Nigel - This Is Why We Play
Posted on: Thu 21 Apr 2011
Nigel Adkins says the position Saints are in at this stage of the season is what makes football so special.
The gaffer has promotion in his team's sights, and the five remaining games of the campaign are what his players are in the game for.
"It's an exciting time of the season and we are embracing the games that are coming up," he told Saints Player.
"It's so exciting. This is what you are in football for, experiences like this! I would rather be at this end of the division than at the bottom end of the division because we are trying to win things and get to the next level.
"We are constantly winning games of football and these are exciting times.
"The object is that we need to get this magnificent football club to the next level, the infrastructure is in place to do that.
"When I came here we were 22nd in the division, I'm not sure how many points we were behind Brighton at the time but we needed to move this club forward and I think we have done that. We have won games consistently and everyone has a smile on their face at this football club, we are enjoying what is going on and we are in a position where we have five games to go."
A trip to Champions Brighton represents a top two battle, something Adkins knows all about from his previous promotion campaigns.
"They have done great, congratulations to Brighton because they have got themselves champions a few games before the end of the season and deservedly so. They have been consistent throughout the course of the season and you have to do that if you want to be champions, so congratulations to Gus and the players.
"I've been there with S****horpe, when we won the division by six points, and I know that you still have to work hard. You may have won it and the celebrations may still go on, but the players know that they have to go out and play well, and I'm sure Brighton will be very professional in that regard.
"We expect a tough game, and it will be a great atmosphere. I said to the supporters at S****horpe when we won the division that they had a chance to go out and sing 'we are the champions' - the Brighton fans have had to wait a long time to get to their new stadium and they have got promoted now so they should go out and enjoy everything that is going on.
"I wanted to win the division, you can come up with things that try and give you that opportunity to do that, in the same way that Gus has done, but they have done it and congratulations to them, enjoy it and look forward to next season."
The game itself has all the makings of a classic encounter, although the manager is aware of the variables that the home side have used to their advantage throughout the season, as they did in the reverse fixture at St. Mary's in November.
"We will go to Brighton at the weekend and we know that the ballboys will be existent and then non-existent because they have done it all season and everyone has complained about it. You just have to get on with it because that is football, and that's life.
"They will try and jump up and down but that might just be the foreign mentality and they tried to get Morgan Schneiderlin booked at our place by doing just that. They have done it all season and plenty of managers have complained about it but you just have to get on with it, that's life.
"You can't get wound up by it. They have had more penalties that any other team in the division, but as I say, it is about winning games of football and they have gone and won. Whatever way you try and do it, there are different ways to skin a cat and there are different ways to win a game of football, and they have had that winning mentality this season.
"I said it weeks ago that there are plenty of twists and turns to come, it is about keeping calm and having a level head and just chipping away. That's what we had to do against Bristol Rovers, it can be difficult because some people might think that we should go and beat them by 10 because they are at the bottom of the table, but that doesn't happen in English football!"