Miltonaggro

Yep and Bobby Robson let’s him go to saints as over the hill, and promptly becomes England manager the next month! Never played for England again but 120 odd games in the following 3 seasons for SFC suggests he still had some lead in the pencil!

I think the manufacturers run the standard design choice past the club and then say, but if you want it to be even more innovative we can… At this point people who know what they are doing will say fuck off, hence the reason we end up with all this bollocks.

Fuck it, if that’s kosher! Why do they do this, most other clubs with red and white stripes have returned to the traditional symmetrical back pattern. Such an easy sales win.

I'd forgotten that! I think Trollope's replacement at Swindon was Dave Peach, which never worked out. Also a young Glenn Cockerill would have been a teammate in that ST side.

I went right off international football when Venables and Hoddle were managing England with all the favouritism and press bullshit plus treatment of MLT when he was world class, and never really been too bothered since. However, the preceding Robson era was terrific, in terms of the personalities, football, and following England abroad - '86 and '90 world cups the stand out and completely unique. But for me, the tournament that best sticks in the memory was the 82 World Cup in Spain. Either Shoot magazine or Texaco petrol gave away this tournament disc which you could turn to reveal squad members, Saints were represented by Dave Watson #5 and Kevin Keegan #7 in an incredibly strong squad - an invincibles moment. Then in the run up to the tournament Admiral reveal that cracking new England kit, coveted by kids all over the country, the red away is still a thing of sublime beauty. In my youthful enthusiasm I genuinely thought we were nailed on to win it. Going into the tournament both Watson and Keegan were injured, and though the likes of Bryan Robson played out of his skin in the first game against that brilliant France side (3-1 and quickest goal in WC history) it went flat against Germany and Spain in the latter stages and even the return of the talisman KK had no effect. Looking back a typical England tournament, but loved that England side which gave us Shilton and Mills a few months later.

The problem is that sometimes when you look into their eyes they could be almost human. Recent research suggests that some members of advanced troops can use rudimentary tools and work as teams to achieve mutually beneficial group tasks. But you should always be wary if you encounter one in the open, they are known to habitually carry chlamydia and rabies, and some have the physical strength of a very petite woman.

Remember him at Fulham late 90s early 2000s, so played in decent sides under Keegan and Tigana.

See Peter Shilton’s ‘most difficult opponent’ and consider who he’d played against in the previous decade:

Shilton Cafu Koeman Baresi Maldini Matthaus Zidane Maradona Zico Messi Ronaldo (Brazil) Subs Schmeichel Brehme R. Carlos Cannavaro Xavi Riijkard Keegan Le Tissier (just to be able to bring him on in that company at 60 mins) Batistuta

I think that Mick Channon must have been an absolute nightmare to play against, and privileged that I got to see it. Intelligent and brave player, his runs and positioning were brilliant, nine times out of ten right place right time. Complete forward for Saints and England. What price in the modern game?

Yes, there were quite a few from around that era. The Big Match Revisted on ITV player have just put some new shows from the mid eighties up. In these you’ve got Trevor Hebberd playing for Oxford and Ian Baird #9 for Leeds. I liked both of those playing for Saints as youngsters, committed direct players, and wished they had been kept on at that time. These days as it’s a big squad game I suppose they would be.

An anagram of the author's first name is hi med - possibly a cry for help...

MK Dons. Back to the Future IV...

Fucking hell! When he's sacked a glittering career in fantasy writing beckons!

Well said. It's going to be a very interesting watch from a distance for Saints fans, certainly adds another dimension to next season at least. I've seen a fair bit of top flight football in Portugal over the last decade and it's a very similar set up to the Scottish Prem in terms of hierarchy, expectations, approach, and quality of players / managers. Texted an old pal who is Rangers yesterday and he reckons a respectable minimum target for Martin this season would be getting the points gap with Celtic down to around six points (last season it was 17) and a cup win or good go in Europe. That likely gets him a second season. I actually think the biggest issue will be his personality, as if he gets defensive and narky if the fans start giving his players or tactics some stick, he will be toast very quickly.