One of Saints most famous supporters has backed the call for unity in the supporter base and hinted she may well yet attend the game against Watford.
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth 2 or HRH as she is more familiarly known, is perhaps the most famous supporter of Southampton FC, even stars like the drummer out of Coldplay, him out of Man About The House and Chris Packham defer to her celebrity sporting status.
She first started following Saints in 1939 when as a 13 year old girl she was not allowed to attend the game at Wembley in the cup final that year between Wolverhampton Wanderers & Portsmouth with her mum the Queen Mother, due to worries that travelling supporters from Pompey might try to burn down the Royal Box upon hearing there were Queens there, she was forced to stay at home.She was even more enraged when the team she was planning to cheer for, Wolves, lost by four clearly offside goals.
But her seething hatred for Pompey festering through the summer of 1939 ignited when Pompey fans started World War 2 by claiming that they were bigger than Bayern Munich and Hertha Berlin combined and with Pompey fans threatening to invade Belgium, Hitler got in first.
On that day HRH decided she was a Saints fan and remains so to this very day, the evidence is very clear, she has failed to attend any of Pompey's Cup finals, yet she presented the FA Cup to Saints in 1976, in a ceremony that in private she has described as more moving than her Coronation and on that day she vowed never to present another trophy again unless it was to her beloved Saints.
Ill health has prevented her attending subsequent Saints finals, but the Royal Helicopter HRH Rotar 1 was on stand by to transport her to both Wembley and Cardiff should Saints have won.
But she has though been spotted at various Saints gamesmainly London or the odd friendly in Scotland if it ties in with stays at Balmoral the most recent being at Watford last season the nearest ground to her castle at Windsor, when she was pictured sitting in the front row looking not amused at a poor refereeing decision.(Below)
Now she has broken with Royal Protocol to appeal to Saints fans for unity and to get behind the team on Saturday in a candid interview with Gary Lineker for BBC's Match Of The Day.
Lineker picked for his tenacious interviewing style pulled no punches, he asked why the Queen as a Saints fans had attended several public engagements in Portsmouth.
"One has to attend some things that one would rather get out of doing and a trip to far flung islands full of uneducated savages is not high on ones agenda, however I can categorically say that I only went to tell them I wasn't going to do it anymore, I felt I couldn't do it by phone as they don't have them there, so I had to go in person.
Lineker persisted asking whether she felt remorse for some of the crimes of the Portsmouth fans, notably those left to stand in the rain after games at Fratton with Saints after all the bus stops had been wrecked.
" One cannot recall ever getting a bus at Portsmouth let alone seeing a bus stop, when I have been to Portsmouth it has always been in a bullet proof limo, that's the way I travelled back then"
On the 2009 Cup Final.
I definitely wasn't there on that day (At Wembley) in fact one was at Burger King in Windsor that day, I distinctively remember"
Lineker asked how could she be so sure: Her answer left no doubt
"One is the ******* Queen, I don't go into Burger King on a regular basis, so when I do i remember it, especially if those Skate ***** have something to celebrate"
Visibly shaken at the biggest outburst by a reigning monarch since Elizabeth 1 at Tilbury in 1588, Lineker tried to steer the conversation in a calmer direction but by now HRH was on a roll.
"I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too it's bad enough with that lot on Portsea Island mouthing off and I don't want to see my fellow Saints fans getting uppity with each other "
" One will be watching the game on TV on Saturday but I will be there in spirit and I urge all my fellow Saints supporters to get behind the team, this is not the time for shouting Gao Out, aside from the fact we are trying to do important trade deals with China, the team needs points, I'm sick to death of Elton John inviting himself over for tea and slagging off my dancing in his autobiography, we need to smash his team so I can ring him up on Saturday and say Suck It Up Buttercup"
"In fact if Elton is going I might as well, i'm not having him swan about the directors box at St Mary's like he owns the place.
"Saints fans like the Country need to be unified at a time like this, I didn't get through all these constitutional crisis's without a bit of unity in our family and to be blunt Fergie, both of em were major thorns in both our sides back in the 1990's know what one means eh" (Queens winks at Gary several times)
"Anyway I'm the Queen and whilst there is no Parliament sitting i'm in charge, to disobey me is treason and we all know what happens to those who commit that, so listen to the voice of reason unless you want an early morning knock from the Beefeaters"
So there you have it the Queen (Gawd Bless her) is a Saints fan going back many years and if anyone knows a thing about keeping calm and carrying on, it is her, heed her words and help her put one over Elton John.