SMALL EXPECTATIONS

Unlikely though it may seem, the football season kicks off on Saturday. I feel I should be going to see Southampton`s first game at home to Millwall, but a couple of things put me off. It`s still the height of summer and today is one of the hottest days we`ve had for weeks and on Saturday the traffic going down to the south coast will be awful. It has taken me anything up to four hours to get to Southampton during August and so I`m not sure I will make the early 12.45pm start. In any case, the game is being televised by Sky, which is not always a good thing. It seems each time we are live on Sky we underperform. In fact, the last time I can recall a win on Sky was when we beat Spurs 4-0 in the early rounds of the FA Cup in the year we went on to the final at Cardiff.

Having staved off receivership, thanks to the club being bought by Swiss billionaire Markus Liebherr, Alan Pardew (pictured) has been appointed to manage the team, which might account for his worried expression. He has a good track record as a player and manager and he should have enough experience to haul us up to mid table obscurity as we have to start the season minus ten points, thanks to going into administration a few months ago.

Now normally, at the start of any season, there are expectations of success, promotion, winning the league and any other fantasy you care to mention. This season, however, things are different. We have reached the low point - bottom of the third tier of English football for the first time in 60 years - but there are no expectations of a rapid climb back to the higher echelons we enjoyed for three decades. Instead, there is a realisation that our recovery needs to be surefooted, step by step, so as to consolidate our position in this league as the first priority. Careful planning, shrewd investment and patient progress is what the fans expect, nothing more, as we rejoice in the fact that we still have a club to support.

I have pencilled in 19th September for my first visit to St. Mary`s this season (we have a hectic schedule of weddings, holidays and the like in the next few weeks) when the visitors will be Yeovil Town and I`m looking forward to being able to simply enjoy the experience once more, rather than being stressed about the outcome. After all, if The Times prediction is that we finish 15th, then there`s nothing to worry about. Is there?