The Run In, Relegation Edition

[Libby]

Agreed.

You're not losing many games so you'll end up picking up more on average than the others imo - mixed in with say 3 wins.

Agreed West Brom are bloody awful atm although Swansea looked buried not long ago.

There are an amazing amount in the mix and it will be interesting to see how things go.

Palace: look in real trouble. If Zaha doesn't come back soon they're doomed. Puncheon has ligament damage too.

Stoke: are **** but have some good players so you'd imagine will survive.

Newcastle: good manager but not not a good team. You'd think they'd survive but they could easily go down.

Huddersfield: Won a few recently but its tough not looking at them as a relegation favourite.

West Ham: they're actually not very good and have gone down before with better teams but you'd expect them to just have enough.

Brighton: another likely candidate. Not sure they have enough.

Bournemouth should be fine now.

The problem being we need 3 wins from 9 after 5 in 29... Two of which came from West Brom!

I've got faith that our squad is good enough but we undoubtedly have the poorest manager in the league.

Back to back matches against Newcastle and West Ham coming up now and we'll know a lot more after them games.

 

[Sharpe*]

The problem being we need 3 wins from 9 after 5 in 29... Two of which came from West Brom!

I've got faith that our squad is good enough but we undoubtedly have the poorest manager in the league.

Back to back matches against Newcastle and West Ham coming up now and we'll know a lot more after them games.

You will.

Even after that though a lot can happen. If a team say wins last few games then there is a good chance they'll survive.

I expect lots of twists and turns.

 

[Libby]

Well I was there and there was no booing around where I was sat. The atmosphere definitely picked up after Redmond’s equaliser IIRC.

So in the opening game of the season after our best league finish in 30 years, we needed a goal before it 'picked up'?

Does that not prove my point that we're not great at being supportive for the sake of being supportive...

 

[Libby]

You will.

Even after that though a lot can happen. If a team say wins last few games then there is a good chance they'll survive.

I expect lots of twists and turns.

Agree there for sure

 

[Saints_Alive]

The best way I can describe the relationship between the fans and the team at SMS is that the former have fallen out of love with the latter...

 

[Libby]

The best way I can describe the relationship between the fans and the team at SMS is that the former have fallen out of love with the latter...

I think it's what happens when a team stabilises itself in the PL. The fans become less important to the club and are treated as such. We become 'customers' not 'supporters' and people understandably resent that.

 

[ChilcoSaint]

So in the opening game of the season after our best league finish in 30 years, we needed a goal before it 'picked up'?

Does that not prove my point that we're not great at being supportive for the sake of being supportive...

We were a bit **** in the first half though! Going a goal down at home to Watford wasn’t exactly what fans were hoping for was it?

 

[Archers Road]

What is the best atmosphere you have all seen at St Mary's?

I remember MK Dons in the JPT semi the whole stadium was rocking. Absolutely rocking.

v Coventry was good too.

In the recent Premier League era I can't think of any games that came close to those.

Vs Spurs, January 2003, FA Cup. 24,000 there and the joint was rocking.

After that, Walsall in 2011 and Coventry a year later.

 

[Libby]

We were a bit **** in the first half though! Going a goal down at home to Watford wasn’t exactly what fans were hoping for was it?

I'm sure the team weren't hoping for it either, but you know what? **** happens.

It's the most competitive league in the world and if the support are going to throw their toys out of the pram at the slightest set back then to be blunt then they deserve everything that's happening to them now.

By the way I'm sure the team was hoping that the fans wouldn't turn on the team 45 minutes into the new season either, particularly months after a top 6 finish.

 

[Libby]

Funnily enough, if we go down I expect matchday atmosphere to improve even if we aren't challenging for promotion.

 

[ChilcoSaint]

I’ve lost track of where this discussion is going to be honest. Can’t be arsed with arguing any more.

 

[Archers Road]

I think the big difference is in 2005 we knew we had a weak team (relative ot the rest of the league) who regardless of results were generally putting in 100% every game.

This season we know we, on paper, have a reasonably good team, who appear not to be putting 100% into every game (they probably are putting in 100% but not necessarily in trying to do things the fans appreciate).


It's easier to encourage an underdog to overachieve than it is to encourage a 'favourite' to get out of a slumber

Allowing for the way the PL has changed, we probably had a better team in 2005 than we do now.

The current lot have a lot more heart imo, but we lack a spark because the ability is limited. The passing is slow, the movement is poor, we have a desperate shortage of natural finishers. That may be coaching, but that certainly isn't the whole story. We have sold our best players summer after summer, and are not blessed with great footballers, currently.

 

[HarryTipper]

Vs Spurs, January 2003, FA Cup. 24,000 there and the joint was rocking.

After that, Walsall in 2011 and Coventry a year later.

That was my first cup game. Definitely the best atmosphere I've seen at St Mary's.

 

[Saints_Alive]

Funnily enough, if we go down I expect matchday atmosphere to improve even if we aren't challenging for promotion.

Me too, I think that we were sold an unrealistic dream by the club during the Cortese years and when things inevitably evened out and we reached our ceiling, some fans heigtened expectations were not being met. There is no doubt the football side of the club has been very badly managed this season, but the discontent started last season what we were still doing relatively well for our status.
If we do go down, there will be a regrouping and our identity as underdogs will be reaffirmed and any success will be greeted positively.

 

[Libby]

Me too, I think that we were sold an unrealistic dream by the club during the Cortese years and when things inevitably evened out and we reached our ceiling, some fans heigtened expectations were not being met. There is no doubt the football side of the club has been very badly managed this season, but the discontent started last season what we were still doing reletively well for our status.
If we do go down, there will be a regrouping and our identity as underdogs will be reaffirmed and any success will be greeted positively.

The only way I can see it being different is if we have really big problems with Gao.

 

[Schad]

Me too, I think that we were sold an unrealistic dream by the club during the Cortese years and when things inevitably evened out and we reached our ceiling, some fans heigtened expectations were not being met. There is no doubt the football side of the club has been very badly managed this season, but the discontent started last season what we were still doing reletively well for our status.
If we do go down, there will be a regrouping and our identity as underdogs will be reaffirmed and any success will be greeted positively.

It might be different if it was an inevitable evening-out. The fact that it has happened rather abruptly and has coincided with some truly strange decisions by our board (and a lot of hollow statements about our intent that clash with our actions) has certainly exacerbated matters. It doesn't feel like we're reverting to the mean; it feels like we have been undercut by the very people tasked with leading us forward.

I also cannot emphasize enough: outside the top six, there's no such thing as "our status", for good or bad. Financially we're on pretty level footing with everyone else. Above them, often. There are no real structural barriers to finishing around the European places every year.

The flip side is that there's no permanent advantage to being in that realm; you can easily fall from being 7th to getting relegated in a season.

 

[King Grimlock]

The best way I can describe the relationship between the fans and the team at SMS is that the former have fallen out of love with the latter...

This was bound to happen, if you keep moving on your best players then any connection with that team lineup goes as well. It's difficult not to think that our current crop are only here for so that they get a big payday move to a "big" club.

 

[Saints_Alive]

It might be different if it was an inevitable evening-out. The fact that it has happened rather abruptly and has coincided with some truly strange decisions by our board (and a lot of hollow statements about our intent that clash with our actions) has certainly exacerbated matters. It doesn't feel like we're reverting to the mean; it feels like we have been undercut by the very people tasked with leading us forward.

I also cannot emphasize enough: outside the top six, there's no such thing as "our status", for good or bad. Financially we're on pretty level footing with everyone else. Above them, often. There are no real structural barriers to finishing around the European places every year.

The flip side is that there's no permanent advantage to being in that realm; you can easily fall from being 7th to getting relegated in a season.

Well personally, I was perfectly content to finish effectively "best of the rest" and reach a major Cup Final last season given that we had only managed to achieve either a handful of times in our entire history.

 

[Libby]

Our status if you're going historically is basically a mid sized club who is sometimes upper second tier and sometimes first tier.

Same as about another 25 or so clubs.

 

[Libby]

Well personally, I was perfectly content to finish effectively "best of the rest" and reach a major Cup Final last season given that we had only managed to achieve either a handful of times in our entire history.

I said it at the time and I'll say it again.

If you're disappointed with 8th and a cup final then you're supporting the wrong club.