side combination of Harding and Dickson seemed to show some very good early promise. Saints piled forward, skipper Hammond flashed a couple of headers wide, the hard working Barnard chasing everything and new boy Butterfield looking a solid right back. Then for some reason, saints stopped the passing game and went route one. Connolly and Barnard weren’t able to get hold of the ball and Plymouth came back into it. Half time – Saints the better side, but how often have we seen that?
Second half kicks off; poor defending from Harding lets in Summerfield and its 1-0! Saints huffed and puffed after that. Morgan anonymous, Puncheon at his frustrating best. Lallana comes on and seems to lift St Marys. A couple of decent efforts, but at full time, its official we are bottom of the league!
Following the game, Saints were all of a sudden public enemy number 1 following the so called press ban. I think the people who took to criticising the club so soon into the season need to have a long hard look at themselves.
Yes we didn’t play well, but it’s only the first game! Grumblings from certain sections of supporters about Alan Pardews future and the running of the club started. A complete nonsense. Stick to the plan chaps and it’ll be a great season!

August 10th 2010
The league cup starts with a local derby. I’ll be honest I wouldn’t have been too devastated if I’d have missed this one. Yes I try not to miss games, but a game where I expected a comfortable win and response following the Plymouth result would not be one I’d be taking time off work for.
The cherries bought their full allocation which resulted in me having to move from my beloved block 42. My dad, brother and myself all ventured into the Kingsland to enjoy the game.
The match was always going to be about Saints breaking down the Cherries and trying to avoid being done on the counter. A couple of changes from the previous game, Chamberlain got a start as did the mercurial Lallana. The game started at a frantic pace, 0-0 at half time, with a few chances to both teams.
Second half was a lot better with saints taking the lead through a sublime curling finish from that man Lallana. Biggest cheer of the night was reserved for the Goal Machine Rickie Lambert as he made his first appearance of the season following injury. A ball from Lambert into the path of young Chamberlain and Saints ran out 2-0 winners following the youngster’s first senior goal. Chant of the night had to be “2-0 in your cup final”
A decent performance and plenty of optimism going into Saturdays match away to MK Dons.

A big thank you to all those that have been able to read this and if you have any comments, good or bad please get in touch.

All the best

Neel