When the news that South Melbourne had finally secured the NPLV title came to light, the club’s board was conveniently in a meeting.

President Leo Athanasakis says all the meeting’s agenda went out the door very quickly when they discovered the Knights had scored a late goal against second on the ladder, Oakleigh Cannons.

Their 1-0 loss to the Melbourne Knights on Wednesday meant there weren’t enough games for the Cannons to catch up and overtake South. It was game over for the Cannons.

“We had no expectations, because Melbourne had just won the Cup on Sunday and they really had nothing to play for, but to their credit they’re a fighting team,” Athanasakis tells Neos Kosmos.

“Straight away my phone started and Twitter went into overload, I got inundated.

“The players wanted to celebrate, so we went out into the city till five in the morning.”

One person absent at the celebrations was the commander-in-chief of the team, coach Chris Taylor. Always keeping his mind on the next match, Taylor says he switched his phone off to avoid the spotlight and keep his mind clear for Sunday’s match.

“I had my phone switched off, I switch off from games, I can’t change what the result is unless we’re playing, it’s just business as usual,” he tells Neos Kosmos. “Rather than over celebrate we need to focus on what we need to do.”

South Melbourne can proudly say their change of fate is thanks to Taylor’s philosophy.

Coming in to what was a flatlining team, Taylor instilled a new culture in the club and recruited players he knew would aspire for greatness, not choose the club to end their careers.

“He raised the Titanic,” Athanasakis says. “When he arrived, we had hit rock bottom as a team and in the space of 18 months he’s turned a fledgling team into a championship winning team.

“He’s shown us what type of culture it takes for a football team to win a championship.”

Taylor felt that ego had to be absent from the pitch to make the club competitive again.

“Obviously South Melbourne has a very proud history, we’re used to having top players, we just tried to change that a little bit, to make sure no one is bigger than the club, that the club comes first,” he says.

Now with a young team moulded to his philosophy, he’s seeing players striving for greatness, striving to get a chance at the A-League and beyond.

Top goalscorer for the NPLV is South Melbourne’s own Milos Lujic, keeping his family’s legacy proud.

He’s hoping to get picked up for the A-League next season and has definitely done a lot to get noticed.

But despite the championship, the job isn’t done.

Two games still remain, with the blockbuster against Oakleigh Cannons looming on Sunday.

It’ll be a tough match for Miron Bleiberg’s boys, but toppling South Melbourne on the night they get their silverware might be reason enough to get the team excited.

Instead of a finals series, South Melbourne will now enter into the NPL playoffs with the other state champions.

Their first match on the weekend of September 20-21 will be against South Hobart.

Taylor is now setting his sites on the NPL finals series, using all his upcoming matches to prepare for the best of the states.

Even with the cup almost in his hands, Taylor isn’t content with just one title.

“I’d like to be national champion, not Victorian champion,” he admits.

“If we focus on it we’ve got a good chance of going all the way.”

Getting the players to come to the same conclusion might not be so easy.

They will be going up against some of the best teams outside of the A-League so they can’t afford complacency.

After their Hobart match, South Melbourne will most likely face a NSW or South Australian team.

It’s the Sydney sides Taylor is more worried about.

“You’ve got to respect the sides from Sydney, they’ve got a few players who have played for Sydney FC, ex-A-league players,” he says.

“We’re a fairly young side, you’ve got to say that they’re probably more experienced.”

But as a South Melbourne faithful, hope never fades for Taylor.

“I’d back us any day on any team,” he says.

Now secure at Lakeside Stadium for another 40 years, the future looks bright for the Greek Australian team.

They have another trophy to go along with their four national titles and nine state ones.

Good thing they’re building a new museum to house everything.