Rather than put in anything resembling a decent performance in the last month of the season, Saints instead reach safety due to Ipswich and Sunderland being unable to put together a convincing enough series of results to stay in touch.
Now while for me, staying in the Premiership is an absolute bonus after the close calls we've had in recent years, there is a growing demand that the club look upwards. This is mainly due to the new ground, which can be clearly seen as a statement of intent by the club.
It's an excellent stadium, which should see us bring in the revenue which can be pumped into he playing staff and other club ventures. The support too, has grown to expect a bit more than seeing their side struggle at the bottom of the league. They expect ongoing improvements form the club as it enjoys being in the top division. Many of us can remember a great spell in the '80s when European was a definite possibility , albeit brief when we actually got there.
It wasn't that long ago this season, that certain fans were looking at a potential European place for the side. While this was unrealistic, Saints seem unable to make even midtable mediocrity their own. Whether it's ingrained in the players to do nothing when not fighting for their Premiership survival or whether it's in the structure of the club itself, something simply has to change.
Saints are little better than many of the clubs around them judging by the performances over the season, and it wouldn't take much to send us spiraling down towards the bottom. What we do have is a strong team and club spirit, a core of really talented players a fantastic set of fans which acts as an extra player.
Rupert Lowe wants to see Saints climb into that second tier of Premiership sides. Although we show glimpses of that potential, we are simply incapable of playing to a certain level of football week in, week on. This lack of consistency is simply because we're not good enough.
I think that currently the best we can expect from any season is 11th or 12th, which means we will always be looking over our shoulders with a couple of games to go. What Strachan has to do is push us forward. It'll be interesting to see who he brings in over the summer.
To begin with he signed Telfer and Williams, players who he knew he could rely upon to perform consistently. Both have achieved that, and more and have been excellent squad additions. Delgado and Chala we can write off for the season, and they weren't even Strachan's signings. Fernandes shows a few nice touches but I'm frankly unimpressed. Compare his performance with Marsden's in the same spot. Brett Ormerod could come good, it was a great ball across to Beattie for the goal against Villa. He works very hard and should improve, although he's a fair bit behind Pahars and Beattie in the reckoning.
Strachan brought in some excellent players to Coventry (what would we give for a Bellamy or a Keane!) and Southampton don't have the urge to sell them on as Coventry had. I'm confident that the correct players will be found.
There are a few areas in which we need to improve. In goal, although it would be difficult to find as good a shot-stopper as Jones, it would be fairly easy to find someone better at corners or at commanding their area.
The stop gap measure of Williams signing needs to be addressed. We have Tahar, who looks better going forward, and Monk, who looks a squad player at best now, in reserve, but I think we lack real quality here.
A commanding midfield player is needed. Oakley performs very well, with excellent passing but simply can't command a game or influence it when things are going against his team. Delap if fine going forward, but limited elsewhere. Svensson is probably our most attacking midfielder, but again, I expected a lot more form him this year. I think a lot of that is to do with the team he's in rather than the player himself. So while we should have the attacking talent and the passing, we lack the steel necessary to do well in the Premiership.
Marsden is the obvious choice to provide this solution, but I've practically given up hope of Saints finding an effective left sided midfielder so that's where Marsden should be used.
Oddly enough, I think that we should be fine as far as goalscoring is concerned. It wasn't that long ago I was slating Beattie for his finishing. That, and his overall game have improved greatly and he should get even better next season. He has also formed a very effective partnership with Marians Pahars and the two can look forward to a constructive next season, that should see them get even better. In the wings we have Ormerod, Delgado and McDonald, El Eyene and McDonald although the last three have are still youths. Plenty of depth there it would seem.
I think that any addition to the club should be to the first team. We have plenty of numbers in the squad and I'm tired of us picking up squad players and 'one's for the future.'
So in summary our summer targets should definitely be to add to the spine of the team, a central defender and a central midfielder. If we're lucky we may pick up a goalkeeper along the way, but he would have to be better than Jones.
Although that's only two or three players, and not the wholesale alterations some would advocate, I think it's more the attitude of the players than the players themselves which has to be altered. I hope Strachan is the man to do this. He was as disgusted as the rest of us after recent performances and I'm quite sure he passed those feelings across to the players involved.
That being the case, I hope I don't have to repeat these sentiments at the end of next season. By the time the '02/03 season comes round I'll have forgotten all this, be full of optimism and look ahead to Saints finishing in the top ten. Hopefully, next season Saints will deserve to be there. They certainly failed in that respect this time round.