Emotions were running high as the great names of Saints discussed the fall of their team. Adam Leitch was there to capture the mood...

IT was the morning after the night before and emotions were still running high.

As the great and the good of Saints' history gathered upstairs at East Horton Golf Club to tuck into bacon sarnies and tea and coffee before taking part in the Lawrie McMenemy golf day in aid of the Hampshire Autistic Society, there was only one topic on the menu.

Namely, Saints. More specifically, their relegation some 17 hours previously.

Four former Saints managers were in attendance - Lawrie, Alan Ball, Chris Nicholl and Gordon Strachan.

Then there were legendary former players such as Nick Holmes, Mark Dennis, David Armstrong, Jimmy Case, Matt Le Tissier and Nicky Banger.

Then plenty of people with a Saints connection from Paul Doswell of Eastleigh, celebrity fan Mike Osman and many sponsors who had paid for a round of golf with the stars in aid of the Whiteley-based charity, but who also plough their money into hospitality and sponsorship at St Mary's.

For all these people no longer connected with the club there was a personal investment in what happened to a group of strangers on Sunday afternoon.

"The atmosphere is a bit like a wake," joked McMenemy, keeping spirits up in his role as chief organiser as a patron of one of ten charities he regularly devotes his time to.

"It's great for all these people to give up their time for such a worthy cause and the girls who have organised it have done a great job.

"But there is only one topic of conversation and that's what happened to Saints.

"Like me so many people have happy memories of the club over the years and you can see from the way people are that it doesn't just affect the professionals but the whole community."

McMenemy, the club's most successful boss, was able to cast a weary and experienced eye over the events.

However, the whole gambit of emotions were on display.

From the management stance of McMenemy inevitably came questions to former players.

Dennis said: "It was just so painful after 27 years and for me, with the years I played there as well, to watch them go down was terrible.

"Harry and Jim did a great job to take it to the last day of the season because I think under Sturrock or Steve Wigley we would have been down before then.

"I have to say I think the problem was continuity, or the lack of it. We've had so many managers in such a short space of time and that's not good for any club. Now we need a long-term manager, to keep the good players together and to get promoted again." Again the analysis was somewhat deeper, the slightly younger head voicing a slightly more controversial view.

But then the true fan was also represented and the contrast, without the constraints of a direct tie with the club, become clear.

One of Southampton's most famous exports, Mike Osman is born and bred in the city and is a lifelong fan. He was fuming at how things had gone. The emotion was raw, the anger was genuine and the agony was heartfelt.

"For me it all started to go wrong after we were in the FA Cup final," he said.

"We never built on that team and Rupert Lowe shot himself in the foot with the wage structure he put in place."

He continued: "He's been in the job 20 minutes and he thinks he knows better than the fans.

"He calls them the lunatic fringe and I really get upset by his arrogance towards honest, decent supporters.

"These people have been watching football a lot longer than 'Mr Jolly Hockey Sticks.' He has to go now."

The serene surroundings of East Horton Golf Club may have seemed an unlikely place to get a snapshot of emotions but there they were for all to see.

They may have been famous faces but although they may have left the club the club has never left them.

Lawrie McMenemy is right - relegation really does affect the whole community.