IF CARLSBERG DID PITCH INVASIONS...

.....it would probably look like this.   These were the ecstatic scenes at St, Mary`s yesterday following Southampton`s 4-0 win over Coventry City, thus confirming the Saints` return to the Premier League after a seven year absence.

Late on Friday evening, I had a phone call from a mystery benefactor who wanted to know if he would see me at St. Mary`s on Saturday.   I explained that all my attempts to get a ticket for the game had failed, whereupon he offered me one, which of course I accepted with grateful thanks.   And so yesterday morning I had an early start to get down to Southampton in time to meet up with this stalwart of my Codger Crew and take my seat among the biggest ever crowd in Southampton`s 127 year history of 32,363 for the 12.30 kick-off.   Actually, it was less like a crowd, more a tribal gathering.

The convincing win, the confirmation of promotion and all the resulting jubilation were even sweeter as they came at the end of those seven years in the wilderness, with relegations, administration, dire straits and all.   And so now the big league awaits and with it the return of anxieties and concerns about the ability of the club to survive alongside the mega-millions, the mega-mercenaries and the mega-egos that inhabit the Barclay's Premier League.  And yet......

And yet, it`s worth reflecting on the fact that Saints` manager Nigel Adkins, one time manager of Bangor City, one time goalkeeper for Wigan and one time physio before managing Scunthorpe, has now achieved two promotions for Saints in successive seasons with his unique mixture of infectious enthusiasm and restrained determination.   Last weekend, Reading won the Championship title under the equally restrained Brian McDermott and two of last year`s teams promoted to the Premier League - Norwich City and Swansea City - have flourished under the quietly determined Paul Lambert and Brendan Rodgers.

So we may be seeing the beginnings of a shift in Premier League management style, from one of gum-chewing, barking, ranting, obscenity-driven megalomania to one which is calmer, more studiously controlled but nonetheless equally determined.  I can but hope and I know which I prefer.