Those of you with a good memory for fan-produced football songs may recall the Red Stripez' magnum opus 'Southampton in Europa' from this time last year.
Recorded to mark the Saints' Europa League debut, and released before they lost to FC Midtjylland in the play-off round, it featured cameos, dad-dancing and rhyming the same word with itself.
We were maybe a little harsh in comparing it to '
Put a Donk On It', but it seems our review struck a nerve, so much so that they seemingly recorded a new version just to spite us.
https://twitter.com/TheRedStripez/status/773165054460096512
Well, as requested, this writer decided to 'get it around his gums' and gave the new version a spin.
After all, the Red Stripez were kind enough to send the clip to us directly, the least we could do was provide a point-by-point rundown.
We'll let you watch the clip before reading our thoughts, because we're nice like that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOyGvA4KBWw
Okay, here we go.
- We can only imagine it was recorded after Ronald Koeman departed for Everton but before Claude Puel was appointed, based on the decision to replace 'Koeman takes us higher' with Liebherr takes us higher. Either that or it was a wry observation on the fact that, in modern football, even the best manager needs rich backers in order to achieve anything of note.
- They've really stepped up their cameo game this time around. Most of the extra stars even look like they know they're being filmed, too
- When you compare the two versions, the squad overhaul really sinks in. Graziano Pellè and Sadio Mané have both gone, as well as Victor Wanyama and Koeman, while Nathan Redmond and Charlie Austin have both earned themselves a mention after joining in 2016.
- Good on them for listening to our constructive criticism and ditching the back/back rhyme.
- That's still not how you pronounce Fonte. Admittedly the extra syllable does help it scan better, though.
Roll on Southampton in Europa 2017. We're still trying to work out what they'll do if Puel takes them to the Champions League.
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