Back down to the Championship......

[Dalek2003]

Sky have ruined football. The Premiership is a ****ing joke. Completely unsustainable in the current form.

 

MODERN LIFE IS RUBBISH !

[LeBizzier69]

Relegation battle gives excitement, nerves, adrenalin. I don't want us to go down, but the excitement of a battle would be a welcome change.

[Suhari]

Relegation battle gives excitement, nerves, adrenalin. I don't want us to go down, but the excitement of a battle would be a welcome change.

 

I look back with fondness on singing my lungs out when we beat Sunderland away in a mid-week game at Roker Park...... about '95? Proper relegation scrap.

 

Not sure I'd want it every year though!

[Ultimatt]

Sky have ruined football. The Premiership is a ****ing joke. Completely unsustainable in the current form.

 

Next deal will be bigger if Amazon bid as expected.

[Lets B Avenue]

I look back with fondness on singing my lungs out when we beat Sunderland away in a mid-week game at Roker Park...... about '95? Proper relegation scrap.

 

 

April 97.

 

Celebrated in a half empty Newcastle night club, with the DJ playing " O When the Saints" and then asking a bemused Tino Asprilla to sell us some coke.

[Dalek2003]

Relegation battle gives excitement, nerves, adrenalin. I don't want us to go down, but the excitement of a battle would be a welcome change.

 

I have been warning of this for years, only to be pelted with rotten tomatoes and insults.

[Matthew Le God]

Relegation battle gives excitement, nerves, adrenalin. I don't want us to go down, but the excitement of a battle would be a welcome change.

 

 

Relegation battles happen because you are losing a lot of games. How is that exciting?

 

"Boring" mid table seasons happen because you are winning more games than the teams in a relegation battle. That is what I'd prefer to see for entertainment!

[Supersubpuckett]

So you want to go down to an apparently more competitive league so that we win more games.........and then get promoted back to this horrible, frightening and scary premier league?? Or are you going to suggest we have some sort of 'southampton way' veto on promotion so we can go on this perpetual loop of second tier success?

[CB Fry]

Relegation battles happen because you are losing a lot of games. How is that exciting?

 

"Boring" mid table seasons happen because you are winning more games than the teams in a relegation battle. That is what I'd prefer to see for entertainment!

Relegation battles are exciting, obviously they are, but only if you stay up at the end of course.

 

Winning a vital game in a relegation season is infinitely more valuable, exciting and more of a pure adrenaline rush than winning one in a mid-table plod season. Dellhurst Park would never be a memorable game in our history if we were 12th at the time.

 

I wouldn't expect a emotionless human android like you to possibly understand how actual people with feelings behave, so carry on with your computer games.

[ericb]

Relegation battles are exciting, obviously they are, but only if you stay up at the end of course.

 

Winning a vital game in a relegation season is infinitely more valuable, exciting and more of a pure adrenaline rush than winning one in a mid-table plod season. Dellhurst Park would never be a memorable game in our history if we were 12th at the time.

 

I wouldn't expect a emotionless human android like you to possibly understand how actual people with feelings behave, so carry on with your computer games.

 

There is literally no point arguing with him, he's proven time and again he has absolutely no understanding of what being a football fan is, you may as well shout at a spreadsheet on your computer

[Graffito]

I can't see us putting a run of wins together so I'm hoping we lose more games so we can have a relegation battle and we can all get excited.

[ALWAYS_SFC]

I can't see us putting a run of wins together so I'm hoping we lose more games so we can have a relegation battle and we can all get excited.

 

[DJ_TOAST]

Relegation battle gives excitement, nerves, adrenalin. I don't want us to go down, but the excitement of a battle would be a welcome change.

 

Those were certainly heart pumping / fun days back when a Le Tiss last min goal would save us, sadly I don't think we have the players with any oomph about them to make a relegation battle exciting or save us.

[doddisalegend]

So you want to go down to an apparently more competitive league so that we win more games.........and then get promoted back to this horrible, frightening and scary premier league?? Or are you going to suggest we have some sort of 'southampton way' veto on promotion so we can go on this perpetual loop of second tier success?

 

 

The PL is not horrible, scary ot frightening it's over hyped and for most clubs rather boring and pointless. The measure of the PL can be found in that fact that finishing 6th-10th is celebrated like some of major trophy by fans outside of the big six.

 

It's the paradox of the system as a fan you hope to see your team reach the PL (and if they do you've no doubt enjoyed some good times on the way) but once you get there and the initial euphoria wears off you find it becomes rather stale.

 

I would enjoy a season being one of the best teams in a lower league more than bumbling around mid table of the best league but there is no way to guarantee that.

 

At the end of the day I want to watch my team play on a Saturday afternoon (and win) the league they're in is irrelevant if they are doing well at that level.

[hypochondriac]

The PL is not horrible, scary ot frightening it's over hyped and for most clubs rather boring and pointless. The measure of the PL can be found in that fact that finishing 6th-10th is celebrated like some of major trophy by fans outside of the big six.

 

It's the paradox of the system as a fan you hope to see your team reach the PL (and if they do you've no doubt enjoyed some good times on the way) but once you get there and the initial euphoria wears off you find it becomes rather stale.

 

I would enjoy a season being one of the best teams in a lower league more than bumbling around mid table of the best league but there is no way to guarantee that.

 

At the end of the day I want to watch my team play on a Saturday afternoon (and win) the league they're in is irrelevant if they are doing well at that level.

Yeah this basically. The problem is we would most likely be cr*p in the championship as well so given that choice I'd rather be rubbish in the top league.

[once_bitterne]

Speak for yourself. I'll remember reaching a Wembley final and the San Siro, the victories at Old Trafford/Anfield/Stamford Bridge/Arnhem, the Liverpool 3-2, Sunderland 8-0, Arsenal 4-0, just as well as any of the great days in the lower leagues.

 

Telling the the majority of your memories there from finishing mid-table in the PL are from the Europa League and League Cup.

[DuncanRG]

Telling the the majority of your memories there from finishing mid-table in the PL are from the Europa League and League Cup.

 

The majority are actually league matches if you want to tot them up, and there are more that I could add. Europe and cup runs are by-products of being a good top flight team.

 

At the end of the day I want to watch my team play on a Saturday afternoon (and win) the league they're in is irrelevant if they are doing well at that level.

 

This is what we did for three years in the Premier League and it's what I want to see again. I can understand the longing for relegation if you're one of the clubs that's been rubbish for years and clearly has no ambition beyond staying up (Sunderland et al), but that's not us. A few more years of crap football and maybe I'd reconsider, but we're not resigned to that fate in the slightest. Anyway, no relegated club has a divine right to succeed in the Championship.

Edited 21 November, 2017 by DuncanRG

[Dalek2003]

The majority are actually league matches if you want to tot them up, and there are more that I could add. Europe and cup runs are by-products of being a good top flight team.

 

 

 

This is what we did for three years in the Premier League and it's what I want to see again. I can understand the longing for relegation if you're one of the clubs that's been rubbish for years and clearly has no ambition beyond staying up (Sunderland et al), but that's not us. A few more years of crap football and maybe I'd reconsider, but we're not resigned to that fate in the slightest. Anyway, no relegated club has a divine right to succeed in the Championship.

 

Our ambition was always, firs and foremost to stay up. Anything else was simply a bonus.

[saint1977]

The majority are actually league matches if you want to tot them up, and there are more that I could add. Europe and cup runs are by-products of being a good top flight team.

 

 

 

This is what we did for three years in the Premier League and it's what I want to see again. I can understand the longing for relegation if you're one of the clubs that's been rubbish for years and clearly has no ambition beyond staying up (Sunderland et al), but that's not us. A few more years of crap football and maybe I'd reconsider, but we're not resigned to that fate in the slightest. Anyway, no relegated club has a divine right to succeed in the Championship.

 

Quite. Look at Sunderland (and Leeds, Saints 05-09, Norwich etc). Coleman is going to need to be buying and selling players every week in Jan to given them any chance of staying up. Villa aren't ripping it up either and they've spent tonnes (with a Chinese owner who does actually seem to have money to invest and wanted to buy SFC). Everyone looked at Newcastle but they had Benitez and a stupidly good side for that level.

[ALWAYS_SFC]

Our ambition was always, firs and foremost to stay up. Anything else was simply a bonus.

 

Don`t you ever bore yourself with the same horsesheet time after time

[doddisalegend]

Quite. Look at Sunderland (and Leeds, Saints 05-09, Norwich etc). Coleman is going to need to be buying and selling players every week in Jan to given them any chance of staying up. Villa aren't ripping it up either and they've spent tonnes (with a Chinese owner who does actually seem to have money to invest and wanted to buy SFC). Everyone looked at Newcastle but they had Benitez and a stupidly good side for that level.

 

You can find clubs for both sides or the argument Newcastle have bounced back a couple of times, as have Norwich, Westham went straight back up the season we got promoted. You need an owner prepared to gamble a bit and put money toward buying a championship winning side and weed at the dead wood. I still think we could have gone straight back up to the PL had we kept Peter Crouch in the summer of 2005 rather than selling him.

 

A lot of the clubs getting mentioned like Villa and Sunderland have been in decline and a mess for years before they were relegated or like Wigan were punching way above their weight I don't see saints in that category.

[Nordic Saint]

Our best position in the 2nd tier ever 2nd; our best position in the top flight 2nd. We've been relegated from both twice. Also, this ******** about THE top six ithat other teams can't compete with is defeatist rubbish. The top six is different every year. We finished in it as recently as 2016 and Leicester were 1st. As long as we're in the top flight, we have a better chance of winning cups, qualifying for Europe and attracting exciting players to our club. Both our attendances and social media fugures show that we have the 12th biggest fanbase in the country, and we have been in the top flight for 41 of the last 50 years. To be relegated to the 2nd tier of football would be a massive underachievement for a club of our size. I don't recall any of our fans being unhappy with the Permier League at the end of the 2015/16 season. The root cause of dissatisfaction now is that our team is underperforming badly and the same thing could happen in the Championship with an even poorer standard of football. Saints are a top flight team. It's where we belong.

[Dalek2003]

Don`t you ever bore yourself with the same horsesheet time after time

 

It is an opinion different from your own, but equally valid.

[Matthew Le God]

Our ambition was always, firs and foremost to stay up. Anything else was simply a bonus.

 

Don`t you ever bore yourself with the same horsesheet time after time

 

It is an opinion different from your own, but equally valid.

 

"Equally valid"... really?

 

It is meaningless dribble to say "Our ambition was always, first and foremost to stay up". Of course we want to stay up, every team in the league doesn't want to be relegated. Man Utd and Chelsea don't want to be relegated. To say a team's ambition is to stay up is meaningless... as it is blindingly obvious every team wants to stay up so means little when you say it endlessly on this forum for the last 11 years!

 

As ALWAYS_SFC says... do you not bore yourself Dalek2003? Pretty much all of your posts for the last 11 years are nonsense like this.

[Micky]

"Equally valid"... really?

 

As ALWAYS_SFC says... do you not bore yourself Dalek2003? Pretty much all of your posts for the last 11 years are nonsense like this.

 

Whilst I totally agree with you, to be fair, he is a Dalek. As I remember, Daleks had a very limited vocabulary anyway, some just limited to 'exterminate'. So he is progressing, although monotonously boring.

[OttawaSaint]

x years of "we're going to finish 17th mark my words"

 

When we finish higher than 17th "glad to have been wrong"

 

One day we finish 17th "ahhh haaaaa TOLD YOU!".

[Dalek2003]

Dalek's are consistent. Dalek's are relentless. Dalek's are never defeated. Dalek's continue in their quest regardless of time, a Dalek is not deflected.

[Saint Albert]

Dalek's are consistent. Dalek's are relentless. Dalek's are never defeated. Dalek's continue in their quest regardless of time, a Dalek is not deflected.

 

I promised myself I would never do this kind of thing but...

 

Daleks get possessives and plurals mixed up.

[hasper57saint]

At least there will be more Saturday 3pm kick offs.

[OttawaSaint]

I promised myself I would never do this kind of thing but...

 

Daleks get possessives and plurals mixed up.

 

Thank you. My eye is still twitching after reading his post.

[LeBizzier69]

The most annoying thing would once again hearing all those people say they didn't renew because they couldn't afford it any more, among other rubbish excuses that were used when we went down the leagues a few years ago. Just be honest and say you only want to watch PL football.

[Dangermouth]

I promised myself I would never do this kind of thing but...

 

Daleks get possessives and plurals mixed up.

 

Thank you x2. Any chance we could ship him over your way and see how his wheels fare on the snow and ice?

[melmacian_saint]

Never. The championship is a joke of a league, and if you want overpriced look no further. In the PL, you have to prepare to play another team and build a good squad that just needs to keep evolving, otherwise you are found out.

Down there, you play the league and gamble on everyone's ups and downs, not your 46 matches, meaning you have to sign similar players and set yourself up for a physical game where it's very hard to try something different. You either buy the team of the year or it's a couple of years of muchness.

[BoscombeScummer]

Last game of the season, 1994, I think. Upton Park. Pitch invasions. Utterly electric. Le Tiss scored a free kick. Edge of the seat stuff. Final score 3-3. We stayed up. Best football supporting experience bar none(so far).

[Gemmel]

I promised myself I would never do this kind of thing but...

 

Daleks get possessives and plurals mixed up.

 

And this particular dalek is a freaking teacher and in charge of our kids education. #prayforthekids

[STEVEADAMS]

So is the plan to get relegated, then win lot s of games but only just enough to finish 7th so we don't get promoted to the premier league. Then repeat?

 

Some people are off their heads here. Would you really rather we were relegated?. What then, perhaps the club will end up In fincancial difficulties again. It was bad enough the first time, I have no wish to go back there.

[Maggie May]

I

And this particular dalek is a freaking teacher and in charge of our kids education. #prayforthekids

 

Kids'

[East Kent Saint]

I don't want Saints to get relegated in case we do a double relegation again , Sunderland showing worrying signs , the report on last nights loss says they lacked creativity and penetration up front as well showing vulnerability in defense while having periods of good play and possession they never looked like scoring during those periods , sound familiar ???

[Ashby Saint]

I don’t want us to go down, but if we do I won’t cry about it. I’ll get to see more games as I live in the Midlands. Also financially we are in a much better place.

[ericb]

Down there, you play the league and gamble on everyone's ups and downs, not your 46 matches, meaning you have to sign similar players and set yourself up for a physical game where it's very hard to try something different. You either buy the team of the year or it's a couple of years of muchness.

 

Pretty sure this isn't what you're going for but that sounds pretty good to me, you make it sound a competitive league that's totally unpredictable, less boring sideways passing and more upsets.

 

"Equally valid"... really?

 

It is meaningless dribble to say "Our ambition was always, first and foremost to stay up". Of course we want to stay up, every team in the league doesn't want to be relegated. Man Utd and Chelsea don't want to be relegated. To say a team's ambition is to stay up is meaningless... as it is blindingly obvious every team wants to stay up so means little when you say it endlessly on this forum for the last 11 years!

 

As ALWAYS_SFC says... do you not bore yourself Dalek2003? Pretty much all of your posts for the last 11 years are nonsense like this.

 

Yeah imagine repeating the same thing over and over despite a complete lack of facts, i mean it's like saying our ambition was the top four or we're a bigger club than Everton or that we'd sell out a 50k stadium

[Matthew Le God]

Yeah imagine repeating the same thing over and over despite a complete lack of facts, i mean it's like saying our ambition was the top four or we're a bigger club than Everton or that we'd sell out a 50k stadium

 

Utterly bizarre how you've convinced yourself I've said things I didn't.

[Nordic Saint]

Relegation battle gives excitement, nerves, adrenalin. I don't want us to go down, but the excitement of a battle would be a welcome change.

 

We are already experiencing that 'excitement'. Most bookies have us as 10/1 to be relegated and a couple have us

 

as short as 8/1. Personally, I preferred the excitement of competing at the top rather than the bottom and

 

qualifying for Europe in 2016. For me, 2015/16 ranks up there with 1968/69, 1970/71, 1980/81, 1983/84 and 1984/85,

 

as one of our most exciting seasons. Most of the relegation struggle seasons of the 90s, apart from the final 1 or

 

2 games when we survived, were drab, especially the Branfoot years, relieved only by the individual skill of Le

 

Tissier. This season, so far, reminds me a bit of the Branfoot era, except we don't have a Le Tissier. I really

 

don't think it's that exciting.

 

People in general tend to have a heightened sense of excitement when they are in their late teens and early 20s

 

and so those are the times they remember as being the most exciting. That's when their musical tastes and, more pertinently in this thread,

 

perceptions of what supporting Saints should be like are formed. For you it, it would seem, it was the 1990s and so

 

you remember relegation struggles as exciting times. For some others, it will be more successful spells in the

 

club's history. We're not all the same and that's not a bad thing.

[LeBizzier69]

I don't want us to go down, I just want us to be at least half entertained. As it stands, I'd rather pay my money for something other than the dross of the last year or so.

I liked the lower leagues for a number of reasons, more competitive games, more honest pro's, more of a club feel rather than a corporate money-oriented feel to it all.

Anyone who wants their club to go down shouldn't support them, but I want to go to games and be entertained....at least get the heart pumping a bit in the 90 minutes i'm there. I'll keep my season ticket regardless of what happens to us, as I did when we dropped down the leagues most recently. Doesn't mean I'm happy watching the turgid drivel we're being subjected to.

[Dalek2003]

A good relegation fight can be exciting, as long as we stay up at the end.

[Sidney Fudpucker the 3rd]

MODERN LIFE IS RUBBISH !

 

It really is. lol.

 

The Premier****e. A league where 'The battle for 4th' is hyped and talked up as if it's a big thing. Where else in life do you reward a team that finishes 4th with a place in a competition called 'The Champions League'. It's ****ing comical.

The Championship isn't much better. The purpose of a league is to reward the team that is the most consistent over a set period, so let's introduce a play-off system where the 6th placed team can get promoted ahead of the team in 3rd, who've really earned the right to go up. All the hard work over 9 months undone over two legs and a final.

Give me terraces, dodgy stadiums with pillars in the stands that obscure your view, open air toilets and a 3pm kick off on a Saturday. Those days were so much more enjoyable than anything that's served up today.

We live in a world where players with sleeves of tattoos, Bentley's and all the skill of Iain Dowie are paid millions. It's a ****ing joke. Rant over.

[Dalek2003]

It really is. lol.

 

The Premier****e. A league where 'The battle for 4th' is hyped and talked up as if it's a big thing. Where else in life do you reward a team that finishes 4th with a place in a competition called 'The Champions League'. It's ****ing comical.

The Championship isn't much better. The purpose of a league is to reward the team that is the most consistent over a set period, so let's introduce a play-off system where the 6th placed team can get promoted ahead of the team in 3rd, who've really earned the right to go up. All the hard work over 9 months undone over two legs and a final.

Give me terraces, dodgy stadiums with pillars in the stands that obscure your view, open air toilets and a 3pm kick off on a Saturday. Those days were so much more enjoyable than anything that's served up today.

We live in a world where players with sleeves of tattoos, Bentley's and all the skill of Iain Dowie are paid millions. It's a ****ing joke. Rant over. ��

 

Seconded !!! Oh to go back to the Dell, 3.00pm kick off, late November 1979, raining down on a swamp of a pitch and beating Birmingham 1-0 to go fourth from bottom.

[Lets B Avenue]

Seconded !!! Oh to go back to the Dell, 3.00pm kick off, late November 1979, raining down on a swamp of a pitch and beating Birmingham 1-0 to go fourth from bottom.

 

Wrong year. Wrong month and wrong position in the league.

 

Weather probably wrong as well.

[Saint86]

The majority are actually league matches if you want to tot them up, and there are more that I could add. Europe and cup runs are by-products of being a good top flight team.

 

 

 

This is what we did for three years in the Premier League and it's what I want to see again. I can understand the longing for relegation if you're one of the clubs that's been rubbish for years and clearly has no ambition beyond staying up (Sunderland et al), but that's not us. A few more years of crap football and maybe I'd reconsider, but we're not resigned to that fate in the slightest. Anyway, no relegated club has a divine right to succeed in the Championship.

 

Well said Duncan, the ones who want relegation or a relegation scrap are frankly being dullards. What they want is to win, and they're grumbling about supporting a team that isn't. They rather be **** (and win), than be good. Its a joke.

 

What fans want is to see saints playing kids, attacking football, and upsetting the big teams. That would keep the fans happy. Anything above 12th would keep the fanbase content with those things delivered. What we would love is what we've had since 2010 - 2016.

[Eggy]

would take league 1 over the championship, and the championship over the premier league any day. Affordable tickets, players not on the gravy train, 3pm kick off's and not having to wait on a phone line for tickets months in advance. small fish in a big pond or big fish small pond?

[Minsk]

would take league 1 over the championship, and the championship over the premier league any day. Affordable tickets, players not on the gravy train, 3pm kick off's and not having to wait on a phone line for tickets months in advance. small fish in a big pond or big fish small pond?

 

Feel free to pop along to the other end of the M27. I believe you should find a team playing in league 1 there............ I know my dad (now in his 80's) and many others, in those days, used to visit The Dell one Saturday and Fratton Park the next.

 

What is seriously weird, is anyone who would actually want their team to be relegated 2 divisions so that they get to attend cheaper matches and see more Saturday 3.00pm kick-offs.......

 

Here's a thought, how about going to cheer on Eastleigh, or Sholing, or maybe just pop along to your local playing fields of a Saturday afternoon - that would be even cheaper and with even fewer players 'on the gravy train'.