On Saturday Southampton equalled a club record unbeaten run that had stood for just over 102 years. many illustrious names have managed the club in the period since, but none had come close to the record, but now one man has.
When Russell Martin was announced as Saints manager back in the summer, the response from the St Mary's faithful was decidedly mixed, but few were actually excited.
After all although he had extensive experience as a player both in the Premier League as well as the lower divisions, including the Championship where he had played for Norwich as a player as recently as 2017/18 season, as a manager he had less than 4 years experience.
Most Southampton fans were open minded, although his record as a manager with MK Dons and then Swansea was essentially only 3 1/2 seasons, after two disastrous appointments they looked past this and were whilst not exactly jumping with joy willing to give him a chance.
Some though were not so generous, they pointed out that he had done nothing as a manager, that at Swansea mid table was as good as it got, they did not see it as a good spell at a club with little money, they damned him as a failure.
He was dubbed Rusty by his detractors, a pun on his first name and what they saw as disastrous possession football was slurringly called Rustyball.
A poor pre season fuelled the fire and some early games were we made mistakes were jumped upon, even the first four games were we won 3 and drew 1, were the excuse to focus on the fact that we had conceded some soft goals, not that we were a side that at the start of August didn't know who was going or staying in that transfer window, or for that matter who was coming in, put bluntly the manager and indeed certain players in the squad, both already at the club and newly arrived were singled out for criticism before they had been given a chance to show what they could do at Championship level.
A four game losing streak saw the manager jumped on with some demanding his sacking and back in September the club was just about at the lowest point since it had been in administration back in 2009.
The scrapping of "Rustyball" was demanded and a return to good old fashioned football demanded, it was only a vocal minority, but it was starting to creep into a greater number with each defeat in that four game run.
The knives were also out for Sport Republic with claims that they were only here to make money etc.
Most of the supporter base were still willing to give Russell Martin a chance though and so were the board, they had faith that Martin was the man for the job, that possession football was the way forward and they stood firm.
Those of us of a certain age could draw some strong comparisons with the situation back in 1974, when Lawrie McMenemy for a year or so after our relegation was the most hated man in Southampton, but the Saints board then had faith in their manager and history was made when it easily could have gone a different way.
So here we are four months on from our lowest ebb and slowly but surely Russell Martin has stuck to his guns, not compromised and turned us from the worst defence in the division to the tightest, from a side that struggled to score goals into the second top scorers in the league, into a side that is truly a team, it defends as a team and it attacks as a team and we don't rely on one man for those goals, virtually the entire squad have contributed.
In doing all this at the weekend Russell Martin had turned us into the best team in the Championship, yes perhaps that four game losing spell will mean that we are not top of the table in May, but since we started the 19 game unbeaten spell we are the best team bar none, in that period Leicester have gained 44 points, Saints have amassed 45 !
So all the evidence is there of the job that Russell Martin has done in the last four months, he has taken us from a period of instability to one where we are an organised, disciplined and confident side, something that just 9 months ago was not something that you would say about the team as we slumped to relegation.
In doing so he has had to equal the 102 year old record set by the Saints side that gained promotion from Division 3 in it's second season in League football back in 1921/22 when we were unbeaten for 19 League games on our way to being champions of Division 3 South, hopefully that is a good omen.
When you consider the great Saints managers who have been at the club in this 102 year period and indeed the great sides they created, the likes of Ted Bates, Lawrie McMenemy, Gordon Strachan, Alan Pardew, Nigel Adkins, Mauricio Pochettino, Ronald Koeman and perhaps the unsung hero Claude Puel who's 8th place finish in the Premier League and a League Cup Final is in the top half dozen or so Saints season's ever in what was achieved.
Looking at those names makes Russell Martin's achievement all the more amazing.
So yes we have yet to beat the record and perhaps I'm jumping the gun a little as hopefully it will continue a little longer, but the weekend was not just about the record, it was about another step in the promotion run and our win over Sheffield Wednesday was just about our most complete performance of the season where everyone from Goalkeeper to the forward line has to play their part, it also saw us land a big psychological blow on Ipswich, our jumping above them into second place might have been brief, but it was a big reality check for them that they are no longer way out in front of third place.
All this being the case then it is right that Russell Martin takes a bow for the great work that he has done in such a short time, whatever happens this season he has turned the club around and he has given the Southampton supporters pride back in their club and team !