I have to say i wasn't bothered about the result of this game before the kick off or after the final whistle for that matter, I knew that i was simply going to watch just what the Premier league has become, a have not strolling around against cannon fodder.
I waked to the ground not feeling any sense of anticipation or for that matter with any worries about what the result would be at the end, in truth I felt noting, no excitement, just a sense of resignation about what the Premier League has become, 7 clubs who have a lot more money that the other 13, some of them achieving it under a cloud from owners who it is alleged have put it in using dubious methods that breach Football Fair Play rules and also some who are not exactly ethical.
Now personally I don't really care if some football clubs get richer and but up players for stupid money and play them stupid wages, but every week the time gets nearer when we need to expel these clubs from the Premier League, let them get on with playing in a European Super League whilst the rest of us can get back to a game that has some sort of equality again and where any club in the top two divisions can dream of an FA Cup win and in the top flight , it is not just between 2 clubs every year.
This is not sour grapes for the result on Saturday, I have just grown tired of what the premier League has become, It is not aimed now at the like of me the match going fan, but increasingly aimed at a TV audience, not just in the UK but global, we used to laugh at the Scottish Premier where only two teams have won the League in the last 38 years, but we are not much better now and although some would point to Leicester City, that was 7 years ago now, the Premier League has moved on since then.
I watched the game with little enthusiasm, Saints put up a decent fight first half and should have gone in at the break level, they had put in a shift, but once again we lost a little concentration in the final minutes of a half and like normal up pops up someone for a free header at the far post, mind you it was a fella called Haaland whom I believe has been playing quite well this season, I wouldn't really know, I don't pay much attention to the teams at the top.
The second half started ok, but within 13 minutes we were two nil down, and 23 minutes 3-0 adrift, a few minutes later and there was a little hope when Sekou Mara continued his good run of scoring against Manchester City and scored his first Premier league goal, perhaps giving us some hope for what will be a game that matters next Saturday.
The 4th was inevitable, a penalty that from where i was sat looked a little dodgy, I haven't bothered with watching a replay, so I haven't got a clue whether it was the right decision or not, perhaps someone can enlighten me.
With 10 minutes left I did something I rarely do, I left the game early, not because i was hacked off by Saints performance, I was resigned to the result and manner of it long before kick off, our team battled bravely and made sure that it wasn't a complete rout and that was all I asked before kick off, but because I was sick of what i was watching.
Manchester City's team of prima donna's throwing themselves to the ground and snarling in a linesman's face when he had had the temerity to award a throw in to Saints.
But it was more than that, the Manchester City fans were getting up my nose, once upon a time they were the so called club of the people of Manchester, when you met them at games, they would tell you they would never be like Manchester United, either the club or the fans, that they were for what football was all about, against the commercialism etc and they would rise above all that.
Now here we are in 2023 and they didn't rise above it, they embraced it, there was something that made me feel sick in the stomach, I couldn't quite pinpoint it, but I have now, I could accept when the likes of Liverpool & Manchester United with their Worldwide support embraced the Premier League ethos, although they still had local based fans they had been swarmed by the tourists and overwhelmed I could sympathise with those long term fans who have seen their club taken away from them.
With the London clubs it was slightly different, their fanbase was less centralised and they were more fickle, it was natural that the bulk of their support embraced the big bucks.
But with Manchester City and now Newcastle it is different, it isn't the armchair fans who are embracing their sudden riches, it is the local fans, those same City and Toon Army fans who revelled in their image as the underdogs, of supporting their local club and sneering at the likes of Liverpool & Manchester United as full of tourists and no longer the club of their own hometown.
That is why it rankles, if those two bastions of the supporting your local team etc, then what about the rest of us, if the Middle East Oil Sheiks came calling at St Mary's would I start wearing a tea towel on my head and suddenly take an interest in camel racing or would i be able to just walk away and turn my back on the club that i have followed for over half a century ?
That is the big question that is turning in my head, am I that shallow as the 95% of Newcastle and City fans seemingly are, would I want success at any cost ?
I would hope not, but could any of us truly say they would walk away if suddenly their club had a chance of glory, but at a dubious price.
That is why I walked out early, but it is also why I will be back next week and indeed next season, poor results, relegation won't dampen my support, I have been through all of that over the past 51 years since January 15th 1972 when I first stepped into the Dell, as indeed have the City faithful and Toon Army over the same timescale.
The only thing that may stop me would be us turning into Manchester City or Newcastle, club's of the people who took the 30 pieces of silver !