The team that is promoted from ND1 generally finds survival in the Premiership extremely difficult. Despite the optimism of many contributors to this site, the bookmakers see us as a Bottom 4 club.

This is understandable. The Premiership we left just over a year ago will not be the Premiership to which we return. It has moved on. Anyone who watched teams like Wasps, Bath or Tigers at full throttle will appreciate that what we saw was light years ahead of a romp against CAB’s or Sedgley Park. And anyone who travelled to Pertemps Bees or Newbury will know that such performances will be woefully inadequate against even the weaker Premiership clubs.

There is a huge physical and psychological leap to be made and we wait to see how the Saints master the switch from a Playstation 2 brand of rugby to the real stuff.

This task is entirely in the hands of Jim and Nobby and we feel confident that they are well aware of the challenge. We also have a responsibility. As supporters, we have been able to coast through last season. Now, we must step up. Much is said about the level of support at FG, but we tend to blow hot and cold. Expectations are often pitched way too high and when sometimes they are not fulfilled, the atmosphere in the stadium can go from rock concert to piano recital in a couple of minutes.

A repeat of 2007’s debacle is unthinkable. A repeat relegation would, I suggest, deal this great Club a blow from which it is hard to envisage a meaningful recovery. The impact on retention, recruitment and revenue would be total.

With a few less honourable exceptions, Saints’ loyalty to its Saintsmen has been commendable. We have nursed the long-term injured and we have tolerated the disruptive. This loyalty was reciprocated by the players. There was a clear acknowledgement of responsibility, only a few jumped ship and, led by Bruce Reihana’s prompt contract renewal, almost the entire playing staff elected to stay.

The prospect of another season in ND1 would not bring the same reaction. These days, it seems that every contract has an element of wriggle room and any player with a degree of ambition and an evident future would have his agent and lawyer searching for the emergency exits.

Despite available funds and the presence of competent and well-connected recruiters, both official and unofficial, we have seen that recruitment to a potential Bottom 4 Club is by no means a doddle. In the days of almost-guaranteed Heineken participation, it seemed that a phone call, a cup of coffee, a guided tour of FG and then a whisper of wealth could tempt the game’s elite. Now, with the superstars beating a path to Irish and French Clubs where European entry is virtually certain, who will be tempted to swap running out at Carisbrook or Loftus Versfeld for a bus trip to Rotherham?

Finally, revenue. Even the most deluded of optimists in the Saints’ front office must have been stunned at the level of support shown by Saints Nation throughout the 2007/2008 campaign. It was incredible. Records were broken. Why was this? I suggest it was a mixture of motivations. Partly it’s…well, it’s what we do on a Saturday afternoon. Partly a desire to share the players’ pain. Partly a conviction that this might be the Demolition Tour re-visited. Partly, and just this once, a wish to experience rugby closer to its roots. Partly an urge to show those minnows what a Big-Boy fan base looks like. And partly, the apparently insatiable compulsion of Saints fans to “make the trip”, wherever it may be.

But all of this was on the clear understanding that it was for just this once – a never-to-be-repeated single-season dip into the world outside, before we resume our rightful place as one of Club Rugby’s heavyweights.

This tremendous support is rightly a source of pride for all of us who are part of it. But what seems cast-iron today may seem frighteningly fragile, should the realisation dawn that for the foreseeable future we become one of the yo-yo Clubs, unable to retain our future stars, lacking the prestige to attract new blood and hogtied by the financial constraints imposed by a glorious stadium and draining attendances.

It’s a nightmare scenario and one I am hopeful that our management can avoid. But nothing is assured. I believe that next season will present this Club with the most profound and serious challenge it has ever confronted.

I look forward with excitement and no little apprehension to see us rise to it and prosper.

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