There weren't too many football fans who did not welcome Leicester City's success last season, but for club's like Saints it now places a weight on their shoulders from their supporters.

Most Saints fans cheered on Leicester to the Premier League title last season, but there was that nagging feeling that it could have been us, indeed only Leicester scored more points than us in the second half of the season in the Premier League and as great as our sixth place was, there was that tantalising glimpse of the top four that made us think if only.

And these lies the problem for teams like Saints and indeed West Ham, Stoke City, Everton and any other team that has aspirations for the top six let alone four.

The reality in the Premier League is that the top teams earn a hell of a lot more than the rest in income from commercial areas, to give an example Spurs will earn £10 million a year more than us from their shirt sponsorship deal, Liverpool around £20 million and Manchester United a whopping £40 million.

This is just on shirt sponsorship and this is the tip of the iceberg and it highlights the task a team like Saints has to even make the top six let alone any higher, these teams can afford to throw away money year in year out and still have more than us the next summer.

This time last year Saints fans would have torn your hand off for sixth place, in reality most hoped for the 7th place just achieved and perhaps saw that as the best that could be attained, but last seasons Premier league was an anomality, perhaps never to be repeated where several big clubs royally cocked it up and Leicester City and to a lesser extent Saints took advantage.

But this is where the blessing of Leicester sticking it to the big boys becomes a curse, many think that if team like Leicester can do it, then there is no reason why that should not be repeated year in year out, Saints supporters will look at anything less than sixth as going backwards, but the reality is that if we can get in the top 10 again that is still good progress.

Not only are the top six clubs far richer than us, but Leicester have some cash to splash, so do West Ham and of course Everton, all three have on paper at least equal or better foundations to build on as we do in terms of finance and squad.

The reality of the Premier League is that money does not just talk it shouts, Leicester have literally been one example in the 24 years of the Premier League were money has not guaranteed you the title, will it be another 24 years before this feat is repeated ?

I would say that there is a strong chance, people talk of Manchester United's demise but they have still been in the top six in the past three years, their measure of failure is our measure of success, harsh but true and only true because of the money.

Every year one of the big clubs will get it wrong, the manager will implode, the squad will be too old perhaps and that gives the likes of Leicester and Saints to capitalise, but it is usually only the one team, not the number of teams that did this year.

So Saints supporters have to make sure that they do not let Leicester City's example become a yardstick to beat the club over the head with, our strategy and long terms goals have to remain unaltered, if we chase Leicester's example we will not reach it, if we chase our own goals we might just surprise everyone yet again.

We need to recognise what Leicester did, aspire to it, but not use it to judge our own standards by, with the big clubs in the main all having new managers for the coming year and all throwing money at new signings if everything goes to plan then 7th is our best hope, but one of them at least will get it wrong and we again need to be ready to jump into the gap.

We are doing things on our own terms, last season proved that, perhaps we will never be able to compete on their terms, but that doesn't mean we can't be successful, we need to be behind our team, not jumping on their back if things do not go right, some Saints supporters seem to have been waiting for the bubble to burst for the past few seasons, it will at some point, but our long term strategy should hopefully mean it will be a minor blip rather than a permanent problem.

Photo: Action Images

helpineedsomebody added 12:34 - Aug 2 the vast sums of money that the club has had over the last 5 years+ this seasons new epl contract if they want to spend a little bit of it why not upgrade stmarys . its allright saying we have to live within our means & i would agree but the realty is that every man women & the dog in this country is in dedt they have to live with that the difference is they dont get 100 million pounds per year they have to earn it. the club is on course to spend 40 million pounds on a training ground for what big mac trained the players on a dump & produced a forward line that perhaps we will never see again shearer/ matt/ rodney wallace + he had a world class scouting network no mr dof for him

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SaintNick added 14:53 - Aug 2 Whilst I get the gst of your argument it is a little bit like saying why does Britain need to build aircraft carriers after all Nelson won everything with a few wooden ships with sails, times have moved on with regards to training and sports nuitrition as well as teatment of injuries etc
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GeordieSaint added 17:50 - Aug 2 Alan shearer was on £29.50 a week when he scored that hat trick against Arsenal. A YTS contract if anyone remembers them. Just to put it into perspective, could you imagine the fuss and the money a 17 year old would make if that happened tomorrow? Different rules, different times. Come on you saints, top 4 next year please.
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Jesus_02 added 18:30 - Aug 2 I blame Cortese for the lack of ambition at the right time - eh Nick?
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