I'd say this is pretty spot on... http://thepremierleagueowl.com/pre-empting-southamptons-december-pitchforking/ DTLW
Coincidentally, I just finished reading that. A good synopsis of the situation. You can't criticise the press though. They are the modern day untouchables.
Very good. I particularly liked this little phrase that is an obvious dig at one media outlet who like to come across as whiter than White, "falling sky coverage"
TBF, it's kind of petty to blame the press. I think the majority view from the pundits was that this could go really wrong and Saints could get relegated. But ultimately, when table projections came out, most of them had us safely in the 12-15 range. Which isn't unfair really. There was an uncomfortably wide range of possibilities. There were plenty of Saints supporters who were way more negative about the team than the press were as a whole. You only have to look at some of the posts from this summer or --if you're a glutton for punishment-- on Saintsweb. So it does seem a little disingenuous to act like the press got it all wrong or were just trying to set up some kind of story when we knew the outcome all along. At any rate, the team is doing well. I'm just enjoying that, and I couldn't care less how the press portray it. I think the test will come in that holiday schedule where we play Chelsea, Man U in Arsenal in a week. If we can somehow get through that in good shape, we'll be the darling of the pundit world and rightly so.
Get beaten 3-0 by Manchester City, for example, and the Cortese lobby will be back, tossing around phrases like ‘false dawn’ and ‘reality check’ quicker than you can say ‘dream-wrecker’. This bit is very true, but what we really have to be careful of is that isn't the fans saying this as well. We could also lose to Hull and Leicester...these things happen, but we won't suddenly be a bad side. Koeman keeps trying to keep our feet on the ground, but he is struggling to reach us now. We have to remember that we are a good side with exciting players, but any team can lose games (see WHU v City for example) and you can lose them in a row, but I'm willing to bet we will still finish strongly this season.
I think Southampton fans need a sense of perspective. In the summer, when "meltdown", "exodus" and "crisis" were the buzzwords, there was a great deal of anguish in Southampton at the reporting of it. Well, that was because you all saw the word "Southampton" and became interested in the articles. Other teams' fans probably just thought "Oh, interesting" and moved on. Were you all hanging on the news coming out of West Brom? No. So I'd advise caution about becoming het up about how we're portrayed. Sure, a bad run of form will happen but we'll be the only ones really to take notice. A favourite quote of mine (one that's on my teenage daughter's wall to no effect) is "We would worry less about what others think of us if we realised how seldom they do." Vin
I do wonder how long it will take before ever single match report no longer mentions the 'summer exodus' we're a quarter of the way into the season & still it goes on. I bet lallana, lambert at el have been mentioned more in write-ups of oir games more than they have their own team's...
There's no doubt certain sections of the media seemed to relish getting stuck into us, and will do so again given the opportunity. I also believe that Cortese's people may have been actively briefing against the club during the summer. The public gets the press it deserves btw. Don't read the rubbish, and they'll stop printing it. Keep buying the Mail, for example, and keep feeding the monster.
The press will get things wrong, but I'm not convinced they have it in for us specifically...they just jump on the bandwagon. They don't mind someone bucking the trend because it gives them something to write about.
From the perspective of a Saints fan, so do I. It reflects almost exactly how we have perceived the press media to have behaved regarding Southampton FC. As for whether Saints really have been the whipping boys of the press, all one needs to do is go to NewsNow, for example, and pick any side other than Saints, go back through the pages, and you'll see that the media come down hard on that particular club as well. Agreed, there seems to be a special venom set aside for Southampton. We are the English football success story of the past 5 years, practically no competition. Saints have been lauded during their time as much as they've been criticised. It's when the criticism becomes pure invention that it really bites. By all means tell the truth, just don't invent.
Oh they'll be loving it. How dare a small club have ambitions, and actually threaten to break the monopoly
You tell us, you were the one whining about not getting much press coverage the other week - and saying how you were unhappy with a lack of coverage of Pompey becoming debt free.
Tbh, I don't really care about press coverage most of the time, just there are a few positive stories which occasionally I feel deserve some coverage. I don't give a monkeys what the media say about our transfer policy, or whether they predict us to get relegated, promoted or anything in between.
You clearly haven't see The Animal Olympics matey or you would realise just how talented the elephants are. That elephant is not precariously hanging on he is using the tree as a spring to throw him up into the air so that he does a double somersault with half twist and lands full weight and momentum on some fat arrogant turds otherwise known as a Man Utd plastics. There are so many of them he is sure not to miss. Let us hope your one of them. Come back next Tuesday after we have played you. It should be a much easier game for us given that you lot aren't any where near as talented as Man City.
