Stop making excuses, Saints

With a clutch of important Championship clashes coming up, the players have to focus on their own jobs and forget the boardroom wrangles and outside pressures.

The buck stops with George Burley and his inconsistent squad to perform on the pitch and justify their high wages.

We can keep quiet no longer...

THE time has come to end the excuse culture which is in danger of totally sinking any hopes Saints have of a top-six finish.

George Burley's men return to Coca-Cola Championship action this Saturday at home to lowly Blackpool.

With Saints having been inactive for a fortnight, the Tangerines' visit is the first of five games in a critical 15-day spell for under-pressure boss Burley and his squad.

After Saturday, Saints travel to Ipswich next Tuesday to face Jim Magilton's men, who will be bidding to rack up a 12th successive home league victory.

Then they visit Milan Mandaric's Leicester City, who could be under new management by the game on December 1 at the Walkers Stadium.

Next up is a bid for revenge against Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday, December 4 - the Owls having humiliated Saints 5-0 at Hillsborough last time out on November 10.

And Saints will seek their first Championship home win against Hull City, one of the division's less glamorous clubs, like Blackpool, but who have drawn their last two games at St Mary's, four days later.

Skipper Claus Lundekvam told the Daily Echo last Saturday that the continuing catalogue of takeover talk, financial problems and boardroom squabbles had affected the players.

There is no doubt that, of all the off-field talk, the one thing that did the most damage was the ill-timed statement to the Stock Exchange the day before Saints hosted Charlton.

Detailing the fact that players might be sold in January if no new investment was brought in, Saints have picked up one point in three games since - and a previously creative squad hasn't scored at all in that time.

But, although Lundekvam is entitled to his opinion, Saints' well-paid squad should not let the off-field problems get to them.

Takeover talk was rife at the club through April and May 2006, yet Burley's team still managed to win five of their last seven league games of that season.

It can be done.

Though the executive directors have given the players an excuse not to perform, that doesn't mean it has to be grasped.

Burley must stay pos-itive - Saints remain only five points off the play-off zone.

Yet they are the same amount of points off the relegation area, too.

That cannot be ignored.

The late, great Alan Ball used to say: "Players don't need an excuse to lose games" and, as usual, when the Saints legend was holding court, he was speaking a lot of sense.

One high-level Saints source told the Daily Echo this week: "The players are paid to concentrate on the football. It's not as if they're not getting their wages."

Another boardroom source said they fully agreed with Ball's comments.

Manchester United's players continued to win trophies throughout the controversial and high-profile takeover by the Glazer family.

Arsenal's players have maintained superb results against a background of directors-related speculation.

Leicester City, under ex-Saint Micky Adams, managed to win promotion from the Championship in 2002/03 despite the club being in administration for much of that season.

Saints simply must garner a good points haul from their next five games - three of which are against teams below them in the table and another against a side, Hull, who are just above them.

If they don't, they will probably find themselves nearer the drop zone than the top six and a vicious circle of bad defeats = lower crowds = less money coming into the club = more financial problems.

That is the negative view.

The positive view is to start picking up points against teams that Saints should be beating.

They have at least four chances in the next 15 days, three of them at home, and 10 or 12 points will make the world of difference.

Two five-goal thrashings against teams below them in the table does not engender confidence.

It is up to Burley to restore those levels.

But it is also up to the players to start earning their impressive wages, paid for by a set of fans who feel they deserve to be bracketed in the long-suffering' category.

The players have to start taking responsibility.

It should not have been left to youngster Andrew Surman to come out and face the media after a 5-0 loss at Sheffield Wednesday.

There were more senior players sharing a dressing-room with him - skipper for the day Wayne Thomas, Kelvin Davis, Rudi Skacel, Youssef Safri, Christian Dailly, Stern John and Jason Euell.

Surman chose not to hide, and good on him.

But he should be taking his lead from others, not leading them.

At Saints, the directors get a lot of publicity never afforded to their counterparts at other clubs.

That is not the way it should be. That is not the way to run a football club.

The players and manager should take centre stage.

The fans will continue to support those wearing red and white - but they are desperate to see something back in return.

At present, their hopes and dreams are resting on a bunch who mustn't accept the easy route out and take the excuses they're being offered.