This is the day that all Saints fans have been waiting for, our return to European action and the chance to continue to show the World we are the fastest growing football club in Europe.
There are some who last season moaned hat they did not want Europa League competition, they said it was a distraction from the Premier League.
But the reality is that the Europa League is the next logical step for Saints, the empty boasts of Nicola Cortese and Mauricio Pochettino that it was Champions League or nothing was not the words of ambition, it was merely stringing people along as to what was the realistic targets of the club.
For Saints to jump from 14th to 4th was n impossible task in the short term and even the longer given the resources that the four sides that finished in the top four last season have.
But Saints can keep moving forward as a club by making short step and many of them, qualifying for the Europa League is one of them if only for the reason it allows you to attract players of a higher quality and a good un in the Europa League will certainly improve our bargaining power in the transfer windows to com.
So today is the day that Saints step back on to the European stage and put the name f Southampton Football Club on to the lips of football supporters across the continent.
The clue is in the title, we are a football club and should ant to compete for every trophy we can, that means not just king up the numbers, Cortese and Pochettino were not ambitious for Saints, they were more concerned about not getting relegated, they were scared of cup runs because they felt it got in the way of staying out of trouble.
Ronald Koeman and Ralph Krueger are sports people, they are winners, they know if you chase success then you will get money and that ill enable you to chase success with more resources, if you chase money you never catch it.