By Nick Mabey.
It’s very rare I can find no entry point for these articles. Normally, as you may have noticed, when I have nothing to write then I write nothing. But now is not one of those times. There’s so much to say and yet I’m speechless – so let’s just settle for…wow!
Southampton 2 Runaway Premier League Leaders and Champions League hopefuls 1. Three days later, with six changes in the team, Promotion-Chasing, Hollywood Media Darlings 1 Southampton 5. These results (against Arsenal and Wrexham respectively in case you somehow didn’t know) have propelled our form from great to stratospheric. Whatever happens next, for now let’s just say Wow with a capital W. After the season started so poorly, and toxic fan mutiny was present in the stands as well as the forums, it’s the stuff of dreams to experience. I’ve been wondering around in a sort of daze this week. How has it come to this?
I can’t keep writing Wow, despite that being all my brain seems capable of. But I do wonder what has brought about this transformation. If I was to offer any sort of analysis it would be a recipe made of the following ingredients:
Promotion of the manager from the youth team (to besecond youngest manager in the league)A January transfer window that introduced experience (Larin) and character (Peretz) and welcomed back consistency (Bree)Flexibles systems of play that don’t sacrifice identity but do make it subservient to effectivenessTeam spirit and togethernessThe snowball effect of confidence and momentum
Put like that it seems really simple. The only other thing I’d add is about the role of fans, which is often underestimated. The atmosphere against Arsenal was extraordinary. Even before the game started, in the pubs and on the walk to the stadium, there was a buzz that was hard to describe but somehow a combination of expectation, humility and euphoria.
The second thing that stops me from writing is because I can’t keep up with the pace of games and here we go again. By the time you read this we might well have played Derby and Blackburn. Two wins and it’s full steam ahead. Anything else and who knows? We are at that stage of the season where there are potential plot twists with every game. It kills my writing mood to feel like I’ll be out of date by the time it’s published.
The final reason for not writing at a time like is my old mate superstition. It’s irrational to believe that my writing these words can affect what happens on the pitch and yet that is what haunts me. If you’ve read in the past about lucky underwear, winter visits to ice cream parlours, and identical walks to the stadium, you’ll know how warped the mind of this fan can be (and I know there are many others like me). So, I’m naming it here. I’m writing this when all my fibres tell me to hold back from jinxing them team.
As football fans we can go through years, decades evens, without the situation Saints find themselves in now. Bang in form, unbelievably chasing three Wembley trips in the next six weeks, and daring to dream of a bright future after a calamitous last season that overran until November. So, at these times, enjoy the cliché and take each moment, each game, as it comes. Feel joy, feel hope, bask in the warmth of both of them knowing that, as with everything else, it won’t last forever.
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