Three years ago, Southampton Football Club were set the target by Chairman Nicola Cortese of reaching the Premier League within five years.   Under manager Nigel Adkins they romped their way through League One and the Championship and this season landed in the Premier League two years ahead of schedule.   No wonder their steep learning curve has left them confused. 

Now I haven`t said much about the Saints since the start of this season, partly due to my disenchantment with the Premier League with all its arrogance, its excesses and its rampant commercialism.   And I`ve not been helped by the antics of those  much vaunted representatives of the Premier League such as John Terry, Ashley Cole, Chelsea generally, Manchester United, the impossible Ferguson  and a collection of other assorted malcontents who deem it their duty to bring the game into yet more disrepute.

But I`m a lifelong Saints supporter - I go back to my first game at The Dell as a callow seven year old in awe of the 4-2 win over Derby County back in 1946, so it`s hard to shake off a concern for the club that chose me as one of its supporters.   Now I`ve just watched Saints draw 2-2 with Fulham (`There`s only one F in Fulham`) and so clamber out of the relegation zone having now garnered a mere four points from one win, today`s draw and five defeats.   Part of me should be worried about how the season will end - carry on like this and relegation could become inevitable.   Sack manager Nigel Adkins and not only will relegation become more probable but much of the goodwill I still show towards the club will disappear in a rage of condemnation.

But another part of me shrugs my shoulders, que sera, sera and all that and suggests that being so far ahead of schedule might just be a case of too much too soon and that what`s needed is a little patience, some stability and a good deal of understanding.   Either that or Southampton FC are back where they were all those years ago, occupying their default role of perennial strugglers in football`s grand design.   The Premier League likes to think of itself as the world`s football stage with clubs like the Saints being merely players in a game so far removed from the days of dubbin, Sloan`s liniment and half an orange at half time.   I`m therefore expected to like it but it`s stressful, becoming more than a little distasteful, even a little boring.... and I can do without it.