Watched Match of the Day last night. There were only three Premiership games on, because of midweek European clashes. But in the three games that were shown, no less than seven players appeared who, until a season or so ago, wore the red and white of Southampton.

In the Liverpool v Fulham game, Antti Niemi and Chris Baird were playing for Fulham, whilst Peter Crouch appeared for Liverpool. Sunderland`s 1-1 draw with Newcastle saw Kenwyne Jones and Danny Higginbotham playing for the Mackems, whilst Matthew Oakley was captaining Derby in a 5-0 drubbing by West Ham. Later today, doubtless Theo Walcott will appear for Arsenal, Gareth Bale for Tottenham and I`m sure one or two more will pop up in other fixtures.

Speaking of drubbings, whilst I mourned the departure of these erstwhile Saints players, my current heroes were on ther wrong end of a 5-0 drubbing of their own - away to the Owls of Sheffield Wednesday. They now have the worst defensive record in the whole of the Football League and whilst, until recently, this has somewhat been countered by a prolific scoring record, now even the goals have dried up. Any fanciful notions of reaching the play-offs (?plays-off?) again and gaining promotion back to the Premiership have, thankfully, been dispelled.

This is what the local Southampton paper made of yesterday`s events:-


(click to enlarge...if you must)

Now, Southampton FC were never truly mighty....but we have truly fallen from grace. It`s not so much the losing I mind too much - it`s the humiliation that troubles my otherwise peaceful Sunday, so I would be grateful for a little understanding. Unless you come from Portsmouth, of course. I guess the whole thing serves me right for daring to engage in mild criticism of `Sir` Alex and his teacups.