If the League One season was 48 games long you would not have bet against Saints winning the League.

Brighton have been worthy winners of the title, they have lead the League for most of the season and at one stage looked set to win it by a landslide, however come the final whistle on the season they lead Saints by only three points, just as Saints got into their stride the season was over if only it had been another two games longer.

In reverse though Brighton have the most points over 46 games and can rightly claim to be the best side over the season, however we could also claim that take out the opening day when they won and we lost and it is in fact Saints who haave been the better side, Brighton started with a flourish we didnt and that opening day has effectively decided the destination of the Trophy, in the next 45 games we have gained exactly the same number of points as the Seagulls and a better goal difference.

Of course this is only a quick review of the situation, Brighton deserve their title, but I think what it does show us that Saints after going through a period of great upheaval in the first quarter of the season have emerged as the strongest side in League One this season and perhaps the best prepared for life in the Championship, Brighton recently got a chip on their shoulder about the fact that Saints had five players in the PFA team to their three and how unfair this was as they were the Champions etc, but perhaps a glance now at the league table and the way that Saints have come strong in the final three quarters of the season proves that the ratio was right, we might not have been champions but we have won more points and scored more goals than Brighton since the opening few weeks of the season.    

Photo: Action Images

SonicBoom added 12:56 - May 8 If, if ,if.... Let's not be churlish. There is only one currency in football. Success. They came first and deserved it. They got more points over a season so saying we got more points after a bad start is immaterial. Let them enjoy it. We are up and need to look to next season and make sure we prove what a good team we are.
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hmmm added 14:59 - May 8 Pretty flimsy argument. Happily it doesn't matter as we are promoted - which is all that matters. Brighton's season ended after 42 games when they had already won the league, and hence they had no motivation thereafter.
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bstokesaint added 17:00 - May 8 Yeah, it's all about next season now. Good work this season Nick. I know it's not always an easy job. I'm confident next season will be another promotion chase. Looking forwards to some new grounds. COYR.
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ericofarabia added 17:00 - May 8 We make better and considerate lovers though - a slow start but building up to an amazing climax and we still came 2nd!!!
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1teeminants added 19:25 - May 8 We were brilliant with a great late run but lets not kid ourselves . Brighton took their foot off the gas ffs.
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Spot51 added 07:02 - May 9 Goal difference per game played is a good indicator of a successful season. Only 3 sides in English football to have scored more than +1 goals per game this season: Man Utd = 1.083 Saints = 1.043 Chelsea = 1.028 Elsewhere in Europe and score of greater than one has been achieved by Celtic, Rangers, Livingston, Anderlecht, Genk, Copenhagen, Dortmund, Bayern, Olympiakos, Ajax, PSV, AC Milan, Porto, Benfica, Fenerbahce and Trabzonspor. So we are in quite select company!

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Dperc added 13:25 - May 9 Daft article this. Just be happy with 2nd place and the quality of our goal difference as noted by Spot51. Brighton had no motivation over the last 3 games whereas we desperately needed the points. If we'd have had the same mentality all season we would have won the title, but it's as relevant as debating how much we'd have won the league by if we'd signed Messi last summer.

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kcaj1164retsof added 22:57 - May 9 If we had won at Rochdale that would have won the title on goal difference.
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