Saints Are No Martyrs

A Baggies eye view of Southampton play-off expulsion over 'Spygate'.

A fair few football fans might have sympathy with Southampton’s play-off expulsion over the ‘Spygate’ affair - but it’s unlikely many Baggies fans will be in that number. When The Saints went marching in to Wembley courtesy of play-victory against Albion on May 17, 2024, their supporters were a disgrace. Instead of simply celebrating their well-deserved victory - and despite official warnings - they streamed onto the pitch and goaded the visitor’s section in their thousands. It meant that Carlos Corberan’s team was prevented from taking its own well deserved ovation from the away fans and set the temperature for ugly scenes outside the stadium, where - in scenes reminiscent of the 1980s - anyone sporting navy and white was seen as fair game. And I mean, anyone.

I have an abiding memory of an older woman, sitting on the steps outside the away end, tears streaming down her face, after being confronted by an aggressive home supporter. Every sizeable fan base has a percentage of knuckledraggers looking for an excuse to punch down - ours included - but Saints’ reaction was off the scale, especially given that for them, this was a happy occasion.

Until then, I mostly regarded Southampton as just one of those teams who made up the numbers - although I loosely followed their fortunes through the eyes of a mate and his son from the West Midlands, who became loyal fans after Dad was enchanted by Lawrie McMenemy’s thrilling team of the early 8os, especially its star striker, the then England captain Kevin Keegan.

For that reason, I was vaguely fond of them - but not after that night; not when Saints became sinners. As someone once said, karma is a bitch.