 The end to this campaign has been tough |
It has been a very strange week. Everyone is aware that we are playing in the FA Cup final, but I don't think the magnitude of it has sunk in yet.
We have been trying to keep things in perspective, although that's been difficult as the big day approaches.
The buzz in the city has been manic, and even going into the stadium to train, there have been hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people milling around the ground.
In amongst all the build-up to the FA Cup final, I was chuffed to be called back into the England squad for the games against Serbia & Montenegro, and Slovakia.
Of course I was disappointed to be left out of the last round of Euro 2004 qualifiers, but I didn't go shouting the odds.
That's not my style.
I knew that what impresses Mr Eriksson is what I was always going to do, get my head down, work really hard and continue to score goals.
That's what I did, and it's brought its reward.
I'm back in the squad, but I know I've got to show exactly the same qualities to get a place in the team, so I'll really be knuckling down when I join up with the England squad.
That won't be until after the South Africa game, and it would have been a real honour to meet Nelson Mandela, but I can appreciate why Mr Eriksson has decided not to pick any Saints or Arsenal players.
That means I can focus entirely on Saturday and I suppose it will really hit us when we wake up on Saturday morning.
The day will build from there and I'm anticipating it will be a fantastic sight around the stadium - that's what everyone tells me.
There might be a few butterflies, but we've played at grounds with as big a buzz, although the occasion might be a bit bigger.
One thing we've all agreed on is that we're determined to take in as much as we can - and that includes a piece of silverware.
 I was delighted with finishing eighth in the Premiership |
In the end, I wasn't able to catch Ruud van Nistelrooy or Thierry Henry for the Premiership Golden Boot, but I'm happy that I was able to stay in the race right to the very end with two such brilliant strikers.
I finished as the top English goalscorer in the Premiership, and I'm pleased with that, especially as I didn't score in the first nine games of the season!
So I suppose it's inevitable that being the top English scorer, and being back in the England squad is going to lead to speculation about my future.
The fact that I played under Alan Shearer as a kid at Blackburn, and that we have similar styles will lead people to put two and two together, even if they do come up with five.
I'm not aware of any contact between Saints and Newcastle, Inter Milan or any other club for that matter.
As far as I'm concerned, my future is at Southampton.
I'm happy, and why shouldn't I be?
We've finished high in the Premiership, we're in the FA Cup final, and playing in Europe next season, and there are a lot of so-called bigger clubs who would swap for that.
I think we've got something going here at Southampton, and we're on the brink of going places, and I want to be part of that.
If I didn't feel that, I wouldn't have signed a new contract.
MMIX
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