IT doesn’t seem so long since the end of last season.

That’s probably because even though the Ashes and Wimbledon have been in full flow, clubs such as Man City, Newcastle and our own Saints have kept the game very much alive.

Of course, alive is what all Saints supporters wanted our club to be at the beginning of the season and, thankfully, the f i n a n c i a l f u t u r e w o u l d a p p e a r to be secure. Hopefully the days of people like Leon Crouch paying the wages to keep the club afloat have now gone.

Alan Pardew will be keen to get started.

The club needed someone like Alan and he will probably admit that he needed to get back into management.

He has been quoted many times to say he would only have considered what I call the old third division for a club like ours.

The problem with summer talk is it can often cloud the real issue.

In Saints’ case, that started at 12.45pm today and the realism is not just relegation but the minus-tenpoint punishment.

I do think the league officials have to look at this.

As I told Lord Mawhinney and appealed to him, I thought relegation was enough punishment because no matter what the reason for the deduction it can only be the supporters who are punished.

However, realism means everyone knows the situation.

Already the faithful have made their move by buying more than 11,000 season tickets, which means that we will probably have one of the highest gates in the league this season.

That can only be of help to the management and players.

Last season the two highest crowds were Leicester, who got promoted, and Leeds, who for the second year running reached the play-offs and must now be favourites to go up.

The league is strong in so far as Charlton and Norwich, who, incidentally, have sold nearly 20,000 season tickets, will be battling to follow Leicester’s example and go straight back up.

It will be extremely difficult for us to do that with the penalty points.

But, as long as the faithful see 100 per cent effort on the field and progress off the field, I’m sure they will accept the situation.

Another club constantly in the news is Newcastle, renowned for fanatical support but also for not always making professional decisions.

I spoke to Alan Shearer briefly recently.

He was obviously frustrated and keen to finish the job he started.

But, after delaying a holiday, he realised nothing had been solved in the boardroom. Whether he eventually ends up in the hotseat is still up in the air, but undoubtedly he will be the supporters’ choice.

At the other end of the scale we had Manchester City, who were splashing the cash left, right and centre.

It amuses me to think that one of our past chairmen took David O’Leary to task for having the temerity to say he fancied one of Southampton’s players when every day now we get statements from agents, players and clubs saying who they would like and where they would want to go.

A case in point is Joleon Lescott at Everton, who presumably last season was very happy to be at a club that was having success and looking ready to break into the top four.

But, as we approach the start of the Premiership, he must surely now be hoping he moves to a team with a lighter blue strip because, from what we hear, his basic wage of only £30,000 per week could well become £90,000.