By Nick Mabey.
As we approach the halfway mark, it’s difficult to know what to make of Saints’ season so far. Hope followed by despair followed by hope has left us fans a little confused about how to agree a narrative to frame our support around. Should we be roaring the team toward promotion, settling for a stabilising season, booing the owners, cheering the players, or jeering the players?
Take the manager situation; when Will Still got sacked, his temporary replacement, youth team coach Tonde Eckert, was asked to be interim boss. This was seen as a temporary measure and fans were dreaming of a big-name replacement. “Please don’t settle for this guy” we all (well most) moaned. Then he went and started winning, and in a big way, with exciting performances blowing teams away. “He’s the obvious candidate, sign him up or risking losing him” we reverted to. Now after the honeymoon is over but we’re still quite good it’s more like “he’s ok, but is he going to be good enough?”.
For what it’s worth I like the look of Tonde Eckert, even if I do find his eyes, when he hears a question, to be as frightening as a Paddington Bear hard stare. Mind you I’m no judge as I felt similarly positive about Will Still. Eckert’s record of six wins in nine games makes him the most successful Southampton manager since Alfred McMinn in the 19th century! OK it’s skinny data, but still puts Still’s four wins in sixteen games to shame, especially considering it’s exactly the same players. He’s got the team playing in a clearly identifiable way, which pace, skill and excitement accompanying scary defending and occasional torpor.
As I write, It’s almost Christmas and we find ourselves in eleventh place in the Championship table, four points from the play-off zone. Saints have four games in the ten days from Boxing Day, and this should give us a clearer picture of what we can look forward to in the second half of the season. Or will it? Walking to the ground for the game against runaway leaders Coventry, I boldly asserted that a win would make a big statement of our intent while a defeat would suggest a season of mid-table mediocrity. Cue a draw, and a performance that was good but not great, hopeful but not too much.
I was asked only last week why people say they are underwhelmed or overwhelmed but never whelmed. I didn’t even know it was an actual word but sure enough spellcheck did not auto-correct and search engines confirmed it, with various definitions both archaic and modern. This season I was overwhelmed by Saints’ transfer window, underwhelmed by our early season form, overwhelmed by Eckert’s start and now, yes perhaps now I whelmed. The definition I like best is the idea of going with the flow of a current, neither being submerged in the deluge or stranded on a river bed.
Who knows what lies ahead? Twenty four Championship games to go plus the FA Cup. If Eckert keeps up his win ratio we’ll almost certainly get promoted, but surely that won’t happen. Relegation seems unlikely but I’m not prepared to tempt fate and rule it out.
Between those extremes lies a lot of whelming, so strap yourself into your boat and prepare for a ride into the unknown of 2026.
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