On a scale of 1 to 10, how happy are you with saints at the moment?

This year saints are on course to equal our best ever finish in the PL, we've come back from the foot of league one to take a well earned place in the top half of the prem.

We have one of the best teams we've ever had and many members of the team have come up through our own ranks, others made the journey from league one all the way up and some of them were even with us during the relegations and still stuck with us.

Our team is praised in the media for the way we play exciting possession football and we have more international standard players than I can remember since the early eighties.

We've been told nobody is for sale and that the manager has the board's backing. We've spent huge amounts on players for a club our size and have had about the same hit and miss ratio on transfers as most clubs, although we've had to learn that stepping up a bracket in transfer fees gives no guarantee of success.

Our academy has gone from strength to strength in a very public way, that would encourage young players to come to us and we've invested very heavily in training facilities.

Yet looking at this forum, many of the threads are pretty negative. People use the phrase "happy clappers" as a way of sneering at anyone who feels positive about things. Even if we eased off and dropped a few places in some seasons, we'd be doing better than we usually have over the last twenty years or so.

So my question is, are we never happy or is the negativity just an unrepresentative few shouting louder than the others?

How happy are you?

Satisfactory.

Could do better.

6/10

See me.

Good 7/10. More squad depth and an emphasis on the domestic cups and we can push for the 9s...

Good Manager, good squad, plenty of homegrown talent and some really good football on show.

5 years of constant progress.

Very happy indeed. 8/10.

Couple of good signings, and a cup run and I'd be thrilled.

8/10

Shame we tailed off but you can see what we are very capable of. Just more squad depth and quality and top 6 may have been a very real shout.

Not bad for 2nd season back

Would have been 10/10 had we had the season Sunderland had

6.5/10

Dropped points for the FA Cup and league cup + results since November

Potential is huge with this squad - would like to have seen a better push for top 6 this season

Not better than 5/10 for me really, only because of the poor results and the lack of any real depth in the squad, the 2 being intrinsically linked of course. Thought we should have made 2 signings in January, a keeper and a striker and both are have been woefully lacking of late.

7.5 for me - I think it's important to separate how far we've come and what we've achieved, from what we think we're capable of in the future. I also think that recent results will be good for us in the long run because the danger of rising too quickly is that the hype overtakes the reality and we sink back down again because our improvements are unsustainable.

To finish 8th (hopefully) will be an excellent achievement, and a strong platform to build on. The aim for next season should simply be to try and finish higher than 8th. Continuous, gradual improvement, all while introducing more young players in to the squad, whilst developing the club off the pitch.

We are in a fantastic position.

8/10

 

Shame we tailed off but you can see what we are very capable of. Just more squad depth and quality and top 6 may have been a very real shout.

 

Not bad for 2nd season back

 

Would have been 10/10 had we had the season Sunderland had

So 10/10 for looking like a relegation season? 8/10 for top half finish? Strange.

So 10/10 for looking like a relegation season? 8/10 for top half finish? Strange.

bazza's thoughts, not mine

Before reading Reed's statement : 5

After reading Reed's statement : 8

Still think we buggered the season up, but looking forward with more optimism to next season now.

League - 8/10, we've had a good season, enjoyed watching some great football and the younguns blooded in well

Cups - 4/10, must do better, the way MP sets out his team seems to be soooo measured there's no room for Cup passion to kick in

Transfers - 5/10 Osvaldo (a big risk that hasn't paid off) and Wanyama (no way worth what we paid) Lovren rescues some much needed kudos points

Supporter experience rating of 7/10

8/10 for a great experience. 10/10 for the first half and a boring 6/10 for the second. Enjoyed the ride massively though.

Ahh I see, it's not ones appraisal of the situation at the moment, ie right now in this specific interval of time. It's about ones general appreciation of the season past and those still to come. In that case I'll give a 7.5.

Before reading Reed's statement : 5

After reading Reed's statement : 8

 

Still think we buggered the season up, but looking forward with more optimism to next season now.

One statement swayed you that much?!

As good as it is, it doesn't change any of our results or league position, yet you go from a 5 to an 8 on that alone?

One statement swayed you that much?!

 

As good as it is, it doesn't change any of our results or league position, yet you go from a 5 to an 8 on that alone?

Yes. I took the question at face value and have reflected my feeling about Saints.

Give over with the pedantry.

Give over with the pedantry.

Nowt pedantic about it, just trying to understand. Come on, you gotta admit that to change the mark that much based on one statement, does come across as being rather fickle?

Nowt pedantic about it, just trying to understand. Come on, you gotta admit that to change the mark that much based on one statement, does come across as being rather fickle?

Why ? The season is almost over, and barring a typical Saints-scale screw-up, we will finish 8th. I'd rather focus on the future, and the statement puts a whole new light on it.

hillarious I am now being challenged for taking something in a positive spirit

9/10

Best shape we've been in all my supporting life.

When i first read this thread I gave the season 4/10 but since having some crunchy nut cornflakes with very cold milk, im upping the score to 10/10.

Yes. I took the question at face value and have reflected my feeling about Saints.

 

Give over with the pedantry.

You cant win mate

Showed a lot of promise at the start of the season, but didn't take opportunities available in many games. A very satisfactory season overall, but could have done even better. 8/10

7.5

It's been an excellent year. We have well and truly stabilised ourselves in the middle of the league in a way that is rare for clubs who have made such quick progress. We have a squad teeming with exciting young talent and the academy is continuing to fuel it. In conversation with people away from the club we are spoken about in really quite glowing terms and the fact our players are being linked to moves away is entirely to the credit of the club as a whole. I genuinely feel proud to be a Southampton fan.

The icing on the cake would have been a cup run, but that has been done to death. The season has become something of an anticlimax but the sub-plot of our players chasing world cup spots keeps things interesting. As a specific highlight winning at Liverpool now seems to be a truly wonderful achievement.

I'm looking forward to the future with hope that Ralph Krueger and Katharina Liebherr follow up their encouraging words with appropriate action, keeping us competitive while embracing some of the more traditional aspects of the club. In my living memory Saints have never been as strong as we are now.

8/10

Quite happy

Its shallow and superficial I know - but I like winning things. Although most of Lg1 was dire the Paint Pot and the promotion seasons were far more memorable and enjoyable to me than mid table PL. Depends whether you want to be a big fish in small pond or a small fish in a big pond. We should forget about the CL delusion and build a squad strong enough to have successful FA Cup runs and the occasional Europa cup outings.

Its shallow and superficial I know - but I like winning things. Although most of Lg1 was dire the Paint Pot and the promotion seasons were far more memorable and enjoyable to me than mid table PL. Depends whether you want to be a big fish in small pond or a small fish in a big pond. We should forget about the CL delusion and build a squad strong enough to have successful FA Cup runs and the occasional Europa cup outings.

But to ensure you are likely to have these cup runs you will surely need to have as strong a squad as possible anyway? It's no mistake that the cups are generally won by the bigger teams and that cup runs by smaller clubs retain a certain magical air, they are rare events. The only true measure of squad strength is league position... Get the league position right and the other should follow as a bi-product.

8. Has been a superb season to be a fan of the club.

If you're asked whats the 'ideal' way to have a football club run...it's self sustaining, local lads, playing exciting football and winning games.

We're not far off that. A bit deeper squad and a better push for the cup and don't think it's realistic for us to have done any more this season.

Nowt pedantic about it, just trying to understand. Come on, you gotta admit that to change the mark that much based on one statement, does come across as being rather fickle?

The one thing we know about Alpine, is he is an emotional chap.

He is quite prone, for better or worse, to get a bit carried away at times.

Not at all, it just sums you up completely that you can go from 5 to 8/10 based on reading one statement. You are all over the place all the time and it just becomes an incoherent reactionary mess.

And you would have been amongst the first to slag me off if I had found fault with the statement and indicated it didnt change my opinion whatsover....

Happy and 7.5 which would have been a 9 if MP had taken Sunderland A in the Cup a little more seriously (still can't fathom the logic).

For me it's got to be at least a 9.

I still judge everything relative to where we were just three years ago - just about to get promoted from League 1. It's been a a hellova journey, and when we got promoted two years ago I would have been ecstatic if I had thought we would be in the top half in our second year in the prem. Last season we did well to consolidate our prem position, but this season has seen (in my opinion) incredible progress on and off the pitch at St Mary's. We might have tailed off over the last couple of months but overall it's been a great season

10

We are in the premiership. I FURKIN LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!

8/9, it has been brilliant watching this young team grow and play such entertaining football.

10 = Liverpool

9 = Chelsea

8 = Man City & Everton

7 = Arsenal and Hull & Palace

6 = Saints, Newcastle, Stoke, Spurs

5 = Man United, Sunderland (Cup final)

3 = Cardiff, Fulham

1 = Pompey

Nine - will reduce to 7 if we let key players go this summer.

8.5/10. Taken entirely in isolation this season's been a 7/10 but it's our willingness and ability to improve on it going forward that makes the difference.

The only happier fans will be at Liverpool, Hull and Everton. Palace will also be delighted with how they've ended up but nobody knows what might happen to them next season.

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11.

8/10 based on where we are now.

5/10 in terms on longer term expectations.

14 now I've read Les Reeds statement.

8/10 - as a club poor in knock out competitions.

I voted 8.

Would have been a 9 with better cup comps.

Great season though.

8. Had big money signings Ramirez and Osvaldo done the jobs well that they were brought in expensively to do, then arguably we could have reached the next level already that Everton have aspired to.

Still, it's good times to be a Saints fan, whatever happens in the summer.

Probably 8/10

Could quite easily shoot down to about 3/10 if Shaw and Lalallallalallalana leave

Why ? The season is almost over, and barring a typical Saints-scale screw-up, we will finish 8th. I'd rather focus on the future, and the statement puts a whole new light on it.

 

hillarious I am now being challenged for taking something in a positive spirit

For what it's worth Alps I completely agree with you. And never mind about the trolls trying to wind you up...on this your opinion is valid and sensible.

Unsurprisingly, the results of the poll so far show a classic bell-curve distribution, with 8 being the optimum level of satisfaction for many.

8/10

I have walked out of SMS after so many matches this season thoroughly entertained by what I have seen on the pitch. I thought some of the stuff we were dished up in the Championship was pretty damn good, to play nice attractive invariably intelligent football in the Premiership is another level, you just have to see the number of teams that have shredded the Championship then faceplanted pretty quickly in the Prem.

After so many trudges across the Northam bridge having watched yet another steaming pile of Poo just before we were "reborn", its hard not to be happy with the season, especially when you take the very slow motion car crash we all sat through base.

i only ever rate things 0 or 10. I don't agree with half measures.

9/10, an enjoyable season and a platform to move onwards and upwards

For what it's worth Alps I completely agree with you. And never mind about the trolls trying to wind you up...on this your opinion is valid and sensible.

I wasn't trying to wind him up and I'm certainly not a troll. I was asking a valid question about why one statement changes his score so much. I'm not criticising him and his opinion is certainly valid, I just struggle to relate to it.

Bizarrely, I too like to focus on the future, like Alps suggests, which is exactly why I was an 7.5/10 BEFORE the statement and for the reasons I mentioned in my own post... because our future is about more than just one summer, just like our progress this season is about more than just the good results or the bad results.

Seeing as this is our best season in my lifetime (29) i´ll give it 9/10.

As fans, we all want to do well in the cups, but I do believe that a trophy will come, we just need to be patient. That will be the 10/10 year.