I remember a New Year's Eve in Southampton. At midnight the air was filled with a terrible dirge, like witches howling with tooth ache. All the ships in the docks were sounding their fog horns to signal the New Year and it sounded like time itself was coming to an end, drowning beneath a mournful hymn to sorrow.
I have a soft spot for the Saints. I was at Uni in Southampton and as a kid traveled up once every season from Yeovil to watch West Ham play at the Dell. Remember Terry Paine, Davies, Channon, Keegan, Stokes, Osgood, Ball, Shearer and co? Remember that Cup Final victory over United? Remember how they were a permanent fixture in the top division?
Today their holding company went into receivership and the club has been placed in the hands of the administrators. If a buyer cannot be found, the club may cease to exist. That would be a travesty, a disaster. Every true fan in the land must hope that the Saints can find a saviour.
But looking beyond Southampton, this all has an uncomfortably familiar ring to it. We are owned by a holding company that is on a stay of execution which runs out in a little over two months' time. If we haven't been sold by then, we could well find ourselves in the same position as Southampton. Major car companies may cease to exist in the coming months, high street clearing banks may yet go to the wall, football clubs are small beer in the circumstances.
I can hear those fog horns wailing as I write. I hope they herald a new year and a prosperous future for both the Saints and ourselves. I hope, but I am by no means certain.
A fare enough article, but a warning of what? What sin are saints responsable for that deserves a 10 point deduction.
ReplyDeleteWhat if 3 clubs go into admin next year? what a farce the competion would be then
I hope a ten point deduction is all Southampton have to worry about. I support the points deduction for administration personally. In fact I would deduct points for failing to operate within budget over any three year period. Man City and Chelsea show how the game has been distorted by allowing clubs to spend spend spend regardless of revenue. We need to return sanity to the game somehow. But hopefully not at the expense of Southampton or ourselves. The warning was to ourselves, West Ham, by the way.
ReplyDeleteI don't relly understand what the ten point deduction is about. Southampton, like many other clubs, has a long history (founded in 1885), a good fan base (30,000+, sold out for every home game in the Premiership, and ahistory of producing finep players: Sir Alf Ramsey, Alan Shearer, Theo Walcott and the like. Some shitty chairman (in our case, Ruper Lowe) took over and through his personal greed got the club into financial trouble, so why exactly to the fans and players need to be punished?
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame to see any club disappear (unless it was the spuds), but I do remember Southampton surviving by the skin of their teeth almost every season at the hands of Le Tiss. Maybe they survived too long as a premiership club, and earlier relegation would have saved them from this undeserved end. who knows?
ReplyDeleteSadly Ian, footbal is now a business, we fans were left behind when the Prem was formed. I lived in the St Mary's area when at Uni and was amazed when I went to the New Dell the year we went down -bowyer was playing for us and got as much stick from Hammers fans as from the Soton fans. Hope you come through this, perhaps Keegan, Channon and co could dig shallow and help you out?
ReplyDeleteM2C! Welcome back!
More bollox from infantile semi literate naysayer.
ReplyDeleteDo for pity's sake grow up.
ReplyDelete