By Nick Mabey. It’s finally over. Saints’ season, that started in bright sunshine with an encouraging performance and close defeat, ended the same way. The away loss to Newcastle in August last year, with a blunt attack unable to score against a side reduced to 10-men early on, offered...
View from the Kingsland
View from The Kingsland: Down and Out
By Nick Mabey. Saints’ inevitable and long-awaited relegation was confirmed on 6th April after another lacklustre performance at Spurs, where our fans yet again outperformed the team. At least we went down in style, beating the record for the earliest confirmed drop (seven games remaining). Fastest relegation can be...
View from The Kingsland: Reflective Ramblings
By Nick Mabey. With relegation pretty much assured (if not mathematically certain yet) I found myself in reflective mood when taking my seat for the recent home game with so-called local rivals AFC Bournemouth. Reflecting on the strange feeling of having no pressure and expecting to lose. Reflecting on...
View from the Kinsgland: Sad inevitability
By Nick Mabey. Russell Martin’s unsurprising sacking as our manager this week gave me no pleasure at all. Optimism has always been a superpower/Achilles heel for me and I really wanted Martin to turn things round at Saints. I’ve been fighting myself about this for most of the season,...
View from the Kingsland – How to feel about VAR?
By Nick Mabey. The Video Assistant Referee (VAR from here on) provokes some of the strongest feelings and opinions the average football fan can muster these days, so I thought it time I gave it some prolonged attention here. For those wondering why I’m distracting myself from Saints’ league...
View from the Kingsland: Harsh Reality
By Nick Mabey. It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted. Mostly because I’ve moved house and celebrated a significant birthday with a long holiday, but also because I thought I’d rest for as long as possible in the euphoria of that amazing Wembley day in May. The feel-good...
View from the Kingsland: Ruled by hope or fear?
Saints fan column by Nick Mabey. I’ve been wanting to write this for a while, but the games have come so thick and fast that it is been hard to squeeze it in. And Saints’ fortunes have remained tantalisingly unknown throughout. Every match now means something and yet...
View from the Kingsland – Spring Sabbatical
By Nick Mabey. Well, this is strange. As the Championship promotion race builds to a climax, Saints find themselves with a three-week gap between games. Even stranger, this ‘Spring sabbatical’ (as I’m calling it even though no one else is) follows a mad eleven games in 41 days and...
View from the Kingsland: A hundred year old record
By Nick Mabey We love a record at Saints. If I am being honest we don’t have the most impressive trophy cabinet for a club that’s spent so long in the top division and so records offer some solace and a welcome substitute. And at the moment all the...
View from the Kingsland: Half Time Report
By Nick Mabey. Half way through the season and how are we doing? Yes I know there is one more game before the actual half way mark but Christmas excess means my final article for this year is – in the words of Elvis – now or never. It’s...