Chris Kamara - Saviour of The Saints

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Season Review

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Chris Kamara. Unbelievable. We were all used to hearing him shout that word, on Soccer Saturday, but then, Sky went bankrupt. And he was made redundant. Then things didn’t look so good. But he was in luck, as his friend, and Middlesbrough chairman, Steve Gibson, offered him a job following an argument with club legend Tony Mowbray. The fans were not happy. But on the opening day, they won 2-1 against Wolves and kept in front of the other teams for the whole season, topping the league, and he then secured a massive transfer coup when he signed wonderkid Carlos Fierro for just £3.5m. Boro had a side good enough for the Premier League. And he got the best out of them. But it wasn’t enough, as he soon went to a stuggling Fulham and lost 4-1 in his first game with them, to the rivals Chelsea. Dimitar Berbatov was scoring goals, and he fired them to 3 wins, but a goalless draw at home to London rivals West Ham marked the beginning of the end. After a run of 4 losses in 5 games, Kamara resigned. But he was only gone for a week. He was gone to Southampton. And here, he would work wonders.

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Nicola Cortese entrusted him in successfully replacing Tony Mowbray who had ironically been at the club before Kamara. And he got off to a decent start, with numerous draws, but then Southampton lost twice in a row. And the pressure was on, with the club in 18th. So what did Kamara do? He replaced Steven Ireland with the unproven Patjim Kasami. And he put Jamie Mackie on the left wing. And what happened? Saints won their next game. And their next. It soon became a reccuring pattern. They did not lose again. In fact, the only game they did not win after that, was a 1-1 draw with Stoke. And, then, one of the biggest games in their season, which could put them into the play offs. Away at Ewood Park to play Blackburn. But they were 3-0 down. And there was not long left. So Kamara put Jay Rodriguez on. Rodriguez bagged a hat trick, and Rickie Lambert got 2. It was 5-3. It was the best comeback ever. And Saints were on course, on course for promotion.

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So, Southampton needed a final day win to secure a play off spot. And they got it. They battered Huddersfield and put 4 past them to finish 1 point behind Tranmere in 6th. So, they had to play Wolves. Wolves who had missed out on automatic promotion by one point. Saints fans would have to admit, they would probably not be able to beat them. But the doubts had disappeared after just four minutes. It was Patjim Kasami. He pounced on a loose ball, and poked it home. The teams went in at the break with Southampton still a goal ahead. But again, four minutes after coming out of the tunnel, Saints got another goal, through Jay Rodriguez. 10 minutes later, Rodriguez had all but secured their place in the final with another superb goal. Manager Chris Kamara however, decided not to start Jay Rodriguez in the second leg. And then Patjim Kasami picked up a booking which would rule him out of the final. That is, if they made it. Wolves had scored. Twice. The pressure was on. But early in the second half, Maya Yoshida got on the end of a corner from Adam Lallana, and soon Rickie Lambert had put them level on the day, ahead by 3 once again on aggregate. Then, the final whistle blew. They were through. Against all the odds. Wolves, were expected to win comfortably. They were distraught.

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And the final was to be competed by Southampton and Tranmere, who had just come up from League One. They had beaten Stoke with an injury time goal to win 1-0 on aggregate, and they certainly did not expect to be in the play-off final. But they deserved to be. And it was a tough game, but there was not many chances either. Until Rickie Lambert stepped in just after half time, picking up a great pass by Rodriguez and smacking the ball into the corner, past Owain fon Williams in the Tranmere goal. Southampton were headed up. And they had one man to thank.
Chris Kamara. Saviour of the Saints.

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