Christmas cheer high at Saints

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So we’ve reached that time again where children throughout the world keep their fingers crossed that they’ve been consistently well-behaved throughout the year, parents get repetitive strain injury from inputting their credit card pin numbers so regularly and football managers across the UK have a good old moan about fixture congestion and player burnout – yep, its Christmas!

Personally, looking purely from a footballing point-of-view, it’s always a period in the season that I’ve gazed towards with fondness. Games come thick and fast and it’s a great period to be able to spend some quality time with your friends and family in the pub, enjoying a festive drink or two, before heading to the stadium to give the team you love your undivided support.

If you can’t make games in person then you can at least rest assured knowing that there will be wall-to-wall coverage of matches on TV, as teams up and down the land often start the process of either making or breaking their season.

I think it’s generally an enjoyable period for any football supporter and, whilst players and managers may well find it exhausting, it’s a part of the British season calendar that I think should always remain and not be diluted with a winter break.

Anyway, with Christmas in mind, I thought I’d take a light-hearted chronological look back at the Southampton season so far, and put together my own Saints related “Twelve Days of Christmas” song. Here goes:

On the first day of Christmas Southampton fans were given

Ronald Koeman as our new boss.

On the second day of Christmas Southampton fans were given

Too much money for Lovren,

and Ronald Koeman as our new boss.

On the third day of Christmas Southampton fans were given

a media proposed meltdown,

too much money for Lovren,

and Ronald Koeman as our new boss.

On the fourth day of Christmas Southampton fans were given

an irate Morgan tweeting,

media proposed meltdown,

too much money for Lovren,

and Ronald Koeman as our new boss.

On the fifth day of Christmas Southampton fans were given

Tooooby Alder-weir-eld,

an irate Morgan tweeting,

media proposed meltdown,

too much money for Lovren,

and Ronald Koeman as our new boss.

On the sixth day of Christmas Southampton fans were given

4 wins in September,

Tooooby Alder-weir-eld,

an irate Morgan tweeting,

media proposed meltdown,

too much money for Lovren,

and Ronald Koeman as our new boss.

On the seventh day of Christmas Southampton fans were given

goals galore v Sunderland,

4 wins in September,

Tooooby Alder-weir-eld,

an irate Morgan tweeting,

media proposed meltdown,

too much money for Lovren,

and Ronald Koeman as our new boss.

On the eighth day of Christmas Southampton fans were given

a 45 yarder by Victor,

goals galore v Sunderland,

4 wins in September,

Tooooby Alder-weir-eld,

an irate Morgan tweeting,

media proposed meltdown,

too much money for Lovren,

and Ronald Koeman as our new boss.

On the ninth day of Christmas Southampton fans were given

a Clyne debut for England,

45 yarder by Victor,

goals galore v Sunderland,

4 wins in September,

Tooooby Alder-weir-eld,

an irate Morgan tweeting,

media proposed meltdown,

too much money for Lovren,

and Ronald Koeman as our new boss.

On the tenth day of Christmas Southampton fans were given

a footballing lesson by City,

Clyne debut for England,

45 yarder by Victor,

goals galore v Sunderland,

4 wins in September,

Tooooby Alder-weir-eld,

an irate Morgan tweeting,

media proposed meltdown,

too much money for Lovren,

and Ronald Koeman as our new boss.

On the eleventh day of Christmas Southampton fans were given

a rare penalty miss at Burnley,

footballing lesson by City,

Clyne debut for England,

45 yarder by Victor,

goals galore v Sunderland,

4 wins in September,

Tooooby Alder-weir-eld,

an irate Morgan tweeting,

media proposed meltdown,

too much money for Lovren,

and Ronald Koeman as our new boss.

On the twelfth day of Christmas Southampton fans were given

a football club to be so proud of,

rare penalty miss at Burnley,

footballing lesson by City,

Clyne debut for England,

45 yarder by Victor,

goals galore v Sunderland,

4 wins in September,

Tooooby Alder-weir-eld,

an irate Morgan tweeting,

media proposed meltdown,

too much money for Lovren,

and Ronald Koeman as our new boss.”

Genius, I’m sure you’ll agree! That’s if you’re still reading by now…

All in all, recent form taken in to account, it’s been a great season for Saints so far – contrary to what many ‘experts’ predicted. The injuries we’ve had recently, at a time when we have played some of the bigger boys in the Premier League, haven’t helped, yet still we’ve not been outplayed by anyone this season, other than Manchester City.

Many Saints fans might have started the season dreading to think where we’d be at Christmas. I guarantee that every single one of us would have taken our current position if you’d offered it to us. Credit is due to Ronald, his backroom staff and the players for achieving what they have so far. But it’s only half-time and there is now plenty to build on going in to 2015. Everyone associated with the Club can look forward to that now.

Merry Christmas and up the Saints!

By Ben Stanfield, Fanzone’s Southampton Blogger. Follow him on Twitter @benstanners, and don’t forget to follow FanZone too.