The Cat

I like the unfussy players like him who go about their business quietly and get on with the job. Smart on the ball, nice weight of pass and links play together. The settled midfield 3 of him, Downes and Aribo is one of the main reasons we got promoted. They were excellent in the last 4 games of the season and completely stifled the opposition midfields.

Of course I didn't. What I also didn't do was come out with stupid statements a month before the end of a season when we were in a good position to go back up. There can be a middle ground, not everything needs to be so polarised. Loads of owners make mistakes, their teams go down and come back up. SR were new owners. They admit they got it wrong last season and have now rectified it at the first attempt.

Plenty of recent comments on the Sports Republic thread stating things like "fucking terrible owners", "worst owners in a generation", "I wonder what Dragan's next inevitable fuck up will be, probably extend Martin's contract", "woeful owners", "fucking pathetic owners" etc etc. People making themselves look like bellends when they literally have no clue about running a club.

Are they suddenly not the worst owners of all time or whatever people were saying?

I'm not aware of any Saints related lyrics to Freed From Desire, was just the standard ones I think. https://www.songlyrics.com/gala/freed-from-desire-lyrics/

Aribo, bo Always believe in your soul You've got the power to know Your're indestructible Always believe in Aribo

Had a great season. Would be interesting.

O'Hare would be a solid signing. Cheap, good, technically excellent, looks like he'd fit the way we play and in a position we need a player.

Conversely I'd say that he has been given a lot of credit for his performances, especially because he's not played for so long.

Hard to tell in text when you're not hearing how they say it. The quote was in the Guardian report. https://www.theguardian.com/football/article/2024/may/26/southampton-promoted-to-premier-league-by-beating-leeds-in-playoff-final

I didn't leave specifically because the band had come on, I'm sure they were alright. To be fair I've probably seen worse at those venues as well!

No, we toddled off once the players had left the stage. Nice of the players and manager to sign autographs, especially in that state!

There's some covers band on, a lot of people leaving now (me included)

Stephens

Downes comes up, Jack Stephens says "fuck West Ham" hahaha

Adam Blackmore saying how they are off to rest for pre season and "no drugs tests today" hahaha

Award for most hammered Saints player goes jointly to Adam Armstrong and Che Adams

Count of people wearing the Russell Martin playoff t-shirt here so far is one.

Fans are always going to criticise managers, that's pretty much a given whoever is in charge. What got my back up was the over the top abuse, people calling him all sorts of names. There's nothing wrong with saying "I thought he should have played x or subbed x on earlier" or "we should play forward quicker" etc but it's utterly uncalled for to post some of the stuff people did. Funny then that those who did will no doubt brush that off with a simple "maybe I was wrong" post. But that doesn't excuse some of the ridiculous name calling or banging on about his beliefs or lifestyle choices because they aren't the same as yours.

VID20240526170626.mp4

Not sure this one worked out too well!

Was one of the players celebrating the most at the end. Seem like he genuinely loves being here and is no doubt very excited to be guaranteed to be playing in the Premier League next season. Another young player who we will get to see grow in a Saints shirt. Plays a very calm game for a defender his age and has all the attributes to go far in the game.

Have to say it's testament to his professionalism that he's kept himself sharp throughout a season where he hasn't played and then come in and performed so well at the end of it. He played a massive part in keeping us up under Hughes before slowly losing a bit of form and being in and out of the team. Sometimes you just need a bit of experience to guide a team to their goal and he gave that to us over the last month or so. Like others I expect he will leave and, if so, this is the perfect way to do it.

In an interview on the highlights last night Martin said something about this group of players and what a great way it was for them to finish up because this is football and we all know players move on and others come in. As you say we will be busy. I think one of the most important things is to keep that spirit in the squad and to make sure we recruit players who fit into that and won't upset it.