There are some who would say that this week marks the end of the post mortem of the 2009/10 season and the start of the build up to 2010/11.

Its certainly the first week of the club's starting its own media campaign with the launch of the new kit on Saturday, a design that seems to have gone down well with most Saints supporters.

Also its the week when the fixtures are announced and the season really starts to take shape as we will be able to see who we are playing and when, in essence it starts to become real rather than just a few numbers.

On the numbers front, just about every bookmaker has made Saints favourites for the title, this is not surprising given the money that Saints spent last season and the rumoured captures in the next few weeks.

However with this dubious honour comes pressure, Saints are notoriously bad starters, we have barely won an opening game in the best part of three decades and Alan Pardew has to reverse this trend if Saints are to turn bookmakers odds into reality.

If he doesnt then the weight of expectation may be too much for him, not to mention the alledged rumour about Nicola Cortese's opinion of him last season, in short the first five games are crucial, if Saints sit anywhere outside of the top 3 then alarm bells will ring, anywhere outside of at least the play off spots and Pardew's position will be tenuous to say the least.

But this isnt how it should be, the Club should be settled and preparing itself for a big promotion push, but it isnt, the unrest surrounding Cortese and the manager is simmering, not to mention the unrest amongst the supporters after this months season ticket announcement, this means that everyone is on tenderhooks, the pressure is already mounting and its still almost two months till a ball is kicked in anger.

The season ticket debacle kicked the lid off the pan and brought resentment out into the open, last term saw it as a cardinal sin to question the Chairman or Manager, however the lack of thought for fans over season tickets has made some supporters realise again, that they are not part of the big family of Nicola Cortese, but merely paying customers, that being the case they want results or else.

A succession of Chairmen at this Club over the past few years has seen how pressure mounts on them if the team doesnt perform, whilst there have been very few calls for the managers head in that time, the Chairman has taken the brunt of the ire of the supporter base, whilst many would counter that in the main that has been against Lowe and there is some truth in that, there was also discontent against Michael Wilde, Leon Crouch and even Jim Hone during their tenure at the head of the club, in short historically Saints fans havent usually blamed the man getting it wrong ie the manager, but the man who is allowing him to continue to do so.

This is possibly not good news, we saw how close Cortese was to sacking Alan Pardew allegedly, so the worry is that at the first sign of pressure the Chairman may take the easy option, but there are often extenuating circumstances for anything and the easy option is not always the right one.

On the face of it this should be the best season in Saints very recent history, certainly since relegation from the premiership, however the pressure is mounting and there are far too many things simmering under the surface for my liking.          

Photo: Action Images

Kiwifiedpom added 11:05 - Jun 14 Nick, you really are a little pooh stirrer aren't you? There is, as you say going to be pressure on Saints to win the League without you adding to it. Any fool would know that was going to be the case when we failed to reach the play-offs. You raise an incident that happened 6 months ago and exagerate it and then qualify your agitating by the use of the word ALLEGEDLY. Whether there is any truth in what you infer is irrelevant as now is definitly not the time to raise it. There is going to be enough stress and pressure in the forthcoming season without you adding to it, and I thought you were a Southampton FC supporter, Or are you just an egotistical little man?

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dirk_doone added 11:19 - Jun 14 He's not little!
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arfurdent added 12:30 - Jun 14 So what is your hidden agenda, did you want to be Chairman? How much of your editorials are spin designed to boost access to this website, who cares what damage it does
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patred added 13:08 - Jun 14 I don't think that questioning Cortese, or anyones methods, or agendas are necessarily a bad thing. Nick is not demanding transparency, he was promised it, along with all fans of this club. Transparency starts with keeping us informed. Without information we cannot form our own opinions of the clubs intentions. Transparency has be lacking, we have only the OS to go by, and they have taken to teasing us lately. The local press, for whatever reason is excluded, and can only print rumours. Late announcements on ST and the methods of payment have exasperated fans. Teasing us over the shirt release was at best a piss take. No wonder ill informed rumours start. Far from being the promised transparent, the Cortese regime has been furtive and secretive. Transfers and targets need to be kept secret, but witholding simple ST ticket information is a bit OTT. It has become a complete PR disaster. More of the same will give rise to 'them and us' feeling, and erode the feel good factor.

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SaintNick added 13:22 - Jun 14 My editorials are designed to try and collect all the rumours flying around, seperate the wheat from the chafe and give Saints supporters something to think about. Anyone who thinks me or this or any other website puts pressure on the team is overestimating my/its power. 7 months ago I was shouted down a little in the Cortese V Echo debate and told to shut up as the echo were little stirrers and Cortese loved the fans etc, I think the events of the last couple of weeks have vindicated what I said back then. Pat has hit the nail on the head with his thoughts above and he understands more than most the behind the scenes dealings, I dont always agree with Pats views nor he with mine, yet we both know football is all about opinions and if we all agreed on everything, it would be the most boring sport in the world

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jehram added 13:26 - Jun 14 I disagree, I think that Cortese has made his position clear in his last interview and I for one will not sweat the little stuff until such time as he can be judged as having failed on the big stuff - ie us being promoted next season. I will take our success in the transfer market as a reasonable indicator of his delivering on promises, but apart from that I can't see much point in bothering too much with off-the-field antics as long as they show (as they do) a steady improvement in things actually delivered.

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SaintNick added 13:40 - Jun 14 Two years ago most pompey fans were very happy with their lot, their Chairman, manager and CEO were all being judged on their performace on the field and their performance in the transfer market as a reasonable indicator of their delivering on promises, Pompey fans didnt bother too much with the off the field antics.
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