Saints are flying high but its still early days yet, so when should Saints fans really start dreaming that the Club can realistically challenge for the top 5 positions.
Todays Daily Echo pointed out the last time Saints jumped to 3rd position in the top flight was back on 21st October 1989 when a scintillating 4-1 victory over Liverpool propelled us to those heady heights after 10 games had been played.
We have however almost scaled to that heady height in more recent times, almost 10 years ago to be exact when after beating Portsmouth 3-0 at St Mary's on December 21st we sat 4th in the table at Xmas.
Back then we had played 17 games and amassed 26 points to get there, although it should be noted that Man Utd were leading the league on 40 points, followed closely by Arsenal & Chelsea on 39 apiece, so it was pretty clear that although Saints had hit 4th there was no way in the World they had a chance at 3rd.
But with three clubs running away with it, it did give Saints a reasonable shot at a Champions League place, it seems hard to imagine back then, but right behind us were Fulham, Newcastle, Charlton & Birmingham, all within 3 points, with the nearest big club being Liverpool in 9th with 22, Spurs were languishing on 18 points only 2 off a relegation spot and Manchester City were not yet the rich club they now are.
Those who remember back then will perhaps recall that after this it all went a bit pear shaped, we lost the next 3 games, indeed only winning once out of the next 12th with Gordon Strachan leaving and an eventual finish of 12th with 47 points.
So perhaps our benchmark for this season, the time when we can truly say we have played a cross section of teams should be that weekend before Xmas again, on the 22nd December we will meet Spurs at home and have played 17 games again, by then we will have also played Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City & Spurs, we will have tested ourselves against all the genuine Champions League contenders, after this run of games we will truly know whether we are up to the challenge that our Chairman & Manager have talked about as being the aim in the coming years and that is Champions league qualification.
I am not belittling what we have achieved so far this season, it is magnificent, no one could have dreamed that we would be where we are at this stage of the season, we have posted notice of intent, but that is far different to achieving that target. I would say that we have taken the first steps forward to that aim, but there are still many more to go.
Saints have already started to open up a gap between themselves and 9th place, a massive 7 points to be exact and this is probably the first benchmark we should be setting for ourselves, 8th place this season is extremely realistic and achievable, after that it gets tougher, but if Newcastle could hang on for 5th a couple of seasons ago, then there is no reason why Saints shouldn't.
But before we start counting our chickens lets get the eggs hatched and those eggs are points on the board against our rivals in the top six, if we come through two tough trips to the capital to face Arsenal & Chelsea and the two home meetings with Man City and Spurs intact then we will be set up for the second half of the season.
The Premier League is littered with Clubs who have stormed up the league in the early stages yet slide down as winter sets in and injuries and suspensions take their toll, I want Saints to get a top six finish and higher as much as the next man, but I remember the words of Lawrie McMenemy before the 1976 cup final, as Tommy Docherty and Gordon Hill of Manchester United told the entire world how good they were and what they were going to do to Saints, McMenemy quietly told everyone that Saints would get on with their job and confident in their abilities, no big boasts or grand intentions, just quiet confidence and that's what I want from Saints now, we know what we do well, lets just let our football do the talking and get on and do it, if we beat a few top sides and sit in the same position at Xmas, then the TV pundits will stop condencendingly patting us on the heads and giving the same plaudits they have given to other hopefuls over the years and start truly taking us seriously.
The benchmark for me is Xmas, if im sat eating my Xmas dinner and looking at Saints in the top six then I will start to dream.