Saints 11 year tenure in the Premier League will end at approximately 6.30pm this evening after an afternoon at St Mary's which is as bizarre as the entire season has been, for many it is a case of getting the whole shambles over with and starting anew next season.
Today Ruben Selles will take charge of the team against Liverpool, to be blunt he should not be, not just for his performance as manager, no one can say much in defence of that, but because it is just plain stupid to put him in this position as a person.
Selles will not receive a warm welcome, in fact the opposite, whilst he is not hated as Nathan Jones was, he is still seen as the man who took us down.
That will only fan the flames for those that want to be able to vent their feelings this afternoon and I can understand why they would want to do so, I have spent most of this season urging supporters to stay behind the team, but with the season now done and dusted and relegation confirmed, I fully expect it to be a lively afternoon.
So the presence of Selles on the bench will not serve any good purpose, not just from the fans viewpoint,. but also the players, with his departure confirmed what can he say to them that will motivate them, this is a team that will just want to get this game out of the way and scuttle off.
Yes there will be some who will put in a shift, but what can Selles do, who does he pick, it is all change after the game, his presence in the dressing room will add nothing, to be blunt the club would have been better letting one of the coaching staff take charge rather than provide a target for the fans vitriol that could turn the whole atmosphere toxic.
Bizarrely it seems that manager elect Russell Martin will be in the stands , this is slightly better than parading him on the pitch, but only just, I would hope that the club will not place him in view in the Directors box, but keep him hidden from sight in one of the corporate boxes, there is a danger that as much as the fans might turn on the team and club, that they will also turn on Martin before he has been officially appointed.
As for the game, there is absolutely nothing on it for either club, Liverpool start the game on 66 points, they have nothing to play for they have qualified for the Europa League but can't be caught by Brighton one place below, nor catch Manchester United above them.
In a strange twist it could be claimed that they have had a worse decline this season than Saints, last term they finished 2nd with 92 points, some 26 points more than they have this season, they failed to qualify for the Champions League.
As it stands Saints are only a mere 16 points less than they finished last season on.
God only knows what team will run out in the worst ever Saints home kit, a design that had so little red in it, singing "Come on you Reds" could invoke the trade description act, just how Ruben Selles is expected to choose 11 players is beyond me.
He has no incentive either way, he is not building for next season so why should he include youth, but if he goes for those that on paper are the best players, then how much effort will some of them put in, I am not saying they are not trying, but they are just as disillusioned as the fans, yes it could be said they are professionals they should be able to turn up and perform, but football is not like that.
Even good players have to have leadership, they have to have motivation, they have to see direction, but our squad have had none of that and even when they think they have caught a break, VAR intervenes and picks out a toenail offside as has happened three times in the past weeks.
Some will self motivate, want to go out with a bang, but there are those that will not.
Selles dilemma is does he go for those that are now well entrenched in a losing mentality or does he try youth, the problem with the latter is that it might have been a bad season for the visitors, but they have still massacred a few sides on occasion, do we want to see them run rings around our promising players.
I would hope that Ruben Selles would go for an experienced starting line up but have a few youngsters on the bench to try and show the fans there is a way forward.
Personally if I was Ruben Selles I would throw a sicky this afternoon, he may be the name on the door on the day we go down, but the problems started before he was given the job, why he would let Sport republic put him through this afternoon I don't know, why they would do so is even more of a mystery.