Alan Pardew is in confident mood after turning Southampton’s season around. The Saints started with a ten point deduction due to financial problems last season and it took Pardew a bit of time to find his feet at St Mary’s Stadium.
But the Saints are definitely on the march now and catapulting themselves up the League One table and Pardew believes they are the team to fear in a division that contains the likes of Norwich, Charlton and Leeds.
Can you make the end of season play-offs?
We are going to need a lot of luck in the second half of the season because we have got a lot to do. Where we are, I think all those top teams barring no-one will be desperately hoping we don’t get in to the play-offs because we are going to be such a threat if we get in there. That is now our focus. Before that, I was talking mid table. We are now focused very much on the play-offs and we will try and do everything we can to get in there.
Supporters’ expectations have risen since the start of the season haven’t they?
They (the fans) might have to wait a while for us to be promoted because we are coming from what I consider as being right at the bottom. We lost four or five of our best players when we were in administration. We were nowhere near ready and, although we have got ourselves going, we are a long way off what I think is good enough to be as good as Leeds, for example, and to win this league – so we are having to close the gap. The administration and leadership of this club from above me has been first class. Any manager in the country – well, I would suspect 90 per cent of the managers – would be very envious of my position.
You have been busy in the transfer window haven’t you?
We are actually being pro-active in the transfer market and there aren't many teams doing that, so there will be a lot of speculation about who we are taking and who we are not taking. The crux ultimately is about who you actually bring in and I am very, very pleased to have been able to bring in the two guys in the centre of defence that I wanted, and who are going to improve that area. You only have to look at our record this season to see where we needed to improve and I'm not afraid to increase the competition there as we are scoring enough goals, but not stopping enough. This new group have the opportunity to do that.
Why did you sign Daniel Seaborne from Exeter?
I got tipped off about him at the start of the season by a colleague, a good colleague of mine, we have been watching him and then obviously we played them recently. He was what I expected him to be. I thought he was terrific on the day and he is naturally left-footed, which gives us the opportunity of being able to pass to the back four and not have a centre half adjusting his feet or passing it back to the goalkeeper when we can play forward or into midfield. There are a lot of attributes his age, his character, he’s a winner, and that is what attracted me.
You have also signed Jon Ostemboor from your League One rivals Norwich haven’t you?
I think he could do very well here. It’s an opportunity for him and he’s here until the summer so he has to prove his worth and I think he will show that. He was in the League One team of the year a few years ago. For us he offers a real thrust down the right whilst making us more secure defensively. As I say the big thing for Jon is to be a success here as his career is now at a little bit of a turning point. He’s at the end of his contract and he has had clubs queuing up in the past but they’re not now, so he needs to deliver.
