2008: Southampton are relegated to the third tier of English football and Pompey win the FA Cup.
I don't write about our neighbours very often. After all, they have gone from fierce rivals to a comedy sideshow in the space of a few years and their silly little taunts no longer have any conviction as they struggle at the foot of the Championship.
Now, as you may know, the Scummers may end up being relegated on Sunday after their game with play-off chasing Sheffield United. In case you weren't aware of the final day permutations (or just want to laugh to yourself whilst reading them again), here they are:
- Scummers will go down if they lose to Sheffield United unless Leicester lose by at least 15 goals at Stoke, and even they aren't that bad!
- Scummers will go down if they draw with Sheffield United and Leicester get a result at the Brittania Stadium, unless Sheffield Wednesday lose at home to Norwich by 13 goals.
- Scummers will go down if they beat Sheffield United but the Foxes triumph at Stoke and the Owls win against Norwich and Coventry and Blackpool draw with Charlton and Watford respectively.
So it's not looking good for the Stains but they made a habit of scraping survival when they were in the top flight and I wouldn't be that surprised to see them do it again.
On the other hand, football tends to throw up funny ironies and if the reverse of 1976 happened would be up there with the banner that the Scummers took to Fratton Park in 2004 that read "GOING BACK DOWN WITH HARRY AND JIM" which surely must be the king of all ironic banners.
Of course, even if our neighbours did plunge into the murky depths of League One, we'd still have to do our bit by winning the FA Cup and the FAW aren't helping us with that after rescinding Darren Purse's red card for his challenge on Andy Cole last Saturday.
I've seen that challenge and there's absolutely no way that Purse should be reprieved and I'm willing to bet that the FAW wouldn't have even considered reviewing the situation if Cardiff weren't in the FA Cup Final.
Still, I'm not going to whinge too much. Purse isn't the best defender in the world and I still remember that own goal he scored for us at Fratton Park when he played for West Brom.
Anyway, come Sunday I'm sure we will all be a Blade for a day if they fail us, we could always be a Fox, Owl, Sky Blue or Tangerine for the day too!