Well they said we wouldn't be in this division for long

By Pete Berkeley Monday, April 3, 2006

The following is a right tale of woe of a club I just don't recognise anymore; I just feel the need to have a rant – Wingfield style!

There are plenty of clubs of similar size to Saints who now find themselves away from The Premiership having spent many seasons in the top flight and feel they have a divine right to be up there; Leicester, Coventry, Derby, Sheffield Wednesday and of course Nottingham Forest to name a few. Indeed larger clubs such as Newcastle and Manchester City have been where we are and recovered.

'Burley is kidding himself if he thinks we will be challenging for promotion next season'

But none of these club’s respective declines have been as dramatic and depressing as we have endured over the past 20 months. It is really beginning to look as though we are going to be playing at this level for years to come.
It is clear that this downturn in fortunes began the day Gordon Strachan was allowed to leave. Relations began to turn sour after WGS allegedly requested £4 million to spend in the summer of 2003 following the FA Cup final appearance and 8th place in the league. He had apparently identified particular targets needed to push on in domestic and European competition. Rumour has it that the main target was Steed Malbranque who was available for a fee of £2.5 million; a player in the best traditions of the club, but then what does Rupert Lowe know about the club’s traditions. The requests were turned down.

Those figures appear small beer against the backdrop of the loss of Premiership football.
Monday night’s inept display against Watford really bought home how far down we’ve come. Without wishing to knock George Burley when the real cause of our fall is far more deep-seated, he is kidding himself if he thinks that we will be challenging for promotion next season. His radical overhaul of the squad has left us with an over dependence on loan players that will have little incentive to sign for the club during the summer break. Yet again a lack of continuity beckons with the inevitable results.

This season’s relatively healthy season ticket sales have obviously been down to the general belief that Saints would be challenging this season; supporters did not want to lose their seat if we were successful in a quick return – a thought process encouraged by Saints appalling marketing campaign last summer. We can anticipate a marked downturn in gates next season and given that the current board have no track record of ‘speculating to accumulate’, then funds will continue to be in short supply.

For me the most depressing aspect of recent events is not necessarily the decline in status of the club but the abandonment of everything that made the club such a joy to support over the past 4 decades.

THIS IS A PERSONAL OPINION AND DOES NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF LONDON SAINTS