S-Clarke

You can kind of see a quiver in his top lip as he talks about the parting of the ways being done in the right manner. It does make you wonder if Cortese has expressed some sort of frustration at our results towards the end of the season......you know what he can be like!

It's actually the Solent interview, in the tunnel after the game. A very, very emotional and stripped down interview. Not his usual cliches and a very open and thoughtful interview. Interviewer: ''Personally, what does it mean for you to be able to pit yourself against the best?" Nigel: ''I'm looking forward to it, it should be fantastic for this football club....(then he starts rolling off his CV...)I've been very successful as a manager. With the Sunday league team, with Bangor City where we won a couple of league titles. Then with S****horpe - getting them promoted and getting them abck again after relegation. Getting Southampton promoted at the first time from L1. There will be a time down the line where there will be a parting of the ways, but I think as part of the Southampton journey I' throw everything into it. When that sad day comes I hope it'll be done in the right manner, but I'm very proud of what I've done here. Interviewer: ''Well hopefully that'll be many moons away!'' Nigel: ''Very much so, i've got a long-term contract - but you know what football is like in this modern era. I'd like to think that my percentage manager of winning games of football is not bad and I want to be a winner."

Seeing it so close at the end is frustrating, but 2nd is still the same prize at the end of the day.

It's strange that our greatest promotion has lead to an influx of negative threads.

I think we'll have a brand new website this year, Cortese made a comment a while back that he doesn't like our website but we're bound to it due to a football league contract, but if we get promoted we would changed to our own in-house website. With the new ticketing site this kind of links in nicely.... There will be a stream for every game next year, some easier to find than others I'd imagine.

We'll probably play more games @ 3pm on Saturday next year, than we did this year.

Oh noes!!! That means the press won't be able to get any information out of us to twist.

Silly season has arrived.

Last week of August I think, this is going to drag big time.

You were spot on with that post. Although I don't think we'd have had much trouble hanging onto SDR

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/football/spl/celtic/2012/04/29/celtic-boss-neil-lennon-lines-up-move-for-3m-rated-burnley-striker-jay-rodriguez-86908-23841344/ 2+2 =....?

Hard to say without additions to the squad, let's be honest - Norwich and Swansea have raised the bar so expectation will be higher straight away. Let's see the calbire of players we're linked with before making predictions.

Iñigo Idiakez ‏ @InigoIdiake Congratulations Southampton FC!!! I am delighted to see it happen finally! Enjoy your night! Very proud of everyone! Nathan Dyer ‏ @NathDyer87 Want to say congratulations to southampton fc for getting into the premiership! Looking forward to be up against my mate @adlallana1 Gary Lineker ‏ @GaryLineker Many congratulations to Southampton FC on their return to Premier League football. Look forward to seeing you on MOTD next season Lord Sugar ‏ @Lord_Sugar Well done ! Southampton promoted to Premier League from the Championship Liverpool FC ‏ @LFC Congratulations to Southampton on your return to the Premier League. We look forward to seeing you and your fans at Anfield next season.

This is so odd, it's like Southend all over again, but this time we're not in a playoff lottery...we can sit back and enjoy them!

This summer will be very exciting as promotion has opened up the window to some very exciting players. We probably signed players that we shouldn't have this year (Cork at the start) and the year/18 months before (Fonte...). So this summer should be very exciting. If we can stump up £5-7m in this league to offer Celtic, then god knows how much we can offer now. But as I siad on another thread, money doesn't buy everything....it's about getting the right players that add to the team, and I'm confident that our lot know what they're doing in that case.

Shows that money doesn't buy success. Leicester spunked near on 14m in transfer fees, god knows how much on wages, an didn't ever get anywhere near a promotion spot. WHU should have done much much better with the squad they had, 55k p/w and £5m on Kevin Nolan for e.g.....he's had a very poor season though. Team spirit and togetherness is much more important than spending £14m.

We need pace at RB, RM and up top. Maybe a bit of pace at CB too. You can't under estimate how important a bit of pace is in the premier league, not only in the attacking side of the pitch...but also at the back. Having that recovery pace at the back will make me much more comfortable...which is why I think someone like Davies would be a good addition to the back 4, and Clyne @ RB. Both affordable and getable, and we wouldn't need to break the bank to get them.

This!!

As thought of on another thread, It would be a good idea to wrap up the season with some general player reviews.....This is my take on it. Davis - 9 - Great season in my book. Team of the year, 18 clean sheets and plenty of MOTM performances. Probably his best season for us. Fox - 7 - Some great displays, some okish displays - but he's been pretty consistent it has to be said. When he first came here he was often caught out of position, but as the months went on his defensive side improved massively. Some of his offensive deliveries were just class. Fonte - 7 - He's slipped from an 8 to a 7 just on his end of the season, where he has been pretty ropey it has to be said - but he's made up for it today! At the start of the season he was imperious but he slipped in form at the wrong time for us - but he still helped us get over the line. Jos - 9 - What a signing. He's a hero. I love the way he plays, it's like he enjoys every minute of it. His reading of the game is immaculate, his heading is fantastic and his overall contribution to this season is monumental. Those 8 goals have been match winners in most cases. Richardson - 8 - He surprised the hell out of me this season and up until around February time he was pushing for most improved player of the year - unfortunately he then started picking up a few knocks and niggles, but 14 or 15 assists from RB says it all - most of those are from open play too. A terrific player for us this year both offensively and defensively. Guly - 6 - Started the season really well and got up to 11 goals by January, not bad at all. Since then though he has been pretty poor, it has to be said. It's not that he's a poor player by any means as I think he has a lot to offer, but he's gone through a pretty nasty stale patch for us. A terrific start to the season from him and us stamped our authority on this league though. Cork 8 - I think he's been great. At the start of the season you could see the difference he made, he was a step up in our midfield. The frustrating thing about him would obviously be his lack of goals or any goal threat, and that goes for the midfield in general really, but he has had a great year and has proven what a great signing he was. He will slot into the premier league without any worries what so ever. Hammond 7 - Started the season so well, but he was never going to keep that up all year - but he has always remained consistent and you can always trust him to do a job. He doesn't offer much attacking threat but his breaking up of the play and shielding of the back 4 has been great. Morgan - 9 - Great year for him IMO - 2 goals...! and some majestic performances. At times the game has looked too easy for him at this level as he strides around the pitch like he owns it. A player that will make his mark in the premier league and someone who will probably never play below it again. Chaplow 8 - He didn't start the season for us and was often brought on as a substitute, but he always made a difference - he then was rewarded with starts. And those starts produced some of our most scintillating displays of the season. He was influential in our massive wins against Birmingham, Boro, P'Boro....terrific. He didn't play anywhere near as many as I'd have liked though, if he hadn't got injured when he was in the form of his life I don't think we'd have had that bad patch in Dec-Jan. He never recovered his earlier form when he came back, but that was always going to be a tough ask. Lallana - 10 - What can you say? 13 goals, numerous assists and performances which took the **** out of his opposing full backs. Him making a fool of John Panstil will stand out for me. A glorious football player who sets the tone for how we play and he will be such a terrific watch in the premier league. Lambert 10 - Player of the season, top goal scorer, team of the year. Legend. I don't think I was the only one who was so happy for him when he got those goals against Ipswich, you were kind of willing them in as you knew how hard he'd worked to get here. He never looked back after that game and 31 goals is an amazing effort.''Rickie Lambert, Southampton's goal machine'' - without question. Sharp - 8 - Jury was slightly out at the beginning, as he made a bit of an iffy start and didn't get out of the blocks as quick as we all wanted, missed a couple of sitters and was then an expensive substitute. He quite clearly wasn't Saints fit though, and once our team had worked their wonders on him we had a different player on our hands. He has been terrific in the run in and has scored some massive goals for us. Sometimes you look back at January as being a key month....and signing Sharp has certainly proven that to be the case. Notable mentions: Martin 7 - Didn't play a great deal, but when he did he didn't do much wrong. His worst display was probably Leicester at home, but he's the sort of CB that you don't worry about. I'm never nervous with him in the team and that's huge credit to him as a player, the journey he's come on is brilliant. Butters 7 - Only came in at the back end of the season really, but he made a contribution. You know what you get with Danny - full of effort and commitment, and he was very consistent. It was nice to see him get a run in the team to be honest. Lee - 7 - Made a huge difference to us once he settled, but unfortunately we didn't see enough of him. I'm sure he'd have scored many more goals for us if he'd have stayed injury free, but from what I saw from him I think he'll be excellent in the premier league. SDR - 6 - Ok, but not great. Flatters to deceive for me. Some great moments, notably Reading away, but lots of inconsistent and frustrating moments - today's cameo performance from him kind of summed his season up! Conners 6 - Great start to the season, along with the team, but he's too injury prone to be a regular in this team anymore. Appreciate his contribution though as he's such a good pro. Hopefully he finds a new club next year and starts banging them in again. Harding 6 - Not his best year and shown up on a few occasions, probably not good enough for the premier league but he's been part of our journey - and his name will still go down in Southampton history as to what we've achieved the last 3 years.

Connolly at home to Boro. An awesome goal.

I'll give it a go and will start a new thread.

To be fair I think the emotion of the situation just got to everyone, you could see Sharp welling up and so was Nigel. It's a remarkable journey as a team and as individuals.

Knowing what Cortese is like, he'd have seen this season as a failure as we didn't win it!

I've been having a look too, most seem to have missed us and feel we're a traditional premier league club! Which is true I guess. We were always there, always a tough place to go, involved in famous games, famous players . We were never a boring club up there and have obviously stuck in the memories of most. I think we're there to stay for a long time.

Thank you. I'm gutted he's not been here to see it, but he saw the start at Wembley.