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Is anyone else feeling the pain as much as Southampton fans?
Sunday April 13th 2003:
Southampton win FA Cup semi-final against Watford
Saturday 17th May 2003:
FA Cup final appearance against Arsenal
Sunday 21st December 2003
Southampton 3 Portsmouth 0 (leaving Southampton in 4th place in the Premiership for Christmas; Portsmouth, the bottom 3)
Sunday 23rd April 2005
Portsmouth 4 Southampton 1 (first time since 1960 that Portsmouth ensure they finish higher than Southampton in league standings)
Sunday 15th May 2005
Southampton 1 Manchester United 2 (Southampton relegated from the top flight for the first time in 28 years)
West Brom 2 Portsmouth 0
Monday 31st March 2008
Portsmouth-FA Cup semi-finalists and 6th in The Premiership.
Southampton-19th in The Championship, 2 pts and 3 places from the bottom 3
And therein lies a footballing story…
Amongst all the intense rivalries in English Football (Utd/City; Arsenal/Spurs; Liverpool/Everton; Sheff Utd/Wednesday…the list could go on) is there ANY one team other than Southampton who are feeling so much pain from a fall from grace?
It’s not that Southampton fans had particularly ‘lorded’ it up against their bitter South Coast rivals Portsmouth since 1960 (the last time that they had held any superiority over us), but quite simply we had just been far better than them for so long it seemed impossible to imagine anything else. After The Saints won the FA Cup in 1976 and then got promoted to the top flight the following year, Portsmouth would occasionally creep back into the top flight, get beaten by Southampton and promptly be relegated again. There would be the odd cup tie…with the same result, sending Portsmouth back the 30 miles west on the M27 feeling very sorry for themselves.
The hatred felt in Southampton from their footballing neighbors was far more intense than the hatred sent back (history shows that Portsmouth felt reason for this based on a non-footballing matter when Southampton dockers went to work in Portsmouth to fill in for striking Pompey dockers – hence the ‘scummers’ tag that Southampton fans are called by their Portsmouth counterparts). However, every aspect of Southampton FC for so many years had been far greater than Portsmouth. We had had better players (Keegan; Channon; Shearer; Le Tissier); better managers (McMenemy; Hoddle) and of recent years even a better stadium (the magnificent St Mary’s). Whatever Southampton fans went through during the course of a season in the top flight (and I have lost count of the amount of times we went into the final day threatened by relegation) it would end well because we always escaped and we were always better than Portsmouth
Then came two particularly significant football Sundays in the spring of 2005 that sealed Southampton’s fate…both of which (to their utter delight) Portsmouth had a hand in.
First…Portsmouth thrash Southampton 4-1 to ensure their own safety in The Premiership for that year and send Southampton to the BOTTOM. Then second, less than a month later, Portsmouth LOSE their last game of the season to relegation threatened West Brom, ensuring safety for The Baggies whilst RELEGATING Southampton at the same time (there were Portsmouth fans at this match wearing WEST Brom shirts and cheering each of the West Brom goals!)
How did it feel as a Southampton fan? There are not words to describe it. However I personally felt some optimism. Surely one season in The Championship with some rebuilding would see us bounce back? And with the ageing nature of that current Portsmouth team surely they would be relegation fodder the following season? How sweet would it feel to come back up in one swift season and see our neighbors heading back to a division they were more accustomed to?
But as many of you know my optimism was mis-placed. Southampton didn’t even make the play-offs in that first Championship season… and Portsmouth narrowly beat the drop. Then last season Southampton make the play-offs and fail whilst seeing their neighbors flirting with European football all season! How could this be? And that brings us to today where Southampton fans see Portsmouth in their own FA Cup semi-final (and firm favorites to win the competition) whilst also being a strong contender for getting a UEFA Cup place.
So… as much as I do understand that there are many other intense rivalries in football with many fans feeling the pain of a superior neighbour, my observation remains that I don’t think any of those fans are feeling the pain today as severely as those of Southampton FC.
Sympathy anyone? I doubt it.
(if any of our community feel their football pain is greater then please email information@cybersportsworld.com)
