Saint-Armstrong

Here's my chat with Paul Bennett: http://stmarysmusings.sbnation.com/2015/5/7/8566125/paul-bennett-gives-an-exclusive-interview-to-st-marys-musings?_ga=1.229612244.955684008.1399830441 I actually think Paul was the most 'interesting' interviewee. Very switched on, as perhaps is shown in his career post-football. He spoke about his (somewhat unwilling) departure from Saints, compared McMenemy and Bates, talked about the new Wembley stadium, modern football and also about the Liebherr ownership, as well as the club's current situation. A really interesting, and generous, chap.

Interview with Jim Steele: http://stmarysmusings.sbnation.com/2015/5/6/8559567/exclusive-interview-with-jim-steele Just a quick one, as Jim was leaving as we caught him - he was getting a lift back with Hugh!

I'm just going by the complaints I tend to see on here when our kits come out.

Looks like it'll likely be another late-ish release again this year - I'd expect to see the home kit in the shops on the first Friday of July...

EXCLUSIVE: Hugh Fisher interview - http://stmarysmusings.sbnation.com/2015/5/5/8552015/hugh-fisher-speaks-exclusively-to-st-marys-musings?_ga=1.172422507.955684008.1399830441

This evening at 17:00, we will publishing our exclusive interview with Hugh Fisher. Check back later, and I'll post up the link - lovely bloke, is Hugh. Still watches Saints and is really enthusiastic about the club. Really great guy to speak to, on and off the record.

So, who do we want to see progress...? CHAMPIONSHIP Norwich City vs Ipswich Town - 09/05/15 - 12:15 KO / 16/05/15 - 12:15 KO Middlesbrough vs Brentford - 08/05/15 - 19:45 KO / 15/05/15 - 19:45 KO FINAL: TBD v TBD - 25/05/15 - 15:00 KO LEAGUE ONE Preston North End vs Chesterfield - 07/05/15 - 19:45 KO / 10/05/15 - 12:15 KO Swindon Town vs Sheffield United - 07/05/15 - 19:45 KO / 11/05/15 - 19:45 KO FINAL: TBD v TBD - 24/05/15 - 17:30 KO LEAGUE TWO Wycombe Wanderers vs Plymouth Argyle - 09/05/15 - 19:45 KO / 14/05/15 - 19:45 KO Southend United vs Stevenage - 10/05/15 - 18:25 KO / 14/05/15 - 19:45 KO FINAL: TBD v TBD - 23/05/15 - 17:30

Okay - here is part two: http://stmarysmusings.sbnation.com/2015/5/4/8544649/mcmenemy-speaks-to-st-marys-musings-part-two

Part two with Lawrie - talking Saints, Schneiderlin and summer transfer window - going live on the website at 17:00. Lawrie also tells us which current Saints player he'd have liked to manage - any guesses?

Neil. Brainfart.

Here's a transcript of Part One with Lawrie, for anyone interested... (I'm planning to release Part Two at the start of next week, with an interview a day for the website who provided me with the access to the event - http://stmarysmusings.sbnation.com) I'll post them up here as and when, provided people still want them! Hugh Fisher, Jim Steele, Paul Bennett and Nick Holmes' exclusive interviews will be up next week! --- Obviously approaching the 40th anniversary now, since the cup win - what are your fondest memories from that day? Well obviously the final whistle! The nerves for the last seven minutes, Bobby Stokes got the goal, bless him - but it was the seven longest minutes of my life, really. From then on in I can remember clearly everything that happened. Back to the hotel, we were always going to go out that night. We had booked to stay the night [in London] that night. The journey back, the bus journey - everything. Some fantastic memories. The fact that there were so few players compared to now. You’ve got squads now of 25, this cup squad was 14 - in fact, one of them moved after the first round! That would never happen nowadays, because they played 42 league games as well, before FA Cup and League Cup games. I think that is what makes it so special. The evidence of two lads has gone already. It’s sad. They were very, very popular. Little Bobby scoring the winning goal, and Ossie was a legend anyway. Tommy Docherty is a great friend of many years, he’s coming down I think, to re-enact bits of it. I was with [Roberto] Martinez when we were at the ‘Hall of Fame’ for the LMA. I was stood next to him and I said ‘You look a bit down, come on, get your head up’. He said he’d just been relegated, but I said ‘Yeah, but you won the FA Cup. Look, in twenty to thirty years time, everybody in Wigan will remember you winning the cup - they'll forget you being relegated.’ It was the best season the club’s ever had in its history. We were second top in 83-84, after 42 games. But the man in the street doesn't remember that, but they all remember us winning the cup. Do you think winning the cup proved the catalyst to going into the First Division and that great run that Saints had in the 80s? Well, in my first season we got relegated in 73-74. We were third bottom, and it was the first time anyone third bottom had gone down - and we went down with more points than we’d stayed up with in some of the previous seasons! These days, I would’ve been out of the door. The board stood by me and I repaid their loyalty with the cup in ’76, the Charity Shield which was a bonus and the League Cup Final in ’79. But the one target was always getting back in the top flight and we did that. Then, the task was to keep in there and then climb up as high as we could. You need time for that, and they don't give managers that time these days. Some managers don't want that time. I was here, altogether, for 12 years. It was a terrific period and I also established what is now the academy. We didn't have any money, compared to some. But the board allowed me to appoint people up in Newcastle, London and in the West Country. We had three centres. We brought school kids in and had professionals coaching them in each area. The best ones came down in the school holidays. The result of that was, from the north-east - Alan Shearer, Neil Maddison and Tommy Widdrington. From London, the three Wallace brothers. Steve Williams, Austin Hayes, Matt Le Tissier came in a different way, but I signed him as a schoolboy. And eventually, Gareth Bale and Jason Dodd. So, my idea was young legs with senior players at the end of their careers. I couldn't have afforded them normally. So it was old heads and young legs together - and it worked. We played good football and the youngsters learned every minute. In particular, Alan Ball. I met little Steve Moran, on a Sunday morning in the Tyro League while I was watching my own kids play. He was up at Hull and he asked me to come and meet some people. I asked if he’d told them about all the goals he’d scored. He was smiling, and I said ‘did he tell you he had Keegan on one side, Channon on the other and Alan Ball behind him?’ You spoke about Martinez and the people of Wigan and what it means to them. Does it mean a lot to you that the people of Southampton still show an interest 40 years on? Oh, totally! I can go into Romsey, which is my area, and I can go around the post office or the bank or get a cup of coffee and there'll be at least one person that will stop me and remember where they were on the day after, on the route around [the parade]. Old ladies who’ve never been to the ground! But, they can all tell you where they were. We were just talking a moment ago about winning it in ’76, but just how far away do you think Ronald Koeman and his team are now? Well, that’s the magic. If you were to say to me, how far off do you think [of finishing 2nd in 1984], I would say nigh on impossible with the way the money situation is in the game. The bigger grounds, the bigger clubs with bigger budgets have got more chance. But the cup, the magic of it is that anybody can win it. It’s been proved, in recent years, that somebody in the Second Division can get to the final, as we did. We were in the second level. That’s the magic of it. Southampton are not just second level now. They've proved that they can beat anybody in the country. I would love them to win it next year. That’d be fantastic, to win it in the year of the 40th anniversary celebrations.

That's what happens when you dare not smile due to dental work! Typing up the other transcripts. Got some quotes on Schneiderlin and the summer window from Lawrie too, but had to hold that up as the papers seem to want it.

Today I was lucky enough to be invited to interview Lawrie McMenemy and a handful of the '76 FA Cup winning team, at a Mayoral reception at the Southampton Guildhall to mark the run up to the 40th anniversary of that famous day. Was great to meet all these guys, who are before my time but clearly so important and at the heart of Southampton Football Club. Anyway, here's my one-on-one interview with Lawrie McMenemy. There's a second part, but I'll type that up as we got interrupted by Mike Osman and Nick Holmes! When I get a chance, I'll type up and post the transcripts of the interviews with Lawrie, Hugh, Nick and Paul as well. Hope you find this interesting. If you do - I'll share the others when I've finished typing them up.

Preview: http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/content.php?604-PREVIEW-Sunderland-vs-SAINTS-Barclays-Premier-League

Tonight, I appeared on 103.4 Sun FM​'s 'Into The Light', a show aired on a Thursday evening for an hour, talking about everything Sunderland-related. I spoke to former Sunderland striker Michael Proctor and Richard Mason of The Northern Echo, ahead of Southampton's trip to Sunderland this weekend. I was invited onto the show to preview Saturday's game, as well as talk youth development, Pochettino and those who defected, Koeman, the 'Director of Football' concept and a couple of other bits and bobs about Saints. If you want to give that a listen, I'm on from 12:08: http://www.sun-fm.com/of-into-the-light-with-michael-proctor-.php Also available on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/jp/podcast/into-the-light-sun-fm-30-4-15/id907481301?i=341102636&l=en&mt=2 At risk of abuse/mick-taking... feedback welcome.

I suspect that's the last of him in a Southampton shirt then! Across a seven-year spell after joining in 2008 from RC Strasbourg for a fee of £1m... Apps - 260 Goals - 15

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/row-zed/row-zed-guide-sunday-league-5598873

So that's what Artur has been up to...

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/apr/29/senegal-little-diamond-sadio-mane-southampton?CMP=share_btn_tw

VIDEO: Rodriguez returns to full training -

Great pricing from Saints to finish a great season.

Yoshida: Blame me - http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/saints/news/12914503.Honest_Yoshida__Blame_me_for_two_dropped_points/?ref=rss&cid=dlvr.it