Match Day Thread The (Everlasting) South Coast Derby Tuesday 24/09/19 KO 7:45pm

Yes. Lots of glory. Winning the league is something relatively few teams ever do, even in comparison to promotion, your achievement will be etched in history and is more likely to be remembered than finishing 2nd and plus I'm not sure you even get a trophy for finishing 2nd.

 

C'mon Lapras, the only people that will remember it will be your fans, and wasn't Jackett getting stick earlier this season because your fans feel that for a club of your size you should be doing better in the third tier of English Football?.
You're not fooling anybody.

 

Do you get a trophy for horse punching?
Something else that few teams ever do either. Although you are not actually first to do it, so maybe only 2nd place for that but it is something that will be etched in history believe me.

please log in to view this image

 

I'm not sure there is really much more glory in coming 1st over 2nd. There was maybe slight disappointment that we lost out on first place to Reading in 2012, but we were too busy celebrating promotion because thats what we were playing for. Are you saying you would rather win League 2 then say, finish 6th in the Premier League as we did in 2016? Also I think there is a trophy for finishing 2nd, but nobody cares about it, same as nobody really cares about the 1st place trophy in the lower leagues. You care about promotion yes, but I'd be just as thrilled to get promoted by finishing 6th and winning the play offs as finishing 1st and winning the league. The end result is the same and that is what you are playing for and aiming for.

 

To digress slightly, there is a scenario where winning the league is the main aim, rather than promotion. For example, my village team Chilcompton Sports, a couple of seasons ago won the Somerset Premier League, which should have meant promotion to the Western League First Division. However, because of ground grading issues, promotion wasn’t possible, but they still celebrated quite hard!

 

Congratulations on your record breaking 4 goal derby win this season.


Oh hang on...

 

Absolutely.

You just say that because you finished runner up in both your promotion seasons. Yes promotion is nice, but winning the league is something else entirely.

 

Well to each there own. We were playing amazing football, had some world class talent and were regularly thrashing some of the best teams not only in the country, but in Europe. We came mighty close to qualifying for the Champions League and every week was a joy to watch. It's not even a consideration that I would choose another season like that one over winning League 2. You want your team to be the best they can be...and if Southampton were in League 2 winning it would be no massive achievement, it would just be another step on the ladder to climbing back up the leagues.

No I say that because nobody cares. Promotion is promotion, I would have celebrated promotion whether we had come 1st, 2nd, or up via 6th place in the playoffs. Because we were celebrating promotion not a league position. It's only some kind of significant achievement if your club had always been a league 2 club or lower. If Southampton sunk as low as League 2 it would be all about climbing back out. Winning league 2 would be less significant to the club than the promotion itself.

 

Justice for Luna day?

 

For comparison the Newcastle fan got a years prison and a 6 year ban.

 

****er should be made to watch endlessly looping recordings of the 4 nil from his cell.

 

That's all well and good, but what do you have to show for coming 6th? We played some pretty good football when we won league 2 as well, you have to play pretty good football to win a league. And I say again, I don't care who we're beating, so long as we beat them. The only real difference between beating Oxford United or Manchester United is that you get a bit more recognition from the media and other fans. As for the champions league, it's such a pretentious competition so I couldn't give a damn about it.

Sorry, I feel like this is coming off quite arrogant as you're dismissing the achievement of winning a league in a 46 game competition, competing against 23 other teams. It's as if you feel like any league that isn't the premier league is somehow beneath you. The fact is, whatever your level, winning a league is a tremendous achievement and you can't just dismiss it because you feel like you're too good for the league and you're one of the 'big boys' but of course, oh the 'little boys' can celebrate their little achievement, yay them (kinda condescending, don't you think?). Promotion is a good achievement too, but it's like the difference between getting a B or an A* in A Gcse exam, before they changed it to numbers. Would you tell your kid no-one cares that you got a 9 in your exam because all anyone cares about is getting a good pass (a 5)?

 

The bottom line is that we are generally punching above our weight and you have been punching below yours for a few years. A city your size should be in the Championship at least.

You're letting the South Coast down...

 

Who had the fourthought To bring this to the top of the threads? Is there something fourthcoming I don’t know about? Personally I think who ever it was, very forthright of them.! Oh how sad am I......?

 

In terms of something to put in a cabinet, obviously you don't get anything for coming 6th. We earned a lot of money, got personal club records and premier league records, amazing memories, and got into Europe the next season which lead to us playing Inter Milan home and away. That's history for Southampton. But I wouldn't be excited to boast about having a League 2 winners trophy either because whether you think it's arrogant or not, it wouldnt be an achievement for Southampton to win League 2 (even despite our lack of silverware). Oh and good football is relative too. Sure I've seen some good football in the lower leagues, but it's mostly of a much lesser quality and that includes the teams that win League 2.

No need to be sorry. I'm dismissing it for Southampton and even Portsmouth. Achievement is relative. I said it would be an achievement for smaller clubs, but it just wouldn't be for Southampton (and I don't think it is for Pompey either). I enjoyed it when Southampton won the JPT, I celebrated like every other Saints fan, but it's not a big achievement. I wouldn't be going around boasting if Southampton had of won League 1 rather than come 2nd because as I have said, the aim was promotion and to get back up the leagues. And when I look back on those fond memories, there is no disappointment that we came 2nd and not 1st. That was an A* season to me because our aim was promotion and thats what we got. The only case where 1st would be A* and 2nd A would be the Premier League because that is the aim, there is no promotion it's just finish as high as you can. And I would congratulate my child on what would be a significant achievement for them, because achievement is relative. I think we should just agree to disagree and if you think that's arrogant and dismissive of smaller leagues and teams thats fine.

 

There you go, I knew we could find something we both agree on eventually.

 

I can see we have very different outlooks when it comes to football and so we won't agree or probably even come close to agreeing. If you're happy doing what you're doing in the Premier League, and I'm happy with us winning more than we lose in the lower leagues, then I guess that's all that matters. That being said, I would like to be in the Championship, simply because one, we'd get to play a bunch of clubs we haven't played in a while which would be interesting and two, there's clubs with larger fan bases in the championship so they're likely to bring more away fans which will help to create a better atmosphere at the park.

But just an aside, a hypothetical question, if you had the option of winning the FA Cup and getting relegated or finishing about 16 or 17th and getting knocked out of the FA Cup in the 3rd or 4th round, which would you go for? As you might guess, I would go for winning the FA Cup every time.

 

I swear that I remember you making comments about getting out of that god forsaken league or words to that effect before you got promoted Lapras.

 

How can I stop this thread from coming up on my page?

 

Here’s a photo from 28th April 2012, the day we sealed our return to the Premier League after 7 years by beating Coventry 4-0, yes that’s 4-0. We finished 2nd to Reading in the Championship but the main goal was promotion. Would it have felt any better if we had won the league? Would there have been any more thousands of ecstatic fans on the pitch that day? Not a ****ing chance.