Dell Boys Away

Peter Gilbert. 29.1.00

So no sooner do we deliver at Villa than we are on the road again to taint the Saints. It's quite a long way down there on a Wednesday night at the end of January when the weather forecast is more akin to Siberia than a jolly jaunt on the south coast. I'm hoping for a quiet day at work on Thursday!!!!!!! The last time I went down to the 'Dingly Dell' I got sunburned and it was early May. We lost that game but what a great day out.

This is an important game for us.....a genuine chance to get some more points on the board in our Premiership campaign. An opportunity to stay in contact with the top six which has to be our ultimate (and realistic) objective for this year. We must fancy our chances here despite the fact that Soton have been in the top flight for a long time (rather like Coventry) since let's face it....they're not very good (rather like Coventry) but then we seem to have a habit of playing rather porly against such opposition. It seems we have a tendency to 'mirror' our opposition instead of wiping the floor with them. We've been through a 'mini' bad patch but we might be coming out of it and a couple of signings haven't gone amiss.

About Southampton F.C.

The Saints have completed their 22nd year in the top flight.

The club was formed in 1885 named St Mary’s YMCA, this is where the nickname Saints came from.

The club moved to it’s present stadium The Dell in 1898.

They later changed their name to Southampton Football Club and joined the football league in 1920.

The clubs best honours are:

· Division 3 Champions 1959/60

FA Cup Winners 1976 ( beating Man Utd 1-0)

The Saints also came Second in Division 1 in 1983/84 behind Liverpool, a great achievement as Liverpool were the best team around at the time.

Southampton have got through their fair share of managers, having six different managers in the last 8 years.

First it was Ian Branfoot then came Alan Ball, next up was Dave Merrington who only lasted 1 season. Graeme Souness was appointed for the 96/97 season but then resigned when the season ended.

Then came Dave Jones, his first season was excellent finishing a respectable 12th place in the league.

His next season though was very disappointing, with only 2 points from the first 9 games they were rooted to the bottom of the premiership for most of the first half of the season. As has often been the case the players pulled up their socks and performances started improving and 11 points were obtained from the last 5 games when they scored scored 9 goals and conceded only 4.

His next season was doomed since he had a court case hanging over his head which I am pleased to say he emerged from unscathed and innocent but it shattered his managing career at Southampton.

Glenn Hoddle was brought in as a 'temporary' replacement but Dave Jones has never returned and now manages Wolves.

Peter Taylor and Glenn Hoddle are big friends and Glenn gave Pete the opportunity to become involved with the England set up as coach to the U 21's. A post he held with great distinction and unrivalled success........so they sacked him.

This season The Saints are doing OK but a struggle for survival looks on the cards again as they once agin appear to be inconsistent and are probably only hanging on to Hoddle till the Spurs Job becomes vacant. They are another team who intend to move to a new ground in the not too distant future.

We beat them at home in September.

Verdict:

This game could go either way ( well that's an intelligent comment) we could win lose or draw (really) we are capable of all three...but if we take the game to them we could find ourselves in possession of another three points........which would be nice!!!!!

See you there. You can't miss me I'll be shivering in a blue shirt.

Up the City !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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