Monday 20th July 2009

Now that I have the Internet at my new house it looks like I have no excuse to not update regularly, so after a long time away, here goes..

For the first time in years the dark cloud above St Marys has been lifted and Saints fans can finally be optimistic for the future. After coming within a whisker of going out of business, Swiss billionaire Marcus Liebherr bought Southampton FC a couple of weeks ago, making them the fourth richest club in the country behind Man City, QPR and Chelsea.
As a Saints fan I can tell you that it feels great to be supporting a club that isn't threatened with financial difficulties and ran by people who appear to put the fans first. It might take a few seasons to get back into the Premiership and I'm not expecting any huge multi million pound signings for a while yet, but its good to know the new owners have a long term plan for Southampton.
Saturdays friendly against Ajax at St Marys was a celebration that the club had survived administration and despite the fact the team were clearly outplayed by much superior opposition, as the 4-1 scoreline reflects, there's a sense of relief there is still a club here to support.
Aside from the takeover being completed successfully, perhaps the key moment of the summer for Saints will prove to be signing captain Kelvin Davis to a new three year contract. Davis was in great form against Ajax on Saturday, keeping the score fairly respectable like he did on so many occasions last season. A few fans in the Northam sang his name non stop in the second half when he took his place in goal behind he stand and I would like to think the plaudits he's received from the fans has played a key part in keeping him at St Marys.
Graeme Murty is on trial at Saints and I would love to see the former Reading captain tied down to a full time contract. Murty spent 11 years at Reading and is being rewarded for his commitment with a testimonial at the Madejski stadium tonight. Saints could really do with his experience at right back.
Only time will tell if Alan Pardew will be a success at Southampton, but his record at third tier level with Reading speaks for itself, as he took them to a play off final in 2001, then the following season achieved automatic promotion. His presence in the stands at St Marys on Saturday went down well with the fans and the majority of us have faith in him.

Apologies about the lack of political content in this post, but with summer recess starting in Westminster tomorrow I don't expect much news from Parliament for a while. In the mean time, I'll be focusing on Saints as they complete their remaining pre season friendlies before kicking off League One against Millwall on August 8th.