Aribo, Onuachu relegated with Southampton as British Premier Minister watch
Supers Eagles stars Joe Aribi and Paul Onuachu were on Saturday relegated with EPL side Southampton, with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak a core supporter of the club watching.
If Sunak was looking for deflation; he came to the right place. Wearing a grey hoodie and sitting in the crowd at St Mary’s, the prime minister witnessed Southampton’s relegation to the Championship being finally sealed with a limp defeat by Fulham, confirmation of another downturn that could take years to recover from.
Carlos Vinícius and Aleksandar Mitrovic were the ones who did it, their goals leaving Southampton eight points adrift of safety with two games to play, but the belief in these players drained away long ago, the team’s shot at survival evaporating piece by piece with every botched decision made and all the missteps taken.
There have been too many even for Sunak to count, from the dithering over Ralph Hasenhüttl to the mid-season gamble on Nathan Jones to the slew of unproven youngsters brought in and the cluster of leaders and experience let go.
“You’re not fit to wear the shirt,” the fans sang at the end, but this was about more than performance, more than just the players. Rasmus Ankersen and Henrik Kraft, the co-founders of Sport Republic, who acquired a controlling stake in Southampton in January 2022, have a lot of explaining to do as well.
The last time Southampton dropped out of the Premier League, in 2005, it took seven years and a spell in League One to get back. The Championship is an unforgiving place for clubs unsure of their identity and direction. More staff are expected to leave in the coming weeks, with Rubén Sellés, the latest head coach, likely to be among them.
James Ward-Prowse could be too, their midfielder and captain, who joined Southampton as an eight-year-old boy. There will be interest in some of the youngsters as well and perhaps they will thrive in a more stable environment. But which of these players would the fans be sorry to say goodbye to? Ward-Prowse absolutely. Kyle Walker-Peters? Romeo Lavia? It is hard to find many others.
“It is a moment that has been coming,” Ward-Prowse said. “When these things happen you go away individually and as a club and ask if you have done enough? I don’t think we have.”
Fulham have made the Premier League look easy since coming up last year and their travelling fans got what they were looking for: a comfortable victory in the south coast sunshine and a goal for Mitrovic, who replaced Vinícius to make his first appearance since March 19 after serving an eight-game ban. “It was nice to see him score and nice to see Carlos score as well,” said Marco Silva. “It’s a very good headache to have.”
Silva’s side may miss out on European qualification but they are closing in on the club’s Premier League record of 53 points, which they accrued in 2009.
Southampton’s fans were celebrating an opener after Carlos Alcaraz raced on to Ward-Prowse’s through-ball and finished, only for the flag to go up for offside. The away end cheered and then, 40 seconds later, exploded as Fulham took the lead instead, a brilliant counterattack ending with Harry Wilson sliding in the lively Harrison Reed, who squeezed the ball across for Vinícius to tap in.
The fans serenaded Mitrovic as he returned to the pitch in the 65th minute for the first time in eight weeks, and seven minutes later he scored. Wilson was given as much as space as he needed to cross and inevitably it was Mitrovic who headed in. A few Southampton fans began filing out and the steady exodus continued until the end. They saw this coming months ago.
