Full Marks to Wotte ...

Usually in my experience the finishing tape would come into sight around about Easter.

My family and I have never really got over the first Easter we spent in Southampton when the team went into the three games which we played in those days over a long weekend in a safe halfway down position and came out after Easter Monday I think having drawn one and lost two fighting to stay up.

It was the first season where three teams were relegated and, sadly, we lost our battle on the last day even though we won 3-0 at Everton.

We needed another team to lose and because that didn’t happen we went down, albeit with more points than the club had stayed up with in two or three of the previous six seasons.

So Easter was never a time to look forward to but now with so much at stake, certainly in the top flight, the nerves are starting to show with a quarter of the season left.

Last season the top four, which is where everyone aspires to reach because of the European rewards it brings, were fairly obvious long before the season finished.

What has made it more interesting this year is the emergence of Aston Villa.

Should one of the big clubs left in the FA Cup also win the Champions League, European places next year could go down as far as seventh which would interest Wigan and Fulham.

Manchester City are also trying to justify their owner’s input and are starting a late run.

And then there is the battle to stay in that division.

Anyone watching the celebrations of the Hull players, staff and supporters when they pinched an injury time winner at Fulham this week can see how much it means.

Hull had started off after being promoted last season by beating big clubs such as Arsenal and Tottenham.

They were making it look easy until they started to stumble and the Fulham win was their first for 14 – hence the celebrations, which made it look as though they had won the World Cup.

The point being that managers know once a bad run starts injuries start to become more prevalent, some players drop their heads quicker when the team goes a goal down, and supporters lose faith.

But on the opposite side of things coming out of that type of period with a run of wins can have the opposite effect.

Timing is all important.

The Championship is very similar in so far as teams as far down as about ninth feel they can get into the play-offs whilst anyone in the bottom ten are continuing to look over their shoulders and at other clubs’ results.

It keeps the season alive longer, but I can tell you it often means more sleepless nights for managers.

Look what happened at St Mary’s when the bookmakers made us second favourites, even though at home, because Preston, in the play-off positions on that day, were the visitors.

And yet they were made to look second rate against a Saints team who obviously had got the message from the terraces.

This was followed up by another excellent performance and result.

And on occasions like this the management can’t wait to have another game which, fortunately, was not another seven days away but midweek against Ipswich.

The team probably couldn’t wait to get started and the result was wonderful, though ironically it has still not taken us out of the bottom three.

But undoubtedly the tide has turned.

It may have been the change in management but certainly common sense from a football point of view has now won the day in so far as the ideal team has always been made up of a mixture of experience and youth.

The best manager around, who will obviously win the league now, Alex Ferguson, proves this week in week out with his introduction at the right times of players such as Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes to inspire or settle down the youngsters around them.

Saints now have more than half the team around 30 years or over, a couple in their mid 20s and two or three teenagers.

For the first half of the season those teenagers were surrounded by other energetic, keen young players whose style was attractive, but not a winning one.

Full marks to the manager, Mark Wotte (left), now for altering the style to one which is more British and cleverly using senior players such as Jason Euell who, let’s face it, has not got the legs for a midfield player which was where he was playing.

He is now being played in a more forward position where he is an expert at holding up the ball and laying it off for the younger players.

The style, which was more across the field, has now been directed forward – and not only do the players look as though they are enjoying it, but also the supporters.

The fans must be given top credit for getting behind the team.

I would say now any other problems or arguments such as those expressed by shareholders at the AGM – which they have every right to do; let’s face it, they are only given one hour in a year to do this – should now all be put on the backburner.

Total focus should be on what happens on the pitch on matchdays.

This club should never follow Leeds, Leicester etc.

I remember not too many years ago being somewhere in Europe for television covering Leeds United in a top competitive fixture.

Look where they are now, and even with their massive support they have not found it easy to get back.

So with the finishing line in sight, let’s not only continue to support in the way we have but bring along a friend to fill those empty spaces.

Let’s go into Easter with a knowledge that the team is tucked into mid-table safety by then.

Just look at Doncaster, who not long ago were odds on to be relegated but have quietly gone on a wonderful run under Sean O’Driscoll.

Any sort of result at Birmingham today will keep the confidence going for two home games next week. And wins there I am positive would make us safe and enable us then to buy bigger Easter eggs and get to church on Easter Sunday to thank God ... instead of praying for his help.

Originally published on Saturday, March 7, 2009