First game at The Dell

[Turkish]

November 1985. Everton lost 3-2. Glen Cockerill scored early and Steve Moran, my boyhood hero scored right in front of us in The Milton the second half. Everton were champions at the time and a very good side. 

[saintquin]

15 hours ago, Dimond Geezer said:

1980 versus Vancouver Whitecaps. I've still got the pink programme somewhere. I think Alan Ball and David Harvey played for Whitecaps, and when I last saw the programme I noticed Bruce Grobbelar and Ray Lewington were in the squad. I think I also remember Jimmy Greaves in the Saints team, I don't know how that came about, or if it even happened,  but I think he is also in the team list. One thing that definitely happened was the 35 yard shootout that the American league used, to ensure there were no drawn matches. 

I was in the west  stand, on the benches with my Dad and his mate. Dad's mate used to take me to a lot of games after that, still a Saints fan, but living Portsmouth way, sadly now fighting cancer. I don't remember Dad going to another until 2010, when he suddenly announced he was getting a season ticket so he could come along with myself and my sons. He hasn't missed a home match since (covid excepting).

Think Ball played a half for both teams.

My uncle used to take me when I was a very young nipper in the late 60's though the first game I can remember anything about is a 3-1 win over Chelsea 1972. Funnily enough the only other game that season I remember is a 3-1 win over Leeds.

[Lee On Solent Saint]

32 minutes ago, Turkish said:

November 1985. Everton lost 3-2. Glen Cockerill scored early and Steve Moran, my boyhood hero scored right in front of us in The Milton the second half. Everton were champions at the time and a very good side. 

My first Saints idol too. Wasn't he spotted playing Tyro League? Remember everytime I played thinking that if Steve Moran can get scouted playing Tyro then why can't I?! Obviously never happened!

[Spoonman]

Tottenham in I think November of 89.

Gazza put them one up, Glenn Cockerill with the reply. Saints were fantastic to watch that season

[Turkish]

43 minutes ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

My first Saints idol too. Wasn't he spotted playing Tyro League? Remember everytime I played thinking that if Steve Moran can get scouted playing Tyro then why can't I?! Obviously never happened!

Yes I think he played for Sarisbury Sparks, Lawrie was watching and said if he scored a hatrick in the second half he’d get him some new boots and he did. I remember thinking similarly to you, especially after my team won 5-0 away at Sarisbury, I’d scored two and got MOM, back then I thought saints scouts were at Sarisbury every week 😂

[crouchi]

Saints v. West Ham February 1967 - more than 30,000 supporters, gates shut early. Went on to thrash West Ham 6-2 with 2 penalties from Paine and goals from Davies and Chivers. Lasting memory of Budgie Byrne, former England centre-forward, coming on as a sub, looking old and tubby, and being mocked by the crowd.

[revolution saint]

Saints v Middlesbrough, March 1981, Saints won 1-0 and Moran scored.  Only the four ex England captains in the starting lineup.

[Daft Kerplunk]

19th September 1984 UEFA Cup

Southampton FC 0 v Hamburg SV 0

 

[VectisSaint]

6 Jan 1968, Saints 3 Chelsea 5. Big Ron (2) and Mick Channon for us, Ossie amongst others for them. Martin Chivers last game. Helluva game, dreadful weather if I recall stood in the Milton. Hooked. My old man took me to the game, which was difficult for him being a Pompey man, afterwards he said, I've done my bit took nipper to his first game, never setting foot in that place again (he was true to his word). Palled up with a few other travellers from the Island for future games.

[Winnersaint]

October 63 v Dirty Leeds.   Lost 1 - 4, Leeds promoted that season and cup finalists the following. Beginning of Revie era. Bremner, Collins etc. On my dad’s shoulders on Archers. I was a few weeks off my 6th birthday. 

[Koolman]

1 - 1 draw with Liverpool when my late Godfather took me. Must have been late 1970s perhaps?

[Sheaf Saint]

Had to look up the actual date but it was 32 years ago almost to the day - 25 Jan 1989. A league cup QF replay against Luton, which we lost 2-1 after ET. 

Don't really remember much about the game itself, only that it was freezing cold and we had a goal disallowed for offside, which I didnt really understand at the time. I was 13 and had never really had much interest in football as a nipper. But a mate at school got some tickets from his dad who worked in the ticket office and invited me along. We stood in the Milton and I'll never forget how it felt to be among thousands of people all singing OWTS for the first time. I was hooked. 

[Turkish]

38 minutes ago, Sheaf Saint said:

Had to look up the actual date but it was 32 years ago almost to the day - 25 Jan 1989. A league cup QF replay against Luton, which we lost 2-1 after ET. 

Don't really remember much about the game itself, only that it was freezing cold and we had a goal disallowed for offside, which I didnt really understand at the time. I was 13 and had never really had much interest in football as a nipper. But a mate at school got some tickets from his dad who worked in the ticket office and invited me along. We stood in the Milton and I'll never forget how it felt to be among thousands of people all singing OWTS for the first time. I was hooked. 

If it’s the same Game which I think it is it wasn’t disallowed for offside. Rod Wallace put his hand out running down the wing With the ball to keep a player Away, he crossed Danny Wallace Scored, the goal was disallowed for a foul by Rod, it was a ridiculous decision, the sort of thing you seen players do every week and no one even notices let alone punishes. That would have put us 1-0 up. The game finished 0-0, Luton did us 2-1 in extra time. They were a decent team in the late 80s, did well in the cups back then, they actually won it the previous season beating arsenal 3-2 in the final. They got to the final that season too but lost to Forest.

[Wade Garrett]

1 hour ago, Sheaf Saint said:

Had to look up the actual date but it was 32 years ago almost to the day - 25 Jan 1989. A league cup QF replay against Luton, which we lost 2-1 after ET. 

Don't really remember much about the game itself, only that it was freezing cold and we had a goal disallowed for offside, which I didnt really understand at the time. I was 13 and had never really had much interest in football as a nipper. But a mate at school got some tickets from his dad who worked in the ticket office and invited me along. We stood in the Milton and I'll never forget how it felt to be among thousands of people all singing OWTS for the first time. I was hooked. 

I was at that game stood at the back of the Milton.  Couldn’t see a thing.

[mikec]

My first trip to the Dell was when my uncles took me to a Saints reserves game against West Ham reserves in 1967.  Saints scored first but ended up losing 1-2.  I suppose it set me up properly for a lifetime of brief hope and ultimate disappointment.  My first first-team game was a few months later against West Brom which we won 4-0 (Davies(2), Paine and Chivers).

 

[Mustapha Fag]

Saints 1 Leicester 5

14th October 67

Rain, lots of rain, and Peter Shilton scoring past Campbell Forsyth 

Still here though because I loved the whole experience 

[Sergei Gotsmanov]

1-1 West Brom 1979 and still got the bug! 

[Saint86]

My Dad took me to see us play Arsenal at the Dell for my birthday in 94. Sat in the chapel end and watched us win 1-0 curtesy of a second half Magilton goal.

[Monk]

1997 

Wednesday evening versus Everton

2-2 draw under the lights

[Viking Saint]

On 30/01/2021 at 11:38, Turkish said:

November 1985. Everton lost 3-2. Glen Cockerill scored early and Steve Moran, my boyhood hero scored right in front of us in The Milton the second half. Everton were champions at the time and a very good side. 

Mine too, the Centenary game if memory serves. My best mate at school was the mascot and brought me with him. Remember us scoring after about a minute and was blown away by the noise of the crowd - loved it!!

[Midfield_General]

Opening game of the 1986-87 season. 5-1 victory against QPR. Nick Holmes and Danny Wallace got one each, and Colin Clarke scored a hat-trick on his debut after signing from Bournemouth for £400k. A young David Seaman in goal for them. I thought it would be like that every week. 

It wasn't. 

[Appy]

January 1997, 2-2 against Newcastle.

 

Ferdinand and Clark put them two nil up.

 

Neil Maddison scored in the 88th minute, before  MLT screamer a minute later.

[Saintgaz]

On 29/01/2021 at 17:29, OttawaSaint said:

Jan 1980 a 4-1 win vs Man City. Just looked up the scorers on that day. Moran, Channon, Watson and Ball. What a great first game to attend. I don't remember too much but have this recollection that it was really cold and the crowd were stamping their feet to keep warm and generate noise at the same time.

This was my first match too.  Steve Moran came on as a sub on debut and scored.  For Watson's goal, Man City keeper Joe Corrigan came out and knocked Watson out as he headed in?  

[Lets B Avenue]

On 29/01/2021 at 16:24, IFHP said:

Southampton V Manchester City Saints won 4-1 and MicK Channon played for Man City - must have been about 79/80 season.

19/1/80 but Channon was back playing for us. Scored our first goal and Steve Moran came on for his debut and scored the 4th with his first touch.

[Lets B Avenue]

21/11/64. Saints 6 Rotherham 1.

O'Brien 3 Chivers 3.

Edited 3 February, 2021 by Lets B Avenue

[B Rabbit]

14th January 1989... Southampton v Middlesbrough.

Must have been an 8th birthday present. We lost 1-3 😐 

I’ve literally just found and bought the match day programme on EBay for £2.45! Amazing.

GoalkeeperJohn Burridge

Defender/Right backGerry Forrest

DefenderMark Blake

DefenderRay Wallace

Defender/Centre backKevin Moore

Left backDerek Statham

MidfielderGraham Baker

MidfielderJimmy Case

Midfielder/ForwardMatt Le Tissier

ForwardPaul Rideout

ForwardRodney Wallace

[explorer saint]

Jan 1972 relegation 6 pointer Forest at home and Jim Steele debut won 4-1 never been so cold at a match since ! Loved it I was 10 

[Chewy]

Saints v Leicester April 84. 2-2, think Steve Moran (also my first saints idol) scored a late equalizer with a diving header?

looking it up, Lineker got their two and our other scorer was Danny Wallace. Those were the days ...

[ErwinK1961]

Wednesday 23rd October 1996 - League Cup - Southampton 2-2 Lincoln City. Le Tiss and Van Gobbel. I was 7

Pretty sure I also went to the Stockport home game quarter final later that season... was it Brett Angel that scored the winner 😞

First league game was April 1998 v Villa - lost 2-1, Yorke and Hendrie. Le Tiss scored a belter.

The old man took me to games here and there when he could - though I became a bit of a Jonah unfortunately. Took 13 years to see my first win! v Stockport at home 2-0.

[Turkish]

We moved to St Marys just over 20 years ago meaning that there are now a large percentage of our fans who would never have been to the Dell. I guess most kids would first go to a game 8-10, meaning that most of our fans 28-30 or under would only know life at St Marys. Makes you feel old. 

[HugeBaboon]

Luton Town, September 1990. Pretty uninspiring 2-1 loss. Remember Elstrup scored twice early for Luton, but oddly couldn’t remember who got one back for us. Just saw it was Rideout.
 

Went in with high hopes, as we’d been excellent the season before, and brought down to earth with a resounding bump. Kind of sums up the 30 years that followed.

Edited 4 February, 2021 by HugeBaboon
Fat fingers

[teamsaint]

3-0 v Coventry, December 1970. Just Magic.

3 bob to get in the Archers. 

50 years on,I should know better, but still got the bug. Can’t wait to get back to SMS.

[Badger]

23 hours ago, ErwinK1961 said:

Wednesday 23rd October 1996 - League Cup - Southampton 2-2 Lincoln City. Le Tiss and Van Gobbel. I was 7

 

You were in elevated company that evening then. 
 

I remember reading an interview with Rupert Lowe in which he said that was the first match he attended at The Dell when his company Secure Retirement were in talks with the club.

He said how enthused he was by all the excitement and passion etc. This was probably playing up to the audience as everyone else I spoke to thought it was a pretty drab and low key affair against lower league opposition.?

[alehouseboys]

23 hours ago, ErwinK1961 said:

Wednesday 23rd October 1996 - League Cup - Southampton 2-2 Lincoln City

That was a night they did pay-on-the-gate and someone lost count. The official attendance was slightly under capacity but fans were having to stand in the aisles as there were no free seats, it was well over.

Similar thing happened at St Mary's when we played Bayern Munich in a friendly, all seats were taken but loads of fans were still pouring in and made to to sit in the walkways.

Possibly an unofficial record attendance that night.

[ErwinK1961]

2 hours ago, Badger said:

You were in elevated company that evening then. 
 

I remember reading an interview with Rupert Lowe in which he said that was the first match he attended at The Dell when his company Secure Retirement were in talks with the club.

He said how enthused he was by all the excitement and passion etc. This was probably playing up to the audience as everyone else I spoke to thought it was a pretty drab and low key affair against lower league opposition.?

😕 Damn!

[OldNick]

V Leeds Utd circa 1968 lost 3-1

[derry]

First team approximately that I watched, Christie, Wilkins Traynor McLaughlin Parker Elliott Flood Reeves Day Mulgrew Hoskins. Also McGowan Ellerington Page Kiernan that season.

[derry]

And Windmill Walker.

[John Boy Saint]

On 04/02/2021 at 14:08, Turkish said:

We moved to St Marys just over 20 years ago meaning that there are now a large percentage of our fans who would never have been to the Dell. I guess most kids would first go to a game 8-10, meaning that most of our fans 28-30 or under would only know life at St Marys. Makes you feel old. 

I made sure that both my Girls got to see The Dell we sat up in the East Stand (as I had never been up there myself and felt I needed to) for the last pre season friendly Real Sociedad (?) so cheap too, they must have been 4 & 5 the 4 year old more fidget eyes than pants, "look at that what is it?" bizarrely the 5 year old locked on the pitch most of the game....... so you're spot on, very few born after 1994 are very unlikely to have known The Dell.

My first outing was 21st January 1978 v Notts County 3-2 Saints - My hero back then Phil Boyer bagged a brace - which made my day. 13 years of age, 4 chums made our way down from Tadley north of Basingstoke on the 50p weekly shopping bus. 

2nd outing 5-0 spanking of Blackburn 1st April 1978 - Phil delivered again, think I might have had my programme signed by him too.

Great days 13-14-15 on the train down from Basingstoke sometimes in fear of our lives, having a great wheeze that has a smile on my face as I type.

[cf saint]

October 1979 vs Coventry, birthday present, Saints had started the season well so of course lost 3-2.  Good to get the “smack in the face when expecting a win” feeling in early as it has served me well for over 40 years! 

Had to check but Phil Boyer and Charlie George for us.

lower west I recall.

[Turkish]

Did you say you were going up the Dell or down the Dell?

we were up the Dell.

[64saint]

On 03/02/2021 at 23:07, Lets B Avenue said:

21/11/64. Saints 6 Rotherham 1.

O'Brien 3 Chivers 3.

I've been a long time lurker on here but the above post from Lets B Avenue has brought me out of my slumber.  Yes, it was also my first game as a 10 year old kid. Friends of the family had a pair of season tickets for the Upper West Stand center block. Still got the programme. (Am I right in thinking that it is still the only Saints league game where 2 players have scored a hat trick in the same game ?? )  35 years of attending matches at the Dell and it was the only time I sat in the upper stands with the best view I ever had. 6 goals !!  I thought it would be like that every game.   I was in for a shock it could be said !!!!  The next game I went a year later , crammed into the corner under the old scoreboard at the Archers end, couldn't see much but my love affair with the Dell had been launched. Great memories.

Edited 6 February, 2021 by 64saint

[Lets B Avenue]

On 06/02/2021 at 19:05, 64saint said:

I've been a long time lurker on here but the above post from Lets B Avenue has brought me out of my slumber.  Yes, it was also my first game as a 10 year old kid. Friends of the family had a pair of season tickets for the Upper West Stand center block. Still got the programme. (Am I right in thinking that it is still the only Saints league game where 2 players have scored a hat trick in the same game ?? )  35 years of attending matches at the Dell and it was the only time I sat in the upper stands with the best view I ever had. 6 goals !!  I thought it would be like that every game.   I was in for a shock it could be said !!!!  The next game I went a year later , crammed into the corner under the old scoreboard at the Archers end, couldn't see much but my love affair with the Dell had been launched. Great memories.

Steve Moran and Danny Wallace both got hat tricks when we beat Coventry 8-2 in April 1984.

[gsweet87]

Never got to go unfortunately. My first Saints game was the first year at St Mary's I think. Saints 4 - Fulham 2. Remember us being 2 down and a Beattie hattrick turning it around.

[Mr Brightside]

Sad to say I don’t know, something I wish I’d asked my Dad. Think it was around 1979. 

[Hodgey]

1982 - Saints 4 Man City 1 - 6 yr old.  Stood in the Milton End with my mate and Dads behind us so we didn’t go flying in the surge. Result at the time wasn’t a shock at all, how things change !!. Full kits, scarves everything - birthday treat for one of us, meant we went to 2 matches a year back then. Think it was £1 to get in....

[Fan The Flames]

On 30/01/2021 at 17:37, VectisSaint said:

6 Jan 1968, Saints 3 Chelsea 5. Big Ron (2) and Mick Channon for us, Ossie amongst others for them. Martin Chivers last game. Helluva game, dreadful weather if I recall stood in the Milton. Hooked. My old man took me to the game, which was difficult for him being a Pompey man, afterwards he said, I've done my bit took nipper to his first game, never setting foot in that place again (he was true to his word). Palled up with a few other travellers from the Island for future games.

My old man was similar, he was Plymouth Argyle, he took me to The Dell for a few reserve games in the 70's probably againt Plymouth. But never took me to a real match (other than hundreds of Argyle games), we then moved away. So my first Dell game proper was 1996, the last game of the season, got a ticket outside, nil nil draw against Wimbledon, enough to stay up. Disappointed that there was no pitch invasion.

Only ever made it to a handful of games there. Moving to St Mary's was brilliant for us ex pats with little local connections.

Chatting to my dad before he died, we talked about going to football when I was a kid and we got on to why he never took me to a Saints games. He grew up in Southampton as a Plymouth fan, he now had dementia and his speech was impoverished, I asked him if he actually liked Southampton, his face lit up with a big smile and said "I've hated them all my life" 🤣

Edited 13 February, 2021 by Fan The Flames

[saint michael]

Saints v villa 1967.  Saints won 6 2. Ron scored 4 and Chivers 2. About 21k there 
 

great game went with crowd of mates as saints gave special price for kids. got me hooked. Different club now almost unrecognisable from those days. Not better in my opinion. Maybe old fart but miss the connection we had with club and players. 

[ulstersaint1980]

On 30/01/2021 at 17:37, VectisSaint said:

6 Jan 1968, Saints 3 Chelsea 5. Big Ron (2) and Mick Channon for us, Ossie amongst others for them. Martin Chivers last game. Helluva game, dreadful weather if I recall stood in the Milton. Hooked. My old man took me to the game, which was difficult for him being a Pompey man, afterwards he said, I've done my bit took nipper to his first game, never setting foot in that place again (he was true to his word). Palled up with a few other travellers from the Island for future games.

Why did your dad do that, then?

[WALK DMC]

3rd January 1970 - Beat Newcastle 3-0 in the FA Cup (Frank Saul x 2, Mick Channon). I was 8 years old and we stood in the Milton. 

In those days, kids could take a box to stand on. My dad had brought along a decent sized stool which he had already painted with red & white stipes. The turnstile guy immediately told us that the stool was too big and refused to let it through. I began to think that my first trip to The Dell would end in failure, but my Dad didn't give up and they eventually let us in (including the stool ).

It was the beginning of a beautiful relationship with the Saints .......