Who Was Your First Southampton Football Hero?

One of my very first heroes was Derek Reeves. He was at the time a very prominant member of our team and scored a hell of a lot of goals for the Saints. He always seemed to be able to produce when needed and had a very good goals to games ratio.

Terry Paine would have to be on most lists of fans who were alive when he was playing. He was a skilfull winger who when getting on dropped back to midfield. This move was a very astute move because it enabled him to lengthrn his career in style.

Another forward and another from the 60's. Martin Chivers was perhaps the first of our stars that I was able to watch regularly. He had a powerful shot and scored like Reeves before him at much better than a goal every two games.

Whilst the forwards banged in the goals we had Dennis Hollywood as our friendly left-back. Dennis was a very hard tackler who took no prisoners. He was adored by us fans as a genuine full on no prisoners ever taken you will not pass type of player.

Next came the incomparable Micky Channon. If he had not taken a two year break at Manchester City he would have scored even more goals than he eventually did for us.

Record goal scorer with 228 goals Mick was worshipped by the crowd at the dell. He also did well when playing for England and has continued to excell in his second sport.

Mick Channon is now known more for his skill at training quality race horses. He has reached the top of the tree at that game as he did for us as a footballer.

A True Legend.

Bobby Stokes the scorer of that goal against United will always be remembered. He was maybe unlucky because we always had good strikers at his time with us.

Nick Holmes won't be on many peoples lists but he always seemed so cool and calm under pressure. Him and Steve Williams were like chalk and cheese.

Chris Nicholl was one of the few centre backs/half backs who I took real notice of. He was with us for 6 years and always gave us everything.

There were others like big John McGrath and Mark Wright who played well for us but they didn't appeal to me as much.

Big John was a hard no nonsence half back who knew how to tackle. His only problem was a lack of mobility. Mark Wright on the other hand oozed class.

Best goalkeeper that we ever had would have to be Peter Shilton. The England keeper was with us for five years and produced many a great save for us during his time in the red and white.

Matthew Le Tissier. This is a name that even my 6yo son knows and loves. This player almost single handedly kept our club in the top division for several years.

He will always be remembered with great affection by us and I still enjoy watching some of his greatest goals on the dvd's I have with him on them.

He was also the scorer of the winning goal against the Arsenal in what was our last serious game at the Dell. He is and always will be a hero to so many.

There has been several changes since we arrived at St Mary's but as of yet we do not have a real hero to take up the Le Tissier mantle of our last great player. Rickie Lambert might be the one to attain those heights but so far we have only seen him for the one season.

Killer, Antti niemi, could have been and Adam Lallana may also become one of our historical greats but only time will tell.

I hope those of you that read this enjoy with me the memories of our last 50 years. There are many other names but they will have to wait for another day.

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