Southampton were 4-1 down at half time after being 4-0 down, well on track to beat Derby's record.
What can happen when a League 1 side wins back to back promotions - see Norwich City.
What should happen when a League 1 side wins back to back promotions - Southampton.
Yes they played well in stages against the Manchester teams, yes the starting fixture list has been unkind.
But is this going to be par for the course for any other teams that go up? A season or two in the sun and then straight down with a season of performances like us last year?
If you consider that it wouldn't be unreasonable to write off the top 9 places with Man Utd, Man City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs, Liverpool, Everton, Newcastle, Sunderland (I've not included Villa for now), there's then another 3 or 4 who've been ever present for the last few years (Fulham, Stoke), a few more who usually end up in a relegation scrap (Wigan), a couple who've yo-yo'd (Albion, west ham) and Southampton/Reading who've not been seen in a few years.
Basically, Is it going to get even more difficult to get promotion and become an established club? Bolton and Blackburn weren't exactly suffering second season syndrome but came down with us and even the Championship isn't exactly full of small names, the Leeds and Forests of the division would stake a claim to 'belonging' in the top flight.
I think from memory there's only a third of the championship who haven't played in the modern Premier League setup, and several who used to have fallen into League One and League Two.
What can happen when a League 1 side wins back to back promotions - see Norwich City.
What should happen when a League 1 side wins back to back promotions - Southampton.
Yes they played well in stages against the Manchester teams, yes the starting fixture list has been unkind.
But is this going to be par for the course for any other teams that go up? A season or two in the sun and then straight down with a season of performances like us last year?
If you consider that it wouldn't be unreasonable to write off the top 9 places with Man Utd, Man City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs, Liverpool, Everton, Newcastle, Sunderland (I've not included Villa for now), there's then another 3 or 4 who've been ever present for the last few years (Fulham, Stoke), a few more who usually end up in a relegation scrap (Wigan), a couple who've yo-yo'd (Albion, west ham) and Southampton/Reading who've not been seen in a few years.
Basically, Is it going to get even more difficult to get promotion and become an established club? Bolton and Blackburn weren't exactly suffering second season syndrome but came down with us and even the Championship isn't exactly full of small names, the Leeds and Forests of the division would stake a claim to 'belonging' in the top flight.
I think from memory there's only a third of the championship who haven't played in the modern Premier League setup, and several who used to have fallen into League One and League Two.