It is not always easy being a supporter of Southampton football club. Someone told me that Southampton fans had seen their team lose more times than any other group of supporters in any division. That was when we were hanging on to the premiership by our fingertips back in the 1990s. However, over the past few seasons we have had more good times than bad, and away days with my brother Phil and nephew Oscar are great fun, although sometimes the match can bring the mood down a bit.
Away matches at West Ham have been particularly traumatic for Phil - he's been five times and always seen us lose. Last season was especially hard to take as we consider ourselves to be exponents of the beautiful game, and West Ham just lump it up the field; losing 3 - 1 didn't seem fair somehow, and then we had to take the abuse and gloating of the home supporters. We agreed then and there that we would never go back.
So when this season's fixture list came out the conversation went something like this:
"Shall we go to West Ham?"
"Ok then"
We were not in an optimistic mood as we set off on Saturday - according to Sky TV the heart has been ripped out of our team and we are favourites to be relegated. Add to that our abysmal record at the Boleyn ground and it seemed that all we had to look forward to was the meal on the way home. Upton Park is not in a beautiful part of London, but it is really the last time we will see it because they are moving into the Olympic Stadium next season.
Away matches at West Ham have been particularly traumatic for Phil - he's been five times and always seen us lose. Last season was especially hard to take as we consider ourselves to be exponents of the beautiful game, and West Ham just lump it up the field; losing 3 - 1 didn't seem fair somehow, and then we had to take the abuse and gloating of the home supporters. We agreed then and there that we would never go back.
So when this season's fixture list came out the conversation went something like this:
"Shall we go to West Ham?"
"Ok then"
We were not in an optimistic mood as we set off on Saturday - according to Sky TV the heart has been ripped out of our team and we are favourites to be relegated. Add to that our abysmal record at the Boleyn ground and it seemed that all we had to look forward to was the meal on the way home. Upton Park is not in a beautiful part of London, but it is really the last time we will see it because they are moving into the Olympic Stadium next season.
It seemed as if the afternoon would go the way of all games at West Ham when we went one nil down. Home supporters were asking us where our players were, and gloom had settled on us. But then suddenly Morgan Schneiderlin scored, and the day just got better and better
Winning away gives you such a buzz. It makes waiting for an hour in a queue for the tube worthwhile, especially when we've got a restaurant to choose for a meal. We were not going to eat round Upton Park, but got off at Embankment and wandered towards Charing Cross. There are so many reasonable restaurants and Oscar chose Lulivo's in Villiers Street as he wanted spaghetti bolognese. The waiters and waitresses were so jolly and absolutely delightful to Oscar - they all knew that we had won and they wanted to know all about the game.
The pizzas were delicious - made more so as we still had a warm glow from the result. So our first away day of the season came to an end - roll on Swansea and the Mumbles.