There are some supporters who will consider this season a disaster if we finish below 7th and do not qualify for Europe, but they would be wrong.

Some football supporters judge success and progress by always doing better than the previous season in terms of League position, but that view apart from being very blinkered is often unfair.

Of course i like most Saints fans would prefer the club to finish higher than last season's 7th and again qualify for Europe, but if we fail to do that it does mean that we are going backwards or we are failing to progress.

As a cub we have to build ourselves foundations to build on and a third consecutive top ten finish would be very solid foundations, indeed it would be only the second time in the club's history that we would have managed three consecutive top flight finishes in the top ten.

Yet some are screaming blue murder because we are only 9th in the league even though we still have a great chance of if not achieving higher but of maintaining this position.

These people have forgotten where we were two years ago and indeed for the decade previously and beyond that, they now expect instant success and seem to have forgotten just how hard it is to achieve even what we have done these past few years.

So if Saints can finish in the top ten of the top flight for the third consecutive season this will be the only the second time we have managed that feat, the last time being in the club's golden period of the late 70's early 80's.

Back then we finished 8th in the old First division in 1979/80, the next two seasons saw Kevin Keegan then the European Footballer of the year in our team and in 80/81 we finished 6th and then in 81/82, 7th.

That was truly a golden period for Saints in the League, we could not manage better than 12th in 82/83 post Keegan, but then in 83/84 we were 2nd and 84/85 5th.

These two top ten consecutive finishes are the only other time that we have managed this feat.

So to put what we could achieve this season into perspective, last season's 2nd consecutive top ten finish was only the third time in our history that we had managed to achieve that, if we make it three in a row this season then this will equal our best ever run of top flight finishes and be only the second time we have managed this feat.

So why are people up in arms and talking about lack of ambition at the club, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, yes perhaps we have under achieved as a club in our many top flight years, but the fact remains that at the moment we are enjoying as good a spell in the top flight as at any other time n our history.

It could also be said that it is a lot harder to finish in the top ten than it was a decade ago, certainly harder than it was 30-40 years ago, nowadays six of the top ten places are virtually bolted on and very few clubs manage to claim one of the other four places with any consistency.

So some Saints supporters have to take a reality check, the club has now built some great foundations, anywhere in the top ten this season will confirm those foundations and give us a great springboard to move forward next season.

Some supporters scream about giving the manager assurances that money will be available to spend etc, again we have proved over the past two summers that as a club we are willing to invest in the playing squad, why should it be different going forward.

We have the foundations of a squad now, we have to use those foundations to keep moving forward and keep building a club that can slowly but surely establish itself as a leading club outside of the big six.

Saints supporters need to appreciate the strategy in place for the club and not panic everytime something goes wrong, this season has not lived up to our hopes and expectations, but we are still 9th in the Premier league and the season is far from over yet.

Photo: Action Images

SanMarco added 11:55 - Mar 8 I don't think it is about 'reality checks' - modern life is very much about the here and now, the world wide web didn't even exist during our 'golden period'. Those of us old enough to look back on past successes with such nostalgia probably do some romantic editing of history anyway. We came second and then 'only' fifth and after that it was 'downhill' all the way - so maybe not much has changed after all. For younger generations I think there is less patience, however sensible this article is (and I agree with most of it - still a blindspot on the impact of mass player sales though), many will need convincing that 7th down to 10th with several less points is 'progress'. If we thing in 10 yr blocks we have made incredible progress, 5 year blocks the same. I agree that those are the time periods we need to judge things on but it aint easy when we don't seem as good as last season or indeed the season before that. Events this summer are going to be crucial, more important than what we do for the rest of the season in my view.

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saintsnutcase added 12:16 - Mar 8 Nick -- You are right, it is difficult for Saints to finish in the top 10. But we have underperformed this season, given the squad we have. We have been unlucky with injuries and suspensions to our best players -- Forster, Rodrigues, Austin, Wanyama etc. But several of our top players have performed way below their best (Mane, Tadic, Fonte, Pelle) and only Targett has come through from the youth system in the past 2 seasons. And I don't understand these prolonged periods of poor form that we seem to suffer all the time, which must reflect on the manager to some extent. It has definitely been a disappointing season overall.

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JGH added 12:44 - Mar 8 I think that finishing in the top ten despite a pretty poor (and hugely inconsistent) season reflects just how far we've come and that we have a great platform to tinker in the summer before giving it another real go next year.
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BoondockSaint added 14:02 - Mar 8 It would be a success only because of where we are now. We could easily slide far down the table if we don't get results in the next 3 games and others below us do. Part of our disappointment comes from Leicester's success. We look at them and think "It could have been us..." Except they play hard all game long, score a goal when they need to, aren't intimidated by big teams and crush the lower teams like they should. With the big teams in chaos, this was the year Saints could have done very well, if they could have just beat the teams they were supposed to. We threw this chance away Nov to Dec. I agree with nutcase, RK has to take some of the blame. The mentality of the team all season has seemed to be "If we score one goal, it should be enough." and now that attitude has become "Mid table is good enough."

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stmichael added 14:03 - Mar 8 9 points less than this time last season is a significant step backwards. Dress it up how you like but its most definitely not progress.
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pintsizedsaint added 14:04 - Mar 8 I agree with the article and all these comments - spot on. If you take a narrow short-term view then - yes - anything less that 7th will be seen as 'not progress'. Of course, if we were being true purist fans aligned with the concept of football being a competitive sport, then anything less than Champions (or a trophy winner) should be considered as disappointing! However, given where we have come from, if we can establish ourselves as a consistent top ten finisher in one of the most competitive leagues in the world, then i would count that as huge progress. And the fact we are not even considering the benchmark to be 'not being in a relegation dogfight each season' goes to show just how far we really have come! Onwards and upwards.

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pintsizedsaint added 14:10 - Mar 8 BondockSaint - not sure i can agree with you there regarding team mentality. Surely the team mentality is to win every game (after all that is what they are paid for). This article is about fans' mentality and perception.
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saintinexile added 14:21 - Mar 8 'We came second and then 'only' fifth and after that it was 'downhill' all the way - so maybe not much has changed after all.' That's what sport/football is all about. There's only one way from the top and only one team can win.
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SaintPaulVW added 14:29 - Mar 8 Just need to avoid another long summer of the will they/won't they go yawnfest, get JRod and Austin fully fit and things should look good for next season. Having most of the defence missing early season really got us off to a bad start. Unless things collapse in the last 9 games and I'm sure they won't, overall we've not gone backwards. Definite progress in how Cedric, Clasie, VVD and Romeu continue to fill their predecessors shoes a bit better each week, admittedly some are much further on than others. We seem to have gone a bit backward in attack though. Mane and Victor need to be told to cheer up, sign up or s*d off as they have gone backwards slowly all season.

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SaintBrock added 14:31 - Mar 8 There is a gathering complacency amongst fans and the coaches that we are a really good side that is under-performing, which is quite dangerous for our future. The table doesn't lie and after 29 games it is becoming harder to justify this complacency. The reality is that we don't seem to know our best starting line up,that very few players deliver consistently week-in, week-out and scoring goals has become almost beyond our ability irrespective of personnel chosen or system used. If we do not fav dup to the fact that we need a wholesale clear out of journeymen players and re-build around the one or two true world class players we have things will just get worse and next season could be one hell of a struggle. We need a fresh intake of new talent in the summer and not just leftovers from the Dutch and Portuguese leagues. Of course we cannot keep players here against their wills and the loss of talents like Schneiderlin, Lallana, Shaw and Clyne was always going to diminish us but we cannot either keeping bleating that we now have a much stronger squad in depth. It's not numbers we lack it is quality with only Bertrand, van Dyke & Romeu even looking the part of PL players worthy of a top six side. Realistically we are likely to end up 13th with the horrendous run of fixture coming up and where will that leave us next year as a starting point of we duck the vital life saving surgery that is very more clearly needed.

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SaintBrock added 14:34 - Mar 8 PS. I am sick to death of Apple's auto-correct process that runs reasonable prose into google-de-gook, so apologies to anybody trying to read my rant above.
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saint22 added 15:46 - Mar 8 What's ironic is that once again this summer we are going to need a CB, a proven striker and a DM
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aceofthebase added 20:01 - Mar 8 For over a season we have played a very poor unattractive style of football. Hardly ever an attacking string of passes. We surrender territory as soon as we gain a lead. We have played a high proportion of our games with players struggling to play in the premier league, and that cost us points. The good news is that these new players are beginning to learn the ropes. I for one do not see any progress, mind you I wasn't expecting any this season with our in/out transfers. The good news is that we will not be relegated and that is something we should be thankful for. Talk of Europe has been hilarious, we would be the joke side as we cannot play possession football and we cannot score goals. We have had a few results that have luckily gone our way but the Bournemouth game truly showed how poor we have become. A few lucky results doesn't make us even an average side, Luck has played it's part in our reasonable league position, thank goodness we are no longer in a relegation scrap because the way we are playing it would be downhill all the way. To all you optimists out there just remember how we used to play, stylish, mesmeric and with flair. It's not like that now.

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Ali_Diarea added 20:14 - Mar 8 Thanks to our academy and upgrades to facilities etc we continue to bat way above our average when you look at revenue, capacity of the stadium, size of fan base, global reach etc etc long may it continue! The downside is our best players, coaches and successful managers will always get snapped up by bigger clubs, we have to continue to cope and replace with youth and untried overseas players. Because of this every season is going to be a step in the dark until the first team gels so any top half finish should be celebrated and two fingers up to bigger clubs below us like Newcastle, Sunderland and Aston Villa.

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TeamCortese added 22:22 - Mar 8 I think the solution to our club progressing is very simple....DON'T SELL YOUR BEST PLAYERS! Nick you can dress it up as much as you like but the simple reality is if you sell your best players and replace them with mediocrity you don't make progress. Man Utd, Arsenal and Liverpool are no stupid. They see quality and they buy it. That's how you strengthen. When you consider the success of West Ham and Leicester one must concede this season is a missed opportunity imo. The simple reality is after the so-called big clubs (Arsenal, Man Utd, Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Spurs) we were the best of the rest. If the board don't back Koeman over the summer with at least £100 million to spend then we'll be lucky to avoid a relegation scrap next season.

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SaintBrock added 12:56 - Mar 9 £100m is stretching it quite a bit but you are right TC that we cannot stand still and do nothing whilst everyone else is spending like there is no tomorrow. Leicester may prove to be a fluke but solid progress being made by WHU, Stoke & Everton could shut us out of the top 10 for ever. This season has got to be judged a failure by any measure and as you say because of the unpredictability of the PL this season a really good opportunity missed. I doubt the club has the bottle to tough it out with unsettled players simply because the three £ signs will come up in their windows (eyes) every time during any negotiations. Personally I'd like to see players made to fulfil their contracts to the bitter end but it won't happen.

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