So let's start with the reality of Saturday's first home performance. Purists will argue that it's only results that matter but such a view is short-sighted when it fails to take into account the manner of how the result was achieved.

Many is the victory (ours away to Middlesbrough in our relegation season included) that masks the reality of a team's situation and motivation.

What you would have noticed had you been at St Mary's on Saturday afternoon (and frankly I have to assume you weren't courtesy of the near-20,000 empty seats), is a team playing the majority of the game with a swagger and confidence belying their lowly position, tender age and the financial sword of Damocles which hangs precariously over every player's head.

In fact, not since the mid-80s have I seen a team look so comfortable with the ball at their feet, expressive interplay abounding and a genuine willingness to play for one another.

For forty-five minutes, a young Southampton ran recent Premiership players ragged, made them look tired and disinterested and perhaps they were. After all, it must be hard to raise your game to play a 20-year old you have never heard of, instead of the mighty Ronaldo, Gerrard or even, dare we mention his name, Walcott.

But something of Theo's spirit still infects our current crop and their confidence and passion is a refreshing change from the dross of the previous two seasons.

How much of this is down to coaching it is impossible to say. The new management team have selected from those players they perceive will survive the fire-sale, but they seem to have a plan. And if the plan is to play football, on the ground, building from the back and treating the ball as a long lost lover, rather than as a rabid dog, then who can complain?

I love to watch courageous footballers, risk-taking footballers, players who thrive on possession and pace. I've admitted as much before and am not alone among observers in voicing my admiration for Arsenal. Even Neil Warnock has confessed the same - it is the only club he and I would gladly pay to watch for pleasure (and we both discount our own clubs, where supporting is first and foremost a duty)!

There are those who will point to the recently barren trophy cabinets in the much lauded Emirates Stadium. But this is surely to miss the point? Is there a football fan alive who dreamt of bludgeoning his way to success?

Can I derive as much pleasure from the face-saving relegation performances as I can from the cultured feet of Messrs Paine, Keegan and the 'Holy Grail' himself? Of course not, and for good reason. Results are not everything.

If they were, the world would hold Pete Sampras in the same compartment within their hearts where Borg resides. Revered Pistol Pete may be, loved? Hmm. Not by anyone I know, save for Mr and Mrs Sampras (x2) of course.

And not for a moment do I decry his achievements. Sampras is a model tennis professional who is to be respected appropriately. But sometimes it's the manner of play which endears and blossoms. Golden days and great plays is how we map the path of our supporting lives.

Do you recall our astounding 6-3 victory over Manchester United? And the same victory 1-0 with that last minute Beattie header? Yet which holds you spell-bound when you find it replaid on 'The Premiership Years'?

Yes, the young men have some way to go to mirror the achievements of their greatest forbears. And a disappointing second half is a harsh lesson that for all the clever play, the basics remain paramount - finishing, clearing and marking were all below par (albeit predominantly from the wiser heads in the camp, John and Svensson specifically).

Likewise, conceding must not be allowed to deflect attention from the 'house' style. For a wee-while in the second half, the shock of Birmingham's 'against-the-run-of-play' goal was allowed to derail our confident passing approach.

With their own belief unexpectedly restored, the opposition were allowed to dominate as Kelvin resorted to hitting the ball long rather than looking for a more productive outlet close to hand (as was and must remain the plan).

The shame of the result is that it allows the naysayers their much vaunted evidence that this team is not good enough to survive in the Championship. They will cite a lack of strength, the idea of 'men playing against boys' and a host of other appalling clichés. But they would be wrong. Just as Alan Hansen was when he claimed the same.

The truth is youth has strengths and what young players lack in experience they can compensate for in expression; as long as they are allowed to. And this is where every fan has a role to play.

Risk-taking inevitably means failure as well as success. Slide-rule passes do not always reach their destination. Apprentices often make mistakes in search of perfection. Youth sometimes disregards convention with humbling results.

But, a recently departed hero of mine was prone to say; "Nine times out of ten when we take a big risk on a young man, not only does he rise to the occasion, he frequently performs better than we imagined."

So my message is not to you naysayers, not to the doom-mongers and nor do I beseech your support in person. My message is to JVP and the team.

Don't be sidelined from your approach and as Sir John Harvey-Jones was also wont to repeat, "stick to the knitting" and you won't go far wrong.