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Best Saints 11 (players you saw play)


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1 hour ago, VectisSaint said:

Yes, I only caught his last 2 seasons, and to be honest he was over the hill by then. You have to be mid/late 60s to have been there, unless uou were really a little nipper 

Yes, understood, I am 86, but the Terry years remain unforgettable to me. Sorry for those who missed them!

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6 hours ago, Dellman said:

I am amazed Terry Paine is left off so many lists. he was top creator and top scorer for 16 seasons and in all divisions. Was it so long ago some never saw him? 

I saw him countless times in my opinion the best all round footballer to play for Southampton I will alwaysremember  his three goals in the last four games of the 1966 season to get us to Div ! especially the one at Leyton Orient where he was carried of the pitch on the shoulders of Saints Fans

 

He scored 188 goals in 816 appearances a feat I doubt will ever be beaten

 

From 1958 to 1969 he only missed 5 league games

 

If anybody wants to learn more about him and the great times I had as a Saints fan in the 60s where we went from Div 3 to Div 1 just  read his biography Constant Paine

 

Without Terry Paine I doubt we would be the club we are today

 

 

 

 

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On 04/10/2021 at 17:32, Saint86 said:

Gareth Bale is the best left back you ever saw play for saints...? come on mate behave! He couldn't even get in Tottenham's team for the next couple of years at that age. Luke shaw mops the floor with him for saints with respect to ability whilst at saints, as does Bridge.

And livramento at right back... most of the forum want him put in the right CAM so KWP can play right back 🤣 In no way shape or form should anyone be considering him as saints best ever right back!

Also surprised there is no spot for Sadio Mane, especially given you've included a 16year old theo? Mane was absolutely unplayable at times and is hands down one of the most dangerous players i've ever seen at saints.

It's just my opinion. I'm sure you have yours.

Livramento is the most exciting right back I've seen for saints. I like players that put a smile on my face and get me on my feet. Jason Dodd, Clyne and KWP never did that (aside from Dodd performance against Liverpool in 4-1 win at the dell. That had me laughing all week! )

In honesty, I'm aware tino being my best ever right back after 8 games is stupid. But I'm OK with that - I'm investing in potential;)

Tino reminds me of Bale in truth.

Bale was the most exciting left back. We have been blessed with some crackers though for sure . Yes Bale struggled at spurs for a while- but not at saints. He was brilliant and I loved watching him get stronger with each game. 

Mane was brilliant for us. But I enjoyed watching theo more and I would have put rickie above mane in truth. 

Walcott was unplayable when he broke through. Just total confidence in his own ability. theo was the most exciting young player I've ever seen play for us in his breakthrough season. Arsenal soon put a stop to that. He joined the wrong club.

Like I say - it's just my opinion. We have been blessed to see some true greats.

Edited by sifter
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11 hours ago, Nordic Saint said:

At his peak, in 1963, he was one of the best players in the world: (155) 23/10/1963 ENGLAND v REST of the WORLD XI - YouTube

Another one who's largely forgotten now, our Welsh international captain, Stuart Williams, was singled out for praise by Pele after the 1958 World Cup Finals.

That was a wonderful watch, thanks for sharing. I'd not seen Paine play before - lpve the hip swerving run and he seemed to have great awareness for a pass too. 

Also, notable pass from Puskas to setup Law - was not something I ever expected to see! 

Lastly, that run from Charlton at the end. Reminded me of Gazza or Gullit - total control of the ball running with back straight and always looking up. Different class.

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I loved the YouTube video. Some really great players there. As my first Dell game was in 1958, I saw a lot of Terry Paine, and agree with all the comments above praising him. I won't give a favourite XI for Saints, I'd struggle to leave out so many players! Those first few years, though, in the old 2nd Division, gave schoolboys like me their heroes in Paine, George O'Brien and Derek Reeves, and later on Ron Davies, Mickey Channon, Phil Boyer and Peter Osgood, (the comment above about Ossie being past it when he played for us may be a little bit true, but I always felt he was worth the entry fee just to see him play). It's obvious from my picks above that most are forwards, hence my not picking them in a team formation, but one player who has to be included for me in any Best Saints XI is Alan Ball - his contribution was, in my opinion, tremendous.

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Not easy, as has been said could pick 2 different but outstanding teams

 

Peter Shilton

Tino Livramento

Virgil Van Dyke

Mark Wright

Wayne Bridge

Steve Williams

Alan Ball

Matt Le Tissier

Mick Channon

Alan Shearer

Subs:

Ron Davies, Ivan Golac, Terry Paine, Dean Richards, Antti Niemei

Edited by moonraker
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                                   Niemi 

Golac      Wright        Van Dyke       Dennis 

                Williams          Armstrong 

                           Le Tissier    

   Channon              Davis            Moran 

Sub 

Nick Holmes as he would allow you to change to any formation you wanted .   With Tiss,  Golac Channon and Dennis crossing to Davis Moran and Armstrong UI would expect at least 100 goals a season !   

 

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3 minutes ago, redkeith said:

                                   Niemi 

Golac      Wright        Van Dyke       Dennis 

                Williams          Armstrong 

                           Le Tissier    

   Channon              Davis            Moran 

Sub 

Nick Holmes as he would allow you to change to any formation you wanted .   With Tiss,  Golac Channon and Dennis crossing to Davis Moran and Armstrong UI would expect at least 100 goals a season !   

 

There is no point in having Ron Davies without Terry Paine or John Sydenham  to supply the crosses

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1 minute ago, John B said:

There is no point in having Ron Davies without Terry Paine or John Sydenham  to supply the crosses

Still think Ron would work well with overlapping fullbacks.

Not sure I ever saw John Sydenham play, I can remember Terry Paine waving up to the West Stand at my first game ( 3rd round cup against some non league team) . Other that that my first Saints memory is seeing Dennis Hollywood and Mike Summerbee get their bi-annual sending off for a punch up.    

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Shilton

Mills

Wright

Van Dijk

Bridge

Williams

Schneiderlin

Le Tissier

Lambert

Moran

D Wallace

subs Niemi, M Svensson, Clyne, Case, R Wallace, Ings, Armstrong

Bit messy I think. First saw in 84 but don’t remember a huge amount, saw some of the modern players a lot more. Not picking based on post-saints success so not including Shearer, Bale or Mane for that reason. Will defend myself for Clyne (was excellent for us) and Ings (honestly don’t recall him missing a chance he should have scored for us)  among the subs but understand if others disagree.

Honourable mentions to Flowers, Alderwiereld, Pahars and Beattie.

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I'm struggling for the RB pick for mine, the one area where we haven't been as blessed as others. 

             Shilton 

Clyne Wright VVD Shaw

         Case Williams 

  D Wallace MLT Mane

            Shearer 

Bench : too many to choose from. 

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On 05/10/2021 at 22:04, gsweet87 said:

                   Niemi

Clyne - Van Dijk - Fonte - Shaw

  Schneiderlein - JWP

 Tadic - Le Tissier - Mane

                Pelle

 

Surprising lack of Shaw in these teams, especially as Bale only had one season for us and it was in the championship. Shaw had one of the best games i've ever seen any footballer have, let alone a Saints player, at Stamford Bridge when we drew 2-2 in 2013.

This one is great and would be a lot of fun to watch!

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21 hours ago, egg said:

I'm struggling for the RB pick for mine, the one area where we haven't been as blessed as others. 

             Shilton 

Clyne Wright VVD Shaw

         Case Williams 

  D Wallace MLT Mane

            Shearer 

Bench : too many to choose from. 

You never saw Golac play then. Would walk into any team.

Well charge whilst scattering other players.

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I missed out Paine, Channon, Keegan, Davies, and Chivers.

Its hard to project these players forward as football was so different then.

On reflection I'd select Chivers over Shearer.

However I couldn't drop any of Ball, Case, Williams, or LeTissier for them, or the likes of Pahars or Ecklund.

So hard.

Not even Newcastle could afford that team!

 

 

Edited by macca155
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I  have to start in the early 1960's .....but here goes.

                                   Niemi

     Dodd         Fonte       Svensson        Peach

                         Case          Holmes

Paine     Le Tissier      Ron Davies      Lambert 

 

This really was a tough call, but I've based it on 

goals, guts and loyalty,  yet still had no place for ; 

 

StuartWilliams     George O'Brien    Tony  Knapp  

Huxford    Sydenham    SteveWilliams     Moran

Nicholl      Shilton     Channon     Ball     Golac     

Benali    Lundekvam    Beattie    Lallana    Schneiderlin   

Yoshida    Pelle    StevenDavis   Mane  and  JWP.

 

 

 

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                  Niemi 

Livramento Fonte VVD Shaw

              Schneiderlin 

       Tadic     MLT     Mane

           Lambert  Beattie

Subs: K Davis, Bale, Alderweireld, Wanyama, Ox, Ings

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23 hours ago, adriansfc said:

I miss surprise players like that. Now he’d be widely scouted and there’d be endless YouTube videos about how people signed him on football manager. 

Absolutely Ronny for me !

He was class and even Le Tiss said that he was the most talented footballer he ever played with !

Just a pity that injury blighted his career which turned out to be very short !

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Just now, eurosaint said:

Absolutely Ronny for me !

He was class and even Le Tiss said that he was the most talented footballer he ever played with !

Just a pity that injury blighted his career which turned out to be very short !

sorry, meant to quote Alex Law who talked about Ronny Ekelund 😊

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21 hours ago, egg said:

I'm struggling for the RB pick for mine, the one area where we haven't been as blessed as others

I literally went through all of them since I started watching:

Delap

Telfer

Hajto

Ostlund

Jermaine Wright

Lloyd James

Butterfield

Richardson

Clyne

Cedric

KWP

Livramento

Decided there wasn’t really anyone better than the guy who’s just played half a dozen games for us, although Clyne and KWP come fairly close.

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1 hour ago, Lighthouse said:

I literally went through all of them since I started watching:

Delap

Telfer

Hajto

Ostlund

Jermaine Wright

Lloyd James

Butterfield

Richardson

Clyne

Cedric

KWP

Livramento

Decided there wasn’t really anyone better than the guy who’s just played half a dozen games for us, although Clyne and KWP come fairly close.

I go back further, but adding Gerry Forrest, Dodd, Ray Wallace, Kenna, Cherednik etc to the list doesn't compare with the Bale, Shw, Bridge etc om the other side. 

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28 minutes ago, egg said:

I go back further, but adding Gerry Forrest, Dodd, Ray Wallace, Kenna, Cherednik etc to the list doesn't compare with the Bale, Shw, Bridge etc om the other side. 

Which is why the 3 LBs mentioned were swiftly snapped up by bigger, richer, clubs. We seemed to excel at producing them at one point. Even Matt Target is doing well for himself at Villa (which is great to see personally, as his family and mine have close connections). 

It's also the reason why those of us who go back a bit further have opted for Golac at RB. Could have also gone for Mick Mills, who played RB, LB and CB or even Nick Holmes, who played absolutely everywhere. That said, of those you listed above, Kenna was a decent RB and Dodd was a great servant for us without being a great player himself.

Have a feeling, in some future reproduction of this thread, an awful lot of people will have Livramento at RB and will be saying what an insane signing he was at the time.

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Just now, Minsk said:

Which is why the 3 LBs mentioned were swiftly snapped up by bigger, richer, clubs. We seemed to excel at producing them at one point. Even Matt Target is doing well for himself at Villa (which is great to see personally, as his family and mine have close connections). 

It's also the reason why those of us who go back a bit further have opted for Golac at RB. Could have also gone for Mick Mills, who played RB, LB and CB or even Nick Holmes, who played absolutely everywhere. That said, of those you listed above, Kenna was a decent RB and Dodd was a great servant for us without being a great player himself.

Have a feeling, in some future reproduction of this thread, an awful lot of people will have Livramento at RB and will be saying what an insane signing he was at the time.

Yep, we've produced some great left backs, and Tatgett  deserved his break and is doing well. As for right backs, Dodd was tidy, ditto Kenna, but then there's shockers like Ray Wallace - I remember him at Liverpool in about 87/88 when we were getting battered and he shouted "don't give me the fucking ball" before leathering it! Cart horse. 

Golac is one player of like to have seen but having not, Clyne is the best I can dredge up. 

I'll stay calm over Livramento, although he looks pretty bloody special. 

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19 minutes ago, egg said:

Yep, we've produced some great left backs, and Tatgett  deserved his break and is doing well. As for right backs, Dodd was tidy, ditto Kenna, but then there's shockers like Ray Wallace - I remember him at Liverpool in about 87/88 when we were getting battered and he shouted "don't give me the fucking ball" before leathering it! Cart horse. 

Golac is one player of like to have seen but having not, Clyne is the best I can dredge up. 

I'll stay calm over Livramento, although he looks pretty bloody special. 

Fully agree about Ray Wallace. I'm sure he only ever played for us because he was Rod's twin. I've never really decided who was the better between Rod and Danny. Think I preferred watching Danny and have better memories of him; Rod was faster and more clinical (if I remember correctly), and certainly did more after leaving us. Would love either here now (in their prime of course). Think Tella is the closest we've got. Hopefully he will go on to become as much of a legend.

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26 minutes ago, Minsk said:

Fully agree about Ray Wallace. I'm sure he only ever played for us because he was Rod's twin. I've never really decided who was the better between Rod and Danny. Think I preferred watching Danny and have better memories of him; Rod was faster and more clinical (if I remember correctly), and certainly did more after leaving us. Would love either here now (in their prime of course). Think Tella is the closest we've got. Hopefully he will go on to become as much of a legend.

Danny for me, just, if only for that overhead kick and the brilliant video that always got played on Foley's coach (if you know, you know). Rod was brilliant though - was a toss up between them for my team, and almost had them both. 

Edited by egg
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                      Niemi

Clyne    Van Dijk   Svensson   Shaw

                  Schneiderlin

    Mane      Le Tissier     Bale

             Lambert      Ings

Was too young to see enough of Shearer in a saints shirt to warrant his inclusion. Honourable mentions also for Claus, Fonte, Alderweireld, A Svensson, Bridge, Wanyama and Lallana

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                         Shilton 

golac       Wright     van dijk      Dennis 

 

le tissier     Williams   Case       R wallace 

 

                  Mane

                                   D.wallace                 

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My go (and showing age here)

                  Shilton

Golac  Wright  Van Djke  Bale

Wallace Case  Williams  LeTiss

              Moran  Lambert

Bench: Niemi, Marsden (yep CMFG - some of my happiest memories), Mane, R Wallace, Armstrong (David), Tadic, Long (ok that’s a joke - Pahars)

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                                                                                          Moss

                                                          Ostlund               Dryden           Davenport             Van Damme

                                        Kanchelskis                    P.Reid                     Gillett                              Frankie Bennett

                                                                         Cosimo Sarli                           Shipperley                                 

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On 04/10/2021 at 11:42, sadoldgit said:

Not easy as I have had to leave some quality players out, but here we go -

Niemi

Mills Wright Van Dijk Bale

David Armstrong Ball Williams

Le Tiss Ron Davies Channon

sub Paine

Good selection but TP as a sub, hmmm.

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11 hours ago, Tom said:

                                                                                          Moss

                                                          Ostlund               Dryden           Davenport             Van Damme

                                        Kanchelskis                    P.Reid                     Gillett                              Frankie Bennett

                                                                         Cosimo Sarli                           Shipperley                                 

Might swap Danny Fox for Jelle.

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On 05/10/2021 at 18:27, AlexLaw76 said:

Some great players in the lists above.

I would have to have Ekelund.  Probably for no other reason than that season was just great and he came from nowhere it seemed

 

Always loved ekelund shame saints wanted him to have back surgery

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13 hours ago, Norm said:

Good selection but TP as a sub, hmmm.

I know Norm, but what a sub! It’s very hard to come up with a team of the best when there is so much quality to chose from. I nearly left MLT on the bench for Paine but in the end couldn’t do it. I could easily fill at least 2 more teams with real quality. Then there are the players who tend to slip through the net but would add proper quality to any team you can come up with, Phil Boyer for example. 

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On 05/10/2021 at 18:18, John B said:

I saw him countless times in my opinion the best all round footballer to play for Southampton I will alwaysremember  his three goals in the last four games of the 1966 season to get us to Div ! especially the one at Leyton Orient where he was carried of the pitch on the shoulders of Saints Fans

 

He scored 188 goals in 816 appearances a feat I doubt will ever be beaten

From 1958 to 1969 he only missed 5 league games

If anybody wants to learn more about him and the great times I had as a Saints fan in the 60s where we went from Div 3 to Div 1 just  read his biography Constant Paine

Without Terry Paine I doubt we would be the club we are today

 

 

Hear! Hear!

Not only a fabulous player but a great clubman and all round decent bloke. Remember also when he ran his greengrocery shop in Shirley High Street and could often be found standing around outside "shooting the breeze" with locals as they walked by. 

Watching Terry run the right wing beating player after player before crossing pinpoint on to Ron's head will remain in my memory forever! 

There really was only 'One Terry Paine'.

Edited by Charlie Wayman
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7 hours ago, Charlie Wayman said:

Hear! Hear!

Not only a fabulous player but a great clubman and all round decent bloke. Remember also when he ran his greengrocery shop in Shirley High Street and could often be found standing around outside "shooting the breeze" with locals as they walked by. 

Watching Terry run the right wing beating player after player before crossing pinpoint on to Ron's head will remain in my memory forever! 

There really was only 'One Terry Paine'.

Great post! Great memories of a most enjoyable era. 

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7 minutes ago, berkshiresaint said:

Shilton

Mills

Wright

Van Dijk

Bridge

Williams

Case

Le Tissier

Lambert

Keegan

Channon

subs: Niemi, M Svensson, Clyne, Schniederlin, R Wallace, Golac, Pelle

 

I reckon that team at their peaks would be top 6 in the modern era.

Good line up. I reckon that's a top 4 team. Pretty amazing that the likes of Mane, Bale, Shaw, and Danny Wallace can't even make the bench. We've had some great players down the years. 

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48 minutes ago, Dellman said:

Yes we have had some great players, a good case could be made for Terry Paine, alongside MLT being the greatest of them all, and he's often missing from these lists, that really surprises me. 

I wasn't lucky enough to watch him as he was before my time, but yes he is definitely one of the greats.

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3 hours ago, Dellman said:

Yes we have had some great players, a good case could be made for Terry Paine, alongside MLT being the greatest of them all, and he's often missing from these lists, that really surprises me. 

I think, Dellman, that you and I are among the small minority on this forum now of people who actually saw Paine play, hence the number of people including him in their 'best ever' squads. I agree with all of your post - we really have had some great players to watch over the years.

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I started going regularly in 1978 so this is my team...

Shilton

Golac

M Wright

Fonte (C)

Dennis

S Williams

Schneiderlin

D Armstrong

Keegan

Lambert

Le Tissier

Subs. Flowers, Clyne, Bridge, Lundekvam , Case, Lallana, Beattie

 

Manager. Lawrie Mac

 

 

Edited by CAH61
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On 14/10/2021 at 12:35, Piran said:

I think, Dellman, that you and I are among the small minority on this forum now of people who actually saw Paine play, hence the number of people including him in their 'best ever' squads. I agree with all of your post - we really have had some great players to watch over the years.

We certainly have had some great players but Paine for me was the best he was so consistent hardly missing games he did not have the skills of MLT but he was a better all round footballer scoring and making goals for well over 15 years

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