THE champagne may be on ice for the time being but these Southampton fans are already preparing for a promotion party.

Punters at The Saints pub in Millbrook are in buoyant mood ahead of their team’s vital run in, with high expectations surrounding their charge to the Championship.

Many believe an automatic promotion spot is already “in the bag”, despite tricky away games at Brentford and Plymouth lying in wait this weekend.

Saints finish their season at home to Walsall on Saturday May 7 and pub landlord Eugene McManus hopes the day will spark scenes of celebration reminiscent of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy victory last March.

“We had more than 400 people here for the final last year and the atmosphere was magic,”

Eugene said. “If it goes down to the last day at home to Walsall the celebrations will definitely be on a similar scale. It’s something we are all excited about and everyone’s confident that Saints will pull it off.

“We plan to have a DJ here on the Saturday night with a Saints-related theme running until midnight and drinks promotions for anyone wearing their Saints shirts.

“Hopefully it will be celebrating automatic promotion rather than a play-off place.”

Eugene, who took over as landlord at the pub 14 months ago, also plans to use the night to pay tribute to the club’s former owner, Markus Liebherr, who died in August last year.

“I think on a day like that when we will potentially be celebrating a return to the Championship it’s fitting to remember Mr Liebherr too.

“We will have a large poster of him on display that Saturday night because he is still in the forefront of everyone’s minds for what he and his family did to save this club. We wouldn’t have days like that if it weren’t for him.”

Eugene has even allowed himself to look ahead to next season, with a breakfast club and shuttle service to home games set to be introduced. “This pub was named after Saints in 1961 so we need to align ourselves more closely with the club. We want to run a ‘Come to The Saints before you go to The Saints’ breakfast club, which will hopefully be taking fans to Championship games come August.”

Charge for the Championship

How are you getting behind Saints push for the Championship? Let us know – contact Luke Tugby at luke.tugby@dailyecho.co.uk