When one ends up under the black cloud that is depression at this time of year, that which should be the greatest comfort and means of healing becomes unbearable. Translated to simple terms – where harvest season should be the happiest, most comforting time of the year for me, there’s partly a wish to be as far away from the countryside as is possible.
Simply because it becomes a case of So near and yet so far. Tractors flash by – often in convoy – yet it’s a world I just don’t feel part of anymore. It recalls the old Mental Health awareness from a few years back “You could be in the middle of 80,000 people in Croke Park and still feel like the loneliest person on earth”.
Or, as a dear, deceased acquaintance used to put it “You can’t be half pregnant”. In other words, you’re either in or your out. Yet, with the weather being as poxy as has been the case lately, the farmer within me cannot help but worry about those of the land who no doubt are behind on the harvest and/or have silage or hay still to get done.
Yet, earlier tonight, the re-appearance of soccer from the English Championship on the television heralded the arrival of what I always believe to be the first sign of winter. Before summer has even showed us the courtesy of paying a visit.
Around the time of the financial crash of 2008, phrases such ss “Too big to fail” were all the rage, until Lehmann Brothers went under in the US and brought the rest of the world economy down with them.
In football terms, the above line could also be affixed to certain clubs who have had turbulent chapters their long and storied histories. Rangers and Juventus notwithstanding. They dug their own holes.
But clubs like Aston Villa, Leeds United, the two Sheffield clubs, Newcastle United, Blackburn Rovers, Leicester City and Manchester City – yes, you did read that correctly – have had their spells away from English football’s top table.
To their immense credit, it was one of the wonders of the modern sporting world how Southampton managed to avoid getting their backsides caught in the bacon slicer for so long. That they did, however, eventually, had more to do with the changing demographics of the game than anything specific they did wrong. Where things have more to do with money than anything which actually transpires on a pitch.
As a result of which The Saints became known as a selling club. Players including but not limited to Kyle Walker, Virgil Van Dijk, Gareth Bale, Sadio Mane, Theo Walcott and Luke Shaw began their Premier League careers at Saint Mary’s and went on to varying levels of success there. Yet until most recently the red and white stripes always defied the odds.
Back in the day, their doing so was mostly down to the herculean efforts of the likes of Francis Benali and Matt Le Tissier. While in more recent times it has been another gifted midfielder, James Ward-Prowse, leading the fight against the tide for the admirable south coast club until most recently when the choppy waters pulled them under.
Now, for clubs who get relegated from the Premier League, things can go a few ways. On rare occasions, they bounce straight back, some take a few years to re-gather themselves and return to the top flight, some become yoyo clubs a la Norwich City, Watford, West Brom and Sheffield United.
There are, however, teams that drop out of the Premier League and fade into something of a footballing abyss. See Wigan Athletic, Bolton Wanderers, Hull City, Derby County and Swindon Town for reference in that category. So where do Southampton belong in that whole conundrum? Well, the fact that they have, for now at least, held on to Ward-Prowse will certainly boost their chances of adding themselves to the list of better outcomes for demoted sides.
Whether they will still have his services come the end of the current transfer circus is, firstly, debatable and secondly, crucial to how the rest of the season might play out for Russell Martin’s side. Something already underscored by how crucial Ward-Prowse was to their opening night win against an ascending Sheffield Wednesday who will have to tighten up considerably if they are to adapt to life at a higher level.
From a personal perspective the one seeing eye will obviously be trained on Darragh Lenihan and Middlesbrough. A rough start for Michael Carrick’s men today, but in the most competitive, unpredictable league in world football there’s still a very long way to go.
Leave a Reply