Here's a question for you. The the four clubs currently in the Coca Cola Championship who have NOT played in the third division since the start of the 1980s?

I'll give you Saints as a gimmee, but the others?

Step forward Crystal Palace, Ipswich and Norwich.

Of those, Palace were a third division side in the mid 1970s - indeed, they were when they faced Saints in the FA Cup semi final of 1976.

You don't need me to tell you that Saints and Norwich, both relegated from the top flight in 2005, could be going down to the third tier together in 2009.

When you look at it, it's quite surprising the amount of so called 'big' clubs that have tasted a spell in the third division.

Back in the 1980s Middlesbrough, Derby, Charlton and Sunderland all had a season there while Wolves slipped into the fourth division for two seasons.

And lest we forget, Pompey were in the basement division in the early 1980s too.

In the early 1990s Stoke, Birmingham and West Brom all tasted life in the third tier and Manchester City were there in the late 1990s.

And in this decade we've seen Leeds, Nottingham Forest and Sheffield Wednesday taking part in the Johnstone's Paints Trophy and the first round of the FA Cup.

But don't get me wrong, just because all those clubs found themselves out of the top two divisions doesn't mean it's Saints' turn.

It doesn't work like that.

Clubs get relegated for a reason, and Saints dropped out of the Premiership because of bad decisions taken at board level - the rotating door managerial policy and the selling of quality players to be replaced by lesser quality ones.

The same will apply again if the club get relegated again this season.

It's truly amazing to think that Saints were only relegated twice in the second half of the 20th century - in 1952 and 1974 - and now they could be going down twice in five seasons.

In a way it's a sobering statistic, but contrastly also one to send most fans scampering to the pub to drown their sorrows ...