TAKE THAT...

Relegated to the third tier for the first time in 49 years (I still remember seeing them in the old Third Division South.) Start next season with a 10 points deduction thanks to holding company in administration. Not permitted to sell season tickets for next year and unable to negotiate contracts with players whose contracts have expired even though most of them will want to leave anyway. (Odd isn`t it that the players who brought about our relegation now want to leave because they don`t want to play at the lower level.) Debts of £30million. No matchday income as season has finished. Unable to benefit from `windfall` following Birmingham City`s return to the Premiership. Staff wages being paid thanks to donations from supporters. All very depressing.

But Saints legend Matthew Le Tissier hints at an involvement in a consortium who might buy the club. One of my Hamburg-based grandsons wants a new Saints kit for his 8th birthday, so I`ll be off to the Megastore on Monday to inject some much needed cash into their tills. And in an act of optimistic defiance against a cruel, uncaring world I have put the Saints stickers back on my car. After all, now that the sceptre of Rupert Lowe has finally been removed, Saints are once again for life - not just the Championship. So there.