When you don’t support Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester, or Tottenham you spend a ton of time during the season biting your nails and speaking in tongues.
Saints (English Premiere League)
Saints avoid relegation with 40 points and look likely to finish 15th in the table. It was a wretched season for the Saints and I was at St. Mary’s for heartbreaks (plural) against Wolverhampton, Brighton, Watford, and Crystal Palace. The Palace match was the worst home defeat of the campaign and reflects their season in a nutshell- conceding late or not pressing for a second goal after an early lead.
The Saints were just wildly inconsistent this season and if it wasn’t for unexpected wins against Arsenal, etc. they would have found themselves in a proper relegation scrap. I only saw the Saints WIN at home 1 time this season and it was against a relegated Norwich in February under the lights. I had tickets for the Everton match but couldn’t get to St Mary’s after storm Eunice. The line ends 1W, 2D, 3L but if you include the pre-season loss and the missed match it was 2W, 2D, 4L. Ugly.
Morecambe (League One)
The mighty shrimps survive relegation and finish 19th in the table. I saw them win at home and lose twice on the road to Cambridge and Oxford. My friend is a Gillingham supporter and they were relegated to League Two. I saw Gillingham play at Portsmouth on April 23.
Metz (Ligue One)
Metz had a heartbeat until PSG thrashed them 5-0 last night. Metz is now officially relegated from Lique 1. I didn’t visit Stade Saint-Symphorien this season because of COVID-19 travel restrictions and scheduling. I can’t wait to see the Maroons again on the banks of the Moselle.
By the numbers…
- 17 Matches
- 7 Southampton Saints Matches
- 5 League One Matches
- 2 Championship Matches
- 3 Non-league Matches (Hereford, Barnet, Poole)
I saw two Championship matches- Fulham and Stoke. Fulham WON the Championship and have been promoted to the Premiere League. I saw them play Nottingham Forest. Forest will play at Wembley on May 29 against Huddersfield in a play-off final for promotion to the Premiere League. The Stoke match was memorable IF ONLY because I’m still humming “We’ll be with you“.
