david in sweden

Norman Dean and Martin Chivers came through the Reserves in the early 1960's and whilst Chivers got to the first team that bit sooner, their time together in " The Stiffs " was very productive goalwise. In their first two seasons, they netted nearly 70 goals between them, but it shows that - even back then - a good player doesn't always get the lucky breaks, especially when someone else gets the shirt. The story of " Norman's big season" also parallels the " Sharp / Lambert " story (quoted in the OP). Chivers was in fantastic form that promotion season and netted 30 goals in the first 29 games, but then suffered a terrible goal-drought and failed to find the net in the remaining 13 matches (!) .....which meant that Norman's contribution was even more valuable that it may have seemed at the time. The real irony of this tale is that Norman Dean also had the misfortune to be challenging for a first team place, at the same time as another emerging talent ...a young Wiltshire lad called ..Mick Channon.

aren't they just Steve, fantastic video ! it caught all the emotion - and the memories- that I've always felt for Saints in the last 55 years as a fan ......COYR !!!!!!!!

of course, and I didn't mean to suggest otherwise, it was just that he arrived so late that season and his contribution alone kept us up. Shame he got that terrible injury and he never quite recovered afterwards.......

doubtless an effort to help our strikers find the goal ...........

on paper maybe, but " coincidentally? ", he has been custodian in some of the worst deafets that the U21 side had last season ...

more importantly ..if, as it seems he does eventually move on ........WHO becomes number two goalie ?......KD and Gazzaniga have both proven they aren't really long term options.

with Billy Sharp's departure, he can be added to the list of " bit-part heroes", who have saved the day for Saints in the last 50 years of Saints history. Come the day, come the hero(es). in the 1965/66 promotion season, reserve striker Norman Dean came good in his only season in the first team, when he netted 11 goals in 18 starts (which included a hat-trick at Fratton Park - something no other Saints player has ever achieved)..and Saints were promoted to the First Division (read Prem.) for the first time. But luck finally ran out for Norman, when Saints manager Ted Bates signed another striker in the close season from Norwich - Ron Davies) After a relegation, Saints were promoted back up again in 1977/78, and the hero was young striker Tony Funnell. Drafted in by Lawrie McMenemy for the final run-in ; Tony came off the bench to score twice to beat C.Palace at the Dell and ended the season with 8 goals from just 11 starts. The following season Ted Mac Dougall hit top form and there were few chances for a disappointed Tony moved onto the pastures new. Micky Evans move from Plymouth in 1997, was short-lived but priceless in terms of his input. He scored twice in the away fixture at Notts Forest and two further strikes in the home games v West Ham and Coventry. Saints stayed up by the slimmest of margins, but the soon to depart Evans has done his job in just 8 games. Who will ever forget the "Great Escape " season 1998/99. Saints were dead and buried and on their way down (according to the media and most neutrals,) but Saints fans even had " Great Escape " tea shirts printed in an effort to see us stay up, and success came in the form of the diminutive Latvian Marian Pahars. Dubbed by fans " the Latvian Michael Owen " he came off the bench to grab the third vital goal in the 3-3 draw v Blackburn, and finally saved the day in the last game when he scored both goals in beating Everton 2-0 at The Dell. (3 goals in 4 games and a sub app.) Which is precisely where we came to with Billy. (Nigel Adkins favourite from his former clubs), many fans suggested Billy wasn't even good enough to move to the top of the Championship, after playing with struggling Doncaster at the bottom, but Billy turned up trumps with 8 goals in the last 8 games - just at the time that the normally dependable Ricky Lambert was going through the worst goal drought in his Saints' career. Few would have suggested that Billy was real Premier League material, but he was there when it mattered when to came to promotion. Good luck Bill, but just as long as Saints don't draw Leeds in a Cup competition !

Agree. If we haven't signed anyone by July 2nd every year, there's a whole group on here who they start a petition to sack the Board......

can you define the meaning of " top class " in your assessment, please?. A few names as example would be interesting to mull over........

........just as long as we don't get screwed yet AGAIN...... over the vaulation of their player.......

.....and where's that thread with all those people who threatened not to buy their seson ticket because we hadn't signed anyone........? O yea of little patience..

First three went up.....Bolton , SAINTS and Spuds. Brighton finished 4th, with same points as Spuds, but inferior goal diff. BHA were livid about it, as I recall. Had we won that game... Brighton would have been promoted instead of Spuds.

..this really is total stupidity. Are they trying to use his refusal to take part as a tool push through a transfer?. Reports stating his price level was £27 miilion may be hot air, but in view of his performance stats. and the fees we've got for Shaw and Lallana..... .that level doesn't seem unrealistic. Spuds have turned us over for decades past with lousy transfers, and revenge is long overdue. I really hope that ....even if he does eventually go ....we really get our full money's worth.

apparantly they don't. Shouldn't we have a special site for posters who go " off pist " and start having unconnected personal arguements with each other.....?

[quote=The Majestic Channon;2022164 ]I remember it well and yes the fences were erected Before that match. mike pickering was ever present that season apart from this game then was sold which i found odd. that would have been 1977-78 . Mike Pickering did not play in the final game that season 0-0 v. Spuds. Both sides were promoted (together with Bolton) back up to Division 1 (as Prem.was known as then). Have read several accounts as to why he left...He played the first game of the following season, but promptly lost his place to the up-and-coming Malcolm Waldron (a type of left-sided Calum Chambers, as memory serves, and who had gone through the youth system - let's not call it Academy).....and who did a fine job in defence for several seasons thereafter. As for Pickering.....Sheff Wed. (then managed by Jack Charlton) made a bid for him, and Lawrie Mac. decided to let him go...and he had several good seasons at Wednesday, and a number of other northern-based league clubs. MP did well in his one and only season, but perhaps the top level was a bit beyond him. In the end it was a win-win situation.

.......and looking at midfielders in the present squad....neither Cork, Wanyama or Schneiderlin have found the net very often either....though Steven Davis just about acquitted himself. RK holds the international record for most goals by a defender (though he also played midfield) ..he'll be looking for midfielders who can put the ball in the net, and not just have good possession stats.

....it has to be said that many of the young(er) players who get a chance to play for England do so purely on the strength of their passport....even when they can't even get on the bench for a Prem. game. The " Big Four...or Top Six " (choose your own classification,)... are over-populated with foreign stars who freeze out the English prospects - even when " the said clubs" have an Academy that they ignore. This is due, in no small measure, to the unflux of foreign managers who, naturally enough, choose big money foreign signings who fit the style that they like to play. It's not so long ago that the other " home countries " searched through Championship and L1 clubs to find someone with a grandmother / father from N.I./ Wales / Scotland... in order to qualify them to play. Nowadays, it's the English national side that suffers that fate, and even if we accept that there is a generation change in the present England squad, (having lost Beckham, Cole, Defoe, Lampard, Gerrard and Terry) - it's clear that by the next World Cup, we must have a strong nucleus of top class players for the coming decade, or we'll sink in to the abyss of FIFA ratings in the low-30's and lose whatever " super-status " we once supposed that we deserved. Despite calling ourselves " the best Premier League in Europe ".... it's of little benefit to young players, when many English lads can't even get on the team sheet. As Rodwell pointed out; (regardless of talent /skill); players like him and Sturridge had little chance of getting regular game time in their parent club(s), despite having gone through those Academies.

tbh No....... but I re-read the OP and that was the point of MY post. ( we obviously agree)

I can see that you have some valid questions, but surely a thread like this should have waited until after Sept.1st....and if nothing else had been done..then you'd have a good point. Statistically, most clubs make most of their signings in the last 2 weeks before the window closes, and I'm hopeful that we'll have a few more on board (including our England-capped goalie) before then.

Er........I think 17,000+ (for a friendly game ) suggests many didn't share your opinion. btw. an England goalie not good enough for you ?

If there are minor faults or not in Forster's game, he'll be first choice from now on, and so it'll be the bench for Boruc.....but for how much longer?. Artur still covets the Polish national spot and is (argueably) still the best number one the Poles have. With one year on his contract.....will he move and get regular games somewhere else? Meanwhile, Fraser is the man ! .....the only real question is WHO will be our no.2 ...if Artur goes?. KD's contract isn't forever, and neither Gazzaniga or Cropper have set the world alight in their U21 Matches. ** NOTE: the last time Saints signed an English goalie (yes it has happened) it was Peter Shilton in Aug 1982, but he had a horrific start when an experimental Saints defence conceded 18 goals and were bottom after the first 7 games, before some defence - strengthening measures were taken after which things steadied up and Shilts. kept 34 clean sheets in his seasons 2 and 3 at SFC. 5 years ..and 49 England caps later, Shilton had racked up 242 club games and rarely played a bad one in all that time .

this thread is supposed to be about Fraser Forster.......(if you don't like that person's posts, you can put them on ignore).

.....not about RK's goal-scoring record I'm not....he (apparantly) scored 193 goals in 533 career matches ..a world record for a defender. (He might be expecting to see his midfielders and defenders hitting the target a bit more often...).

Guess who's coming to Dinner ? ....but since the new signings have arrived ....The Pride and the Passion .

of course the " standard You Tube clip" of all the good things he did.....BUT looks pretty impressive and has good pace too... for a CB.