So much football - so little time.   Where to begin?   Well, it`s a curious thing Saturday - as a Saints fan I am invariably glad when it`s all over so that I can put the anxieties away for another few days  but now and again a Saturday comes along that lifts the inbred gloom.  It doesn`t happen very often but yesterday was one of those days when the gloom is lifted by a win in the Premier League and I make the most of it by watching Match of the Day, recording the Sky highlights, buying the Sunday paper and scouring the internet for anything and everything that will confirm a precious victory as being real rather than an illusion dreamt up in the middle of the night.

And it all gets me wondering why I have this penchant for supporting struggling footnall teams.  Maybe I was born to it when my father took me along to The Dell to watch my first Southampton game in 1946: I was seven at the time and I still remember the game - Saints 4- Derby County 2.  So, from an early age, not for me the glory, the pomp and circumstance of supporting a `big club` but rather taking it for granted that my local club has accepted me as one of its fans.

And I suppose that might be why I also follow other struggling - or at least `interesting` - clubs if only to comfort myself with the notion that there are worse clubs than the Saints.  Clubs like Truro City. Fort William, Forest Green Rovers, Maidstone United, Gillingham and more recently Wimbledon.   There are other reasons, such as:-

Truro City :  based in deepest Cornwall, now relegated to the Southern League South Division but still having to make heroic journeys to away matches.  Yesterday, for example, they not only made the long joutney to Chesham in Hertfordshire but also had to fight their way through the Cornwall-bound holiday traffic.   It`s a wonder they made the  mile 560 mile round trip at all , only to come away with a narrow defeat which saw them drop from top of the league to third.   Still, it`s a long way to go - literally.

Fort William of the Scottish Highland League have a growing audience thanks to Facebook and other `social` media outlets.  They too make long journeys throughout the northern reaches of Scotland and invariably get defeated - last season they finished bottom of the league again with a goal difference of minus 226!  But this year looks a little more encouraging - only losing 6-3 away to Fraserburgh yesterday.

Forest Green Rovers have grown from a small village club deep in the Cotswolds of Gloucestershire to become a force in League Two, where they now rest in third place.  There rise has been admirable, thanks to their idiosyncratic owner who is into things green big time.  

Maidstone United are my local club - one I have followed for over half a century with mixed fortunes and it is where I took my sons to introduce them to the world of  football banter as we followed them from the old Gola League all the way up to the old Division Four of the Football League and back down again.

I watch Gillingham`s progress for two reason really.  One is that my neighbour is a passionate fan who has a season ticket at Priestfield and the other reason is that some years ago he and I went to see the Gills play the Saints in the days when Southampton were languishing in League One minus 10 points.  It was a miserable experience - the Saints lost and I got soaked through sitting in the open topped away stand.  

As for Wimbledon, they only feature because they currently have our street`s local hero Scott ("Buzzin` Six-Pack ") Wagstaff not only plying his trade as a pacy flanker in their ranks but he was actually captain of the team earlier in the week when they lost 2-1 at Ipswich, before losing 3-1 yesterday away at Sunderland.  Both difficulr places to go to though.

So it`s not all about glory, winning trophies, having bragging rights and all that.  It`s about waiting patiently in the uncertain hope that now and again a result will come along that makes a Saturday enjoyable and makes the week ahead that little bit easier to bear.  Which reminds me - Saints have Manchester United at home next week.  Nurse!!!!