Saints go into the final week of pre-season with plenty of work still to be done.

Alan Pardew has emphasised his need for a centre-back, particularly with the news that Wayne Thomas has picked up another injury, which leaves Chris Perry and Olly Lancashire as the only central defenders with first-team experience. Jan-Paul Saeijs would be a popular recruit from Roda JC in Holland, but Pardew is likely to be looking closer to home.

Trialist Graeme Murty has a contract offer on the table and is expected to sign a one-year deal this week, which would make him eligible for Saturday’s curtain-raiser against Millwall. He’ll bring a wealth of experience to the defence, and the improvement in defensive organisation in the second half at QPR on Saturday when he came off the bench was noticeable. His signing might also allow Lloyd James to revert to his preferred central midfield role, although he’ll face stiff competition for places there.

Despite starting pre-season with a relative embarrassment of riches in the striking department, goalscoring has been a problem in the friendlies this summer. Stern John decided that a one-year deal in the Championship was preferable to a two-year deal in League One - a late decision that annoyed Pardew significantly enough to voice his disapproval in the media. Grzegorz Rasiak has been the subject of interest from Championship sides, but as yet none of them have tabled a bid big enough for us to accept, and it would seem unlikely that there are any clubs at that level who would take a chance with his salary demands. Marek Saganowski appeared the most likely to depart, having moved out of his Southampton home shortly after the end of the season, but to date there’s been little or no interest shown (ironically either by other clubs or the player himself in pre-season).

Pardew has said that he hopes to have four or five new players in by the close of the transfer window at the end of August, with one or two before the Millwall game. That would seem to be the bare minimum required, considering the various problems that have been identified over the course of the last three weeks.

What a relief it is to be writing this column again. My last offering at the end of March did not, thankfully, see the light of day, beginning as it did with the not altogether prescient words, ‘Well, we’re not in administration then.’ This was 24 hours before the biggest crisis ever to hit Southampton Football Club in its 124 years plunged us into the near-100-day nightmare of rumour, relegation, hearsay, heartbreak, Pinnacle and panic that we have emerged from.

However, emerge we have, with a new owner and the start of a new era - the post-PLC years. These 12 years, the last five of which have been virtually all downward spiral, have led to a rather clear conclusion: if you forget that the football side of things is what the whole edifice rests on you are doomed to fail. Regrettably, when power brokers and men with grand ideas get things wrong at football clubs, it is not they who feel the sharp end of their failure. Most of the time they can disappear to other jobs, having first undertaken the ‘not my fault’ roadshow.

The non-playing employees of Southampton FC who lost their jobs as a result of relegation in 2005 and because of the subsequent cutbacks can be forgiven any lingering anger today. For the last five years, fans have merely had their loyalty and devotion tested; most of us, however, have not lost our livelihoods because of the outcomes of a series of football matches. Remember that.

For many people, one of the saddest aspects of this takeover saga has been the association of Matthew Le Tissier with the failed Pinnacle bid. Regardless of their real intentions and ability to complete the takeover, I do not believe that Le Tissier should be criticised for essentially backing the wrong horse. He’s a footballer, not a financier, is as diehard a Saints man as any and simply wanted to use his connections to save the club. How many of us, in the same situation, would not at least try and prolong the club’s existence? Ultimately the desired outcome has been reached - it’s just taken a nerve-shredding amount of time. Additionally, if rumours are to be believed, we would not have survived to see this takeover without Leon Crouch’s munificence. He has played his part and deserves thanks.

The revisionists and the historians can now pick over the bones of the PLC years and there are plenty of arguments still to be resolved. It will remain a controversial period and it will probably be books subsequently published that will inform the most broad consensus in the future. For now though, there is a huge opportunity. Arguments and confrontations, over keyboards, pint glasses and in the stands, among the long-suffering Southampton fans can be put aside. The line in the sand can be drawn here and we must unite behind the club that we love.

Since 1 April, the football has been secondary to the survival of the Saints. Now that we have a future, on 8 August we can begin to help the team overcome the 10-point deficit that we face and avoid a bottom-four finish. Based on the last three seasons in League One, we will need 59-60 points just to stay up, usually good enough to finish around 14th. It is to be hoped that common sense and experience of English football is prevalent among whoever our new owner appoints to run the club and they make money available to sign the physically powerful and experienced players that we will need just to be competitive.

The appointment of the new manager is a crucial decision and we could do a lot worse than to return to Gordon Strachan following Mark Wotte’s dismissal. While not a particularly big fan of Wotte, he acted with dignity throughout the summer and even accepted the decision of our new owner with grace and professionalism. I hope he finds another job soon.

Hopefully, the bottom of the curve has now been reached and we can begin to level out, at the very least. It’s a long way back to the top flight, where we belong, but it feels like we are taking the first steps today. With season ticket in hand, I’m looking forward to talking about battles on the pitch rather than in the boardroom. See you on 8 August - the new era kicks off at 12.45 p.m.

So, it’s April Fools’ Day. Sadly, the news that trading of the shares of Southampton Leisure Holdings plc had been suspended by the Alternative Investment Market was not a seasonal joke.

The full statement to the Stock Exchange reads as follows:

The Company is currently in discussions with a number of parties concerning the injection of additional finance into its business. Unless this funding is secured, the Company will be unable to continue as a viable business for the forthcoming 12 months and is therefore unable to publish half yearly report to 31 December 2008 by 31 March 2009 which it is required to do under the AIM Rules.

Under the AIM Rules, a company that does not publish its half yearly report within 3 months of the period end will have its shares automatically suspended. The Directors expect that the Company will not be able to sign-off its half yearly report for the six months ended 31 December 2008 until the completion of a re-financing. As noted above, the Company is not in a position to publish its half yearly report to 31 December 2008 by 31 March 2009 and, as a consequence, its shares will be suspended from trading on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange plc, pending publication of its healf yearly reportfor the six months ended 31 December 2008.

It is widely believed that the reason for the PLC being unable to continue as a viable business is the refusal of Barclays Bank to extend the existing overdraft arrangement, which is reported to be £4m. It’s a rather stark and scary outlook of the current picture at St Mary’s, and one that few will be rejoicing about.

However, with reports that Southampton Football Club may not be forced to accept a 10-point deduction either this season or next due to a loophole in the Football League’s insolvency rules, may those who have proclaimed for a long time (with some justification) that the PLC structure is bad for the club ultimately be hailing its existence for maintaining the club’s place in the Championship?

For a bit of background to all of this, we have to go back to the month of my birth - October 1983. Irving Scholar had completed a takeover of Tottenham Hotspur some ten months earlier, and had come up with a plan to generate investment into the club by floating it on the Stock Exchange.

FA and Football League rules prohibited clubs from being public limited companies, but there was no objection by either body when Scholar announced his plan to circumvent these rules by forming a holding company, of which the football club would become a wholly owned subsidiary. This holding company would then be floated.

Fast forward to 1997 and Saints were embarking on a similar path. Southampton Football Club made a reverse takeover into Secure Retirements PLC - which was cheaper, easier and quicker to complete than a standard flotation - and became a subsidiary of the newly-named Southampton Leisure Holdings PLC.

When the finance for the move to St Mary’s was secured, the debt was transferred to St Mary’s Stadium Limited, another subsidiary company set up for the purpose of managing the stadium operations. SMS Ltd is wholly dependent upon the operations of Southampton Football Club Limited in order for it to function and, subsequently, its ability to pay its creditors. SMS Ltd owes some £26m to long-term creditors, according to its latest set of accounts, dated 30th June 2007 and available to download from the Companies House website.

Taking a look at the latest accounts for Southampton Football Club Limited, the company the Football League recognise as “the football club”, reveals a much healthier picture than that of the Group PLC or SMS Ltd - its long-term debt is less than £1m, although short-term debts to service various payments across the group and subsequently out of it result in overall debt of about £8m. The bank overdraft for SFC Ltd is nil, zero, zilch.

Therefore, as far as the Football League are concerned, the particular debt that has been put forward as the cause of the problems (i.e. the overdraft) is owned by the PLC and not SFC Ltd. This is the loophole that the club believe (and have apparently been backed up by the Football League when questioned by the Daily Echo) will enable them to escape the statutory points deduction given to clubs who go into administration.

Whether it is morally right that we should be able to squirm our way out of it is another matter entirely, but if the rules are as black and white as they appear to be in terms of which organisation the Football League recognises, it looks as though there is a way out.

Of course, that doesn’t mean to say that, if we stay up without a deduction, the team who finishes 22nd won’t embark upon a Tevezgate-esque legal challenge. I guess many would say we’ll cross that bridge if/when we come to it, but the ultimate irony is that the very fact that we have a PLC overseeing the football club as a separate entity may prove to be our saving grace, something that might just make a number of people - particularly among the SaintsWeb forum membership - explode!

Have Saints had a few good ‘uns..? Whenever someone asks me, I always think it’s just been one or two down through the years. We’ve always been a bit lightweight in that department. And then I count them and realise we’ve had our reasonable share. Ramsey, Ellerington, Traynor, a certain R.T.Davies, Williams, all in the 1940/50/60s and before my time. But the feeling still won’t go away, even when I think of those featured below, and the near misses/unmentioned, as for example, Mills, Kenna, Peach and Adams.

When I started watching Saints it was Dave Webb and Denis Hollywood’s time. Webb went on to be a damn fine centre half and score the winning goal in the 1970 FA Cup Final replay at Old Trafford with Chelsea, and Hollywood kind of made the LB position his own. When I used to look at my matchday programme, there his name would be, sticking out because it was longer than everybody else’s. Right above it was Webb’s make-weight return - Joe Kirkup. Joe was slow, but dependable, and together with Denis, forged a partnership that saw Saints through their growing years as an established top division team. Let’s see the pick of who came after.

Ivan Golac

Anyone who remembers Ivan Golac won’t be thinking too much about his defending. Dubbed the best right winger Saints never had, Ivan used to get caught upfield when he should have been back at RB. Amazingly naïve, you’d think for a player of 28. Yes that was his age when he arrived at Saints, and stayed for several seasons, with short periods at Bournemouth, Man City and FK Belasica in between. But Ivan was just doing that modern wingback thing of getting up the flanks and making himself available. But he was a very fit and fast player, so running back must have just been too boring to bother with.

Communist Yugoslavia had just started to allow its footballers to play abroad, should they get the chance, and Golac got his as one of Saints first foreign imports for a paltry £50,000. He had a charging style that the fans quickly warmed to, and he became a real crowd pleaser. So much so, he was voted Saints player of the year in 1981. And there’s no doubt the man could defend, which he did with skill and timing. In my memory, Golac never crunched his opponent, though no doubt he did occasionally. His was more of a removing the ball from the opponent style, by just taking it off him, and then passing it to a team-mate.

Famous for his wry humour, he claimed he learned English from listening to Rolling Stones records. His time at Saints coincided with some of the club’s best years at the top, and Ivan could rightfully claim his share of responsibility for that. Here’s Ivan many years later as Dundee United’s coach. Same old humour. Same old Ivan. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLht3PazUXY

Golac’s Saints Stats
Appearances (sub) [goals]:
League 167 (1) [4]
FA Cup 12
League Cup 13
Europe 3
Other 1
Total 196 (1) [4]

Wayne Bridge

Another fan favourite. He became Saints player of the season in 2000-01 within a side that was on the up. In his schoolboy years, Wayne had played further upfield, but settled into a wingback role for Saints, which allowed him to make surging runs up the left flank. Unlike Ivan Golac though, this player always used to be back to defend if the ball went loose. But he was, like Golac, in that he removed the ball from the opponent, rather than tackled heavily, and it was a rare thing indeed for a player to get round Wayne, such was his pace.

Coming right up through the junior Saints ranks, Bridgey held the Premiership consecutive appearance record of 113 matches [since passed by Frank Lampard], and only stopped there due to an ankle injury. Quite left-sided, he was fast, skilful, consistent and reliable. He balanced on his right leg and played football with his left. In the new millennium era, it’s hard to expect players to turn down lucrative moves, and Bridgey couldn’t look the other way when Chelsea came with £7M to tempt him away. But then neither could Saints, and he left with Graeme Le Saux.coming in the opposite direction.

Some point to his departure as the beginning of the slide at SFC, such was his impact at the club. He probably cemented his status as a club favourite after he left for Chelsea, with this celebration - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0H2BO9qUceU to this goal - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jr0s-uYevmc

Bridge’s Saints Stats
Appearances (sub) [goals]:
League 140 (12) [2]
FA Cup 11
League Cup 10 (1)
Europe 0
Other 0
Total 161 (13) [2]

Jason Dodd

Dodd was around longer than a significant proportion of Saints fans. Many won’t have known of any other consistent Saints RB, such was his dominance at the club. I always find it curious that fans knock Dodd for his lack of pace. It’s always those who are mainly St Mary’s era only though, because Jason didn’t lack it in his earlier years. Like many, he got slower as he got older. Perhaps a bit of speed training might have helped. However, like other modern fullbacks, he liked to get forward, and possessed an excellent cross, whether floated or driven in with swerve.

Right from his early years, he read the game well, and was rarely caught out of position, although a, well timed, solid tackle was sometimes forthcoming to save the day. Signed from hometown Bath City for £15,000, and after so long a career, there’s many stories of Doddsy, some good, one or two sullied, those of which are off the pitch, so we’ll not talk about them here. He first featured in his home debut, by providing Paul Rideout with a superb cross, producing a stunning headed first goal in the 4-1 storming of Liverpool back in 1989.

Probably the best, recent memory is his contribution to an excellent 3-0 victory over those people down the M27. Was it really back in Dec 2003..? Although he didn’t play in the FA Cup Final due to injury, Doddsy rightfully holds a Runners-Up medal for his contribution during the route to the Final. Happy days indeed..! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0StQKf5NRp4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQqIBOP8zhU

Dodd’s Saints Stats
Appearances (sub) [goals]:
League 372 (27) [9]
FA Cup 32 (1) [3]
League Cup 43 (2) [1]
Europe 0
Other 7
Total 454 (30) [13]

Mark Dennis

Christened Psycho, by fans, many years before Forest’s Stuart Pearce, he was the bad-boy who came to Saints from Brum City, and found an admirer and mentor under Lawrie McMenemy. It’s probably true to say that if Dennis had gone anywhere else he would have failed, but with careful nurturing, and a firmer control over his wild tackling and general play, he became an excellent, reliable LB who was knocking on the door of international honours during his playing days at Saints.

Also famous for the Accident at Fratton Park during which Top Division Saints were struggling to overcome Second Tier Pompey, and a coin thrown from the crowd felled Dennis as he was taking one of his long throw-ins. The referee’s added-on time, because of the coin throwing, gave Saints the chance to wrap things up 1-0, and move into the 5th round of the 1983-84 FA Cup.

Dennis was a stylish, skilful, and fast LB, who perhaps would have done even better with his career, were it not for his boss McMenemy leaving for Sunderland, and a parting of the ways. Played more games for Birmingham City, than for Saints, but because of his attitude turnaround, he bleeds red and white, and Saints fans love him for it. Still lives in the area, and is an occasional presenter on Hampshire Radio, partnering his brother, Stuart. - http://www.radiohampshire.com

Dennis’ Saints Stats
Appearances [goals]:
League 95 [2]
FA Cup 14
League Cup 16
Europe 2
Other 2
Total 129 [2]

Next time, the centre-backs…

When Blackpool were promoted to the Championship the majority of Saints fans saw the away trip as little more than an opportunity to have a bit of a jolly both on and off the pitch. Tomorrow’s clash, though, is strictly about taking the three points rather than kiss-me-quick hats and a stroll along the prom. After moving out to 13/8 for the drop before Barnsley’s midweek win, Saints now find themselves back as even money shots to get relegated and anything other than victory here is likely to see a further reduction in the price.

There are at least a few pointers to suggest that Mark Wotte’s men can leave Bloomfield Road with a priceless win. No team- including the seemingly doomed Charlton - have lost more games on home turf than the Tangerines with no club in the bottom half of the table able to beat our six wins on the road. It should also be noted that, prior to the recent home success against Norwich, they had lost four consecutive games on this ground.

Against this argument is Blackpool’s impressive recent form which has seen them take seven points from nine and their victory at St Mary’s back in August. Although Saints have only drawn three from eighteen on their league travels so far (a marked contrast to last season’s 10 away stalemates from 23), we just can not see past the team drawing their third successive game at a top price of 12/5 with Skybet.

After the uninspired bore draw against QPR we should expect to see a few goals tomorrow. Blackpool have only kept four home clean sheets so far and QPR, Doncaster and Watford have all netted at least twice on recent visits here. Regular readers will not be surprised to discover that we are opting for the 2-2 final scoreline at odds of 16/1. Both teams have enjoyed this outcome three times already this season and this was indeed the result the last time they met in the north-west.

Once again it is shiny pin time for punters who hope to make money on the first or last scorers. Only sidelined Ben Burgess has netted more than five league goals for Blackpool while no Saint has consistently produced in the Championship. Looking for a bit of value, we are going for Rudi Skacel to grab only his second goal of the campaign at odds of 25/1.

Match Odds (best prices at time of writing)

Rudi Skacel: best-priced 25/1 for first/last goalscorer

Blackpool: 7/5
Saints: 2/1
Draw: 12/5

Blackpool to win:
1-0 - 7/1
2-0 - 11/1
2-1 - 9/1
3-0 - 25/1
3-1 - 22/1

Saints to win:
1-0 - 8/1
2-0 - 14/1
2-1 - 11/1
3-0 - 40/1
3-1 - 33/1

Draw:
0-0 - 17/2
1-1 - 6/1
2-2 - 16/1

First/Last Goalscorer:
DJ Campbell 6/1
Brett Ormerod 6/1
Marek Saganowski 8/1
David McGoldrick 8/1
Bradley Wright-Phillips 9/1
Matt Paterson 9/1
Jason Euell 12/1
Adam Lallana 14/1
Andrew Surman 16/1
Graeme Owens 20/1
Jake Thomson 25/1
Simon Gillett 25/1
Rudi Skacel 25/1
Zoltan Liptak 40/1
Jan-Paul Saeijs 40/1
Chris Perry 50/1

Other Championship Odds

Title Race:
Wolves 11/10
Birmingham 5/2
Reading 9/2
Cardiff 9/1
Sheffield United 25/1

To be relegated:
Charlton 1/66
Saints Evens
Norwich 6/4
Nottingham Forest 7/4
Plymouth 2/1
Barnsley 4/1
Blackpool 9/2
12/1 Bar

Success and failure are always relative. And, by that token, we could suggest that QPR have had a more frustrating season than Saints so far. The Londoners began the campaign as joint title favourites - along with Birmingham - but, with the expected big money buys failing to materialise, they arrive at St Mary’s as outsiders to even grab a play-off spot. Furthermore, we can see some real gravity in backing Mark Wotte’s men to win their third game in four on home territory.

For all that early hype, Rangers are definitely one of the poorest away sides in the division. Only rock-bottom Charlton have won fewer league matches on their travels while just Plymouth and Barnsley have netted fewer away goals. Their backers could claim that all three victories on the road have come against struggling sides (Norwich, Derby and Blackpool) and that they have never lost at SMS (two wins and a draw) but we can easily counter that. Their last two away fixtures have resulted in defeats at Barnsley and Donny and the team have not won a Championship game since the end of January. This strongly suggests to me that they already have one eye on the end of the season and the R&R that goes with it.

Southampton may not be too extravagantly priced at 11/8 to take all three points but it is a firm selection for us.

We’ve already mentioned that QPR are not finding the net regularly this season (they have failed to score in eleven out of nineteen away games including eight in a row at one point) and Saints themselves are averaging less than a goal a game on this ground. That should lead us towards taking the 7/1 on offer for the 1-0 home victory but there are reasons for hoping that Saints can get a couple tomorrow. In three out of the last four away from Loftus Road, Rangers have leaked exactly two and these came at Forest, Barnsley and Donny. While recommending a small saver on 1-0, our main bet is for the 2-1 Saints win at best odds of 9/1.

Punters who backed Chris Perry to break the deadlock on Tuesday may consider themselves fortunate that their man was credited with his second 50/1 opener of the campaign. Bet365 and Betfred have the defender at the same price to make it a hat-trick of St Mary’s openers tomorrow but I am looking further up the lists. Jason Euell looks in respectable nick and we like the 11/1 on him scoring the final goal of the afternoon.

Mark Wotte has had a decent month so far and VC still make him a 6/1 shot to win the March Manager of the Month award.

Match Odds (best prices at time of writing)

Jason Euell - best-priced 11/1 for first/last goalscorer tomorrow

Saints: 11/8
QPR: 11/5
Draw: 12/5

Saints to win:
1-0 - 7/1
2-0 - 10/1
2-1 - 9/1
3-0 - 25/1
3-1 - 22/1

QPR to win:
1-0 - 15/2
2-0 - 16/1
2-1 - 12/1
3-0 - 40/1
3-1 - 33/1

Draw:
0-0 - 8/1
1-1 - 6/1
2-2 - 14/1

First/Last Goalscorer:
Marek Saganowski 6/1
David McGoldrick 13/2
Heidur Helguson 7/1
Dexter Blackstock 15/2
Bradley Wright-Phillips 9/1
Adam Lallana 10/1
Jason Euell 11/1
Wayne Routledge 14/1
Andrew Surman 14/1
Simon Gillett 25/1
Jan-Paul Saeijs 40/1
Fitz Hall 40/1
Chris Perry 50/1

Other Championship Odds

To be Relegated:
Charlton 1/25
Saints Evens
Norwich 11/10
Blackpool 12/5
Nottingham Forest 11/4
Barnsley 3/1
Plymouth 3/1
7/1 Bar

Title Race:
Wolves 6/4
Reading 9/4
Birmingham 3/1
Cardiff 9/1
Sheffield United 40/1

It has been decided, nay decreed. The greatest Saints sides in living memory are settled. It’s been a few months of polls and arguments. Of suggestions of influenced and rigged results. But all this debate and decision has been significantly against a backdrop of Saints gloomiest season in living memory. At the time of writing, it appears SFC are for the drop into the old 3rd division again [update - but maybe not], for the first time in 49 years, unless a minor miracle occurs. So who were these players who were so good, and helped to create some of the best times that Saints fans can remember..? Well, to start off, it’ll help our understanding if we know who the hell we’re talking of. Starting with…

Peter Shilton

Not only are we talking about the best goalkeeper ever to have stood between the Saints sticks, but one of the best goalkeepers of all time. Certainly in the top 6, and many pundits would suggest a lot higher. Shilton came to Saints as the best known keeper in the land. His positioning was second to none. His handling, agility and reactions were top-notch. He completely ruled his penalty area, barking out encoragement, instructions and advice in equal measure. His intimidation of opposing strikers is well recorded. They said they simply felt less confident of scoring against him. Saints strikers of the time had been known to say “I’m glad he plays for us”. They didn’t have to face Shilton themselves.

Shilton had been understudy to the then-best goalkeeper in the world - Gordon Banks. It’s an indication of Shilton’s ability, that Leicester City felt they could cash-in and allow Banks to move to Stoke City, because the sorcerer’s apprentice was so good. It’s against Leicester that Saints fans first got wind of Shilton. In mid-October 1967, Shilton rubbed in a 1-5 result by actually scoring from a drop-kick from his area in the 89th minute. The ball bounced on a hard painted white line, and shell-shocked Saints keeper Campbell Forsyth, who had seen 4 goals go by him in the previous 40 odd minutes, watched helplessly as the ball looped over his outstretched hands, and into the net. Shilton said it was a complete fluke. But it was just the start of his reputation. Not only did he save goals, but could even score them. By 1982, Saints had seen enough, and Lawrie McMenemy convinced Shilton to come to The Dell for £325,000. It should be no surprise that some of Saints most successful period in the top flight coincided with Peter’s reign.

Shilton’s Saints Stats
Appearances:
League 188
FA Cup 17
League Cup 28
Europe 4
Other 5
Total 242

Antti Niemi

A spectacular goalkeeper with lightning reflexes. No Saints fan will ever forget his triple save against Arsenal. Antti came into a Saints side that was starting to buzz with the expectation of progress. The man he almost instantly replaced - Paul Jones, was a fine keeper by any standards, but there was a little of the Gary Sprake factor in Jones. Older fans will know what I mean. And not only was Niemi brilliant, he was utterly dependable. Even his kicking was straight and true. So good was he, that almost immediately after Gordon Strachan had bought his much admired keeper, from Heart of Midlothian for £2M, he was being hailed as possibly the finest keeper in the Premiership since Peter Schmeichel. And like all star players, there was to be a little of the myth and legend about Antti. On the downside, at the 2003 FA Cup Final, he was to suffer a torn calf muscle while taking a goal-kick during the second half. The match played on, while Saints fans increasingly whistled the alert. Finally, aid came to him, and he was replaced by the man he had replaced for the season - PJ, who incidentally, didn’t let the side down one bit.

The other, certainly happier memory is of a match at Loftus Road, against Fulham (Craven Cottage being improved at the time) in mid-March. Saints had gone 2-0 down, but this was a Strachan side - they fought, and they believed. Right upto the 80th minute, Saints were still 2 goals adrift, and then James Beattie gave them a lifeline. Each Saints attack was rebuffed, but right on 93 minutes (yes, 93..!) a little bit of Antti Neimi magic happened. It was obviously the last attack, and Gordon Strachan waved his GK forward for a corner. In fact, he couldn’t hold him back. Niemi stood aside from the rest of the players, and as the ball bounced around the area, it came to Antti. He chested the ball down, and volleyed past the bemused Fulham keeper, and against the bar. The ball bounced cleanly out into the area, and ever goal alert CB Michael Svensson headed it into the empty net. Cue amazing goal celebrations as both Svensson and especially Antti Niemi were utterly swamped by their teammates. The game finished 2-2, but such was the Saints spirit of the time, that it felt like they’d won.

Niemi’s Saints Stats
Appearances:
League 106
FA Cup 9
League Cup 7
Europe 0
Other 1
Total 123

Next week, the defenders…

Not only are the bookies unsure about tonight’s game but the opposing fans seem equally reluctant to make a definitive opinion about tonight’s potential outcome. A Derby supporting friend in the betting industry is adamant that Saints will not lose while most of our lot seem happy to take a point.

I think I’ll go along with that. Since our relegation we are yet to beat the Rams on this ground with a draw and two defeats (including play-off) from three matches with just one goal scored. It should also be noted that tonight’s Derby side will be a totally different proposition from the team we beat at Pride Park in September. They are even finding their form on the road having doubled their tally of away wins recently with victories at Forest and Plymouth. Incidentally all four wins on their travels, QPR and Norwich along with the aforementioned two, have come against sides having a poorer season than expected. Saints would also fall into this category.

Andrew Surman - 14/1 to score first tonight

However, we must take hope from our back-to-back St Mary’s wins against promotion hopefuls Cardiff and PNE. That at least implies we should take something from this important clash even if it is only a point. The draw is best-priced at 12/5 with Skybet.

Only Donny have netted fewer home goals than our lot and the lack of clear chances against Birmingham remains a worry. Yet the three goals scored against both Preston and Ipswich strongly suggests we will at least get on the scoreboard this evening. The two-all draw has been a profitable result for its followers this season and a repeat here at 14/1 would not be a great surprise.

With Saga slightly off the boil (Paddy Power offer 7/1 on him scoring first) we will not burden him with the weight of our money. In any case, we rather like the look of Saints’ second top scorer Andrew Surman who again seems over-priced at 14/1 to break the deadlock. For the opposition, Rob Hulse has previous form against us and five of his twelve goals so far have been openers.

Finally, if you like the cut of Mark Wotte’s gib - and he must be a huge improvement on Jan Poortvliet - Victor Chandler are offering 7/1 on the Saints boss winning the March Manager of the Month award.

Match Odds - Saints v Derby (Best Prices - correct at time of writing)

Saints: 6/4
Derby: 21/10
Draw: 12/5

Saints to win:
1-0 - 7/1
2-0 - 11/1
2-1 - 10/1
3-0 - 25/1
3-1 - 22/1

Derby to win:
1-0 - 8/1
2-0 - 12/1
2-1 - 11/1
3-0 - 33/1
3-1 - 28/1

Draw:
0-0 - 10/1
1-1 - 6/1
2-2 - 14/1

First/Last Goalscorer:
David McGoldrick 6/1
Marek Saganowski 7/1
Rob Hulse 7/1
Bradley Wright-Phillips 15/2
Matt Paterson 8/1
Luke Varney 8/1
Jason Euell 10/1
Adam Lallana 12/1
Andrew Surman 14/1
Rudi Skacel 20/1
Paul Wotton 20/1
Robbie Savage 20/1
Jan-Paul Saeijs 40/1
Zoltan Liptak 40/1
Chris Perry 50/1

Other Championship Odds

To be Relegated:
Charlton 1/16
Norwich 8/11
Saints 11/10
Blackpool 9/2
Barnsley 3/1
Plymouth 3/1
Nottingham Forest 7/2
8/1 Bar

Title Race:
Wolves 13/8
Reading 12/5
Birmingham 7/2
Cardiff 8/1
Sheffield United 33/1

Hindsight is obviously a wonderful tool. But most Saints fans knew from very early on this season three of the factors that appear to have revitalised the club. You didn’t need a degree in football science to realise that Mark Wotte possessed greater managerial stature than his predecessor, that two up front was a must and that some experience in the team was crucial.

Whether the club’s belated acknowledgement of these factors will save them from the drop remains to be seen but our knowing that Saints are getting it right on the pitch gives us a slight edge on the bookies ahead of tomorrow’s game.

Despite picking up three successive wins, the team can still be backed at 4-1 to take all three points and I think that warrants some serious consideration. Birmingham may sit second in the table with the impressive looking home record of twelve wins and three draws from eighteen league fixtures but it is very easy to pick holes in parts of their form. For instance, no fewer than nine of these victories have come by just a single goal margin while the very average Blackpool and Coventry sides have managed to leave St Andrews with all three points. They have also recently been held by Swansea, Cardiff and Burnley on this ground. Of course, we must not forget that Saints have lost their last four corresponding fixtures here (all by a single goal) but only four Championship teams have won more away games than Wotte’s men and that counts for something. You can get a whopping 9-1 on Saints leading at both half and full-time but the straight 4-1 for the outright victory will do for me.

There was plenty of 80-1 floating about for the 3-0 away win on Tuesday and several firms offer that, or better, on a repeat tomorrow. I will be a bit more conservative though. St Andrews has only seen thirty seven league goals so far (just four games supplying eighteen of them) while also witnessing no fewer than eight matches ending 1-0. However, six of Saints’ last eight have seen at least three strikes in the ninety minutes. The Skybet 20-1 for the 2-1 away win has to be the value selection for me.

Alex McLeish may well have lavished comparative fortunes on various strikers in the past fifteen months but this team’s haul of 42 goals in 36 games is poor for a promotion chasing side. This helps our decision to opt for a Saint to break the deadlock. In a market mainly dominated by Brum players, Jason Euell is 14-1 to net first but we like the 8-1 on Saganowski getting the final goal of the game. With Saints now 5-4 for the drop, in bookie-speak they are now odds-on at 4-7 to stay up. Good news.

Match Odds - Birmingham v Saints (Best Prices*)

Birmingham: 4/5
Saints: 4/1
Draw: 5/2

Birmingham to win:
1-0 - 6/1
2-0 - 13/2
2-1 - 7/1
3-0 - 12/1
3-1 - 11/1

Saints to win:
1-0 - 10/1
2-0 - 25/1
2-1 - 20/1
3-0 - 80/1
3-1 - 50/1

Draw:
0-0 - 8/1
1-1 - 11/2
2-2 - 14/1

First/Last Goalscorer:
Garry O’Connor 6/1
Cameron Jerome 6/1
Carlos Costly 13/2
Marek Saganowski 8/1
David McGoldrick 8/1
Bradley Wright-Phillips 11/1
Adam Lallana 14/1
Jason Euell 14/1
Andrew Surman 16/1
Simon Gillett 25/1
Rudi Skacel 25/1
Franck Queudrue 33/1
Jan-Paul Saeijs 40/1
Chris Perry 50/1

Other Championship Odds

Title Race:
Reading 7/4
Wolves 15/8
Birmingham 4/1
Cardiff 9/1
Sheffield United 25/1

To be Relegated:
Charlton 1/8
Norwich 10/11
Saints 5/4
Blackpool 7/4
Plymouth 9/4
Barnsley 11/4
Nottingham Forest 10/3
11/2 Bar

* prices correct at time of writing

It seems only a short time ago that DarrenLeTiss began a thread about the greatest Saints players in people’s memories, just because he wanted to talk about something positive regarding the football club we all follow. It was actually mid-November when he came up with the idea. And since then, week-by-week, almost like a magazine collection, the teams have grown. From a very early stage I realised that a B [back-up] team was going to have to stand next to the A team, if only so we could accommodate more of our favourite players. Even so, when it came to the closing stages, we were asked to consider subs and managers. It almost seemed as if we didn’t want the voting to stop.

The goalkeepers seemed straight forward enough. Peter Shilton seemed a shoe-in, and yet plenty of posters thought Niemi the better. And who could blame them..? Recent memories of superb performances do have a habit of pushing out the old. Yet it was a measure of Saints fans memories, and perhaps a demographic of the age range on The Saints Web, that sufficient people recalled how brilliant Shilton was. He didn’t become England’s most capped player, in an era of great England keepers, for nothing. And his numbers would have been considerably higher had he not shared the top position for a while with the slightly inferior Ray Clemence of Liverpool.

The defence caused more stir than I initially thought. There were calls for Steve Mills, for a brilliant, but short career. I’m sure he would have been a great player. My own biggest disappointment was that David Peach never got into any side, A or B, and never even made any subs bench. To my mind, Peachy was a real standout. But he fell into the same near-miss box alongside Denis Hollywood, Alf Ramsey and Stuart Williams. And who could deny Ivan Golac and Wayne Bridge anyway..? Two centrebacks stood out, Mark Wright and Michael Svensson; and in the end it was just a question of who would partner Dave Watson in the B team. Without other nominees to deflect opinion, a straight contest of Silky vs Deano ended with Claus Lundekvam a clear winner.

Back while we were deciding the defences, I remember thinking about the weeks to come and realising the debates that could occur when certain positions came up for nomination. It came as little surprise that Terry Paine would win his Right Wing/Midfield position. I put people out of their misery early when I counted up the nominations after just a couple of days, and he’d received about 6 or 7 times more than all the other nominees combined. His position was more definite than Saints favourite player, Matt Le Tissier. MLT’s problem was that there was only one of him, and posters understandably wanted him in almost every midfield position. It was such that there was real danger his support might become diluted, and posters were clearly afraid of this. Certainly, I could not comprehend how he couldn’t be in a greatest team. But where would he be best, and where could he end up without pushing out another truly brilliant player..? In the end, posters were sensible enough to put Matty in amongst a cracking midfield of creativity, vision and skill.

So we got to the strikers. Once again I was glad we’d got ourselves a backup team. There are so many great Saints strikers in people memories, and with only 2 positions in each team, people were going to be disappointed. We had great strikers who were near misses in Martin Chivers and Phil Boyer. We had star players who barely got a mention in Charlie George, Frank Worthington and Ted MacDougall. Players like these had great past playing records, but were perhaps on the wane when they got to SFC, and Saints fans realised this. Players like Charlie Wayman, George O’Brien and Derek Reeves were simply too early for most fans, and there was the obvious caveat that their best years for Saints were in a lower division. But they could only score as well as the service they received.

As the teams positions were being settled, posters started mentioning a subs bench. But we’d blown it..! We had a B-Team, and clearly they were the replacements for any A-Team player. If we’d have decided upon a subs bench from the start it would have been better. Everyone makes mistakes, and perhaps we just didn’t want an end to the voting. Besides, in today’s football world, teams play with a load of available subs, and we had 2 teams of 11. So we had to have a bench for each team. It may have been a little imbalanced, but posters got the idea, and carried on. At least some of those near-misses got another chance, although once again Chivers and even James Beattie missed out. Peter Osgood slid into the line-up as a utility player for the B-Team, and I couldn’t help thinking that was a serendipidous bit of voting with a main B forward line of Keegan and Pahars. Surely the shortest strike pairing ever.

So we ended with the managers. There were several points of interest here. Who of Ted Bates and Lawrie McMenemy would win, and where would the alsorans end up..? It was also notable that so many posters came out and said they’d wished SFC had left Chris Nicholl in place as a manager. Saints had had a poor season, and the Board had been quick to act in the face of fans disapproval. There was almost an apology out there for CN’s departure in 1991. Perhaps history would have turned out differently if Chris had stayed on. Because after Nicholl, managers came and went in relatively quick succession, and only Wee Gordon Strachan had an extensive go. When CN left, so ended 36 years of Saints managerial stability. It must be time to find some again.