Saint Without a Halo Posted 21 July, 2012 Share Posted 21 July, 2012 I seem to remember when we signed Peter Osgood we broke the British transfer record, so that was certainly a WOW moment that a player of that calibre was joining Southampton.... A full 220k in early 1974 just a couple of weeks before we were relegated (despite winning 3-0 at Everton in our last game with Osgood scoring too) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint Without a Halo Posted 21 July, 2012 Share Posted 21 July, 2012 I still dont get where the money came from for those early 1980s big name signings. We had less than half the attendances of the big name clubs and there was no tv money to speak of. How come Saints could afford them and others couldnt or wouldnt? (yes I know wages were a lot less, but so were ticket prices) All you had to do in the 70's/80's was agree to pay them a bit more than they were already on! there was hardly any TV money and commercial income was minimal, so clubs virtually ran on gate income! the bigger clubs had more staff and players so you could all afford to shell out top wack on one or two specials. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint_Randell Posted 21 July, 2012 Share Posted 21 July, 2012 Tevez and Mascherano to West Ham? Not Saints but that was pretty WOW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buctootim Posted 21 July, 2012 Share Posted 21 July, 2012 All you had to do in the 70's/80's was agree to pay them a bit more than they were already on! there was hardly any TV money and commercial income was minimal, so clubs virtually ran on gate income! the bigger clubs had more staff and players so you could all afford to shell out top wack on one or two specials. Thats my point though. The bigger clubs had more money. If Saints offered KK £500pw compared with the £400pw he got at Hamburg Man U, Chelsea etc could afford to outbid us with £600 even then. And it wasnt one or two specials - at one point there were six or seven current and former England players in the team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harwellsaint Posted 21 July, 2012 Share Posted 21 July, 2012 Ok I'm old enough to remember the Kevin Keegan signing and that really was a "shock and awe" transfer, a real mouth open (probably drooling), eyes wide open and shaking the head moment. But after that I can't think of any other, certainly recent transfers, that have made me go WOW. i remember too, me dad took us to the dell to watch his first game for the reserves vrs spurs i think, got crushed trying to get into the west stand upper, the place was buzzing, what a time to be a boy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Who? Posted 21 July, 2012 Share Posted 21 July, 2012 Jimmy Case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Who? Posted 21 July, 2012 Share Posted 21 July, 2012 Oh forgot this one! Andrei Kanchelskis, and even Kerry Dixon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Posted 21 July, 2012 Share Posted 21 July, 2012 Tevez and Mascherano to West Ham? Not Saints but that was pretty WOW It certainly took Alan Pardew by surprise when it happened as I recall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom & Gerry Posted 21 July, 2012 Share Posted 21 July, 2012 At the time Tony Knapp was a big signing. It was something like £25k but it was a lot more than we had ever paid before and having got out of the 3rd Division it showed our intent to get to the 1st Division. It may not have been the bigest wow signing but it is certainly the first I remember. Also in those days going out and buying Burnside, Williams and Kirby in a few days turned us round when we were having a bad time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supergoose Posted 21 July, 2012 Share Posted 21 July, 2012 At the time I thought we'd moved up a couple of levels with the signing of Kevin Phillips. Shame he never clicked for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChudSaint Posted 21 July, 2012 Share Posted 21 July, 2012 Reading this week that Tommy Forecast had gone to Gillingham left me lost for words... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjsaint Posted 21 July, 2012 Share Posted 21 July, 2012 Delgado seemed like an exciting signing at the time - we all know how that turned out. In my opinion we're not a club that signs big names, we're a club that turns existing players into big names. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
batterseasaint Posted 21 July, 2012 Share Posted 21 July, 2012 I've got a couple of names not mentioned yet. I actually quite enjoyed the double signing of Higginbotham and Prutton, right at the end of the January transfer window in 2003. Both were young and highly regarded players at the time, brought in to complement an already good squad which was to take us to the FA Cup Final a few months later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shropshire Saint Posted 21 July, 2012 Share Posted 21 July, 2012 I've got a couple of names not mentioned yet. I actually quite enjoyed the double signing of Higginbotham and Prutton, right at the end of the January transfer window in 2003. Both were young and highly regarded players at the time, brought in to complement an already good squad which was to take us to the FA Cup Final a few months later. I was also quite excited by this double signing. I was sure that Prutton would go on to become an England regular. He must rank as one of the most disappointing signings ever (that Liverpool game apart). I was also quite excited by the Anders Svensson signing. A player cruelly misused by Saints. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankthesaint Posted 21 July, 2012 Share Posted 21 July, 2012 I remember being incredibly excited when we signed David Hurst. He was a seriously good, really exciting footballer. Had the Wow factor for me back then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beatlesaint Posted 21 July, 2012 Share Posted 21 July, 2012 Mine was Keegan without question. I even remember it got mentioned at school in morning assembly the next day....and that was in Weymouth !!! Always remember getting home from school the day he signed and Dad saying to me "If Southampton were to sgin anyone who would you want it to be?" The only name I could come up with was Trevor Francis and he said "No son, better than that" !! The one signing Saints have made where I can remember exactly where I was and how I heard the news.....I guess that qualifies as a WOW signing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Posted 21 July, 2012 Share Posted 21 July, 2012 Mine was Keegan without question. I even remember it got mentioned at school in morning assembly the next day....and that was in Weymouth !!! Always remember getting home from school the day he signed and Dad saying to me "If Southampton were to sgin anyone who would you want it to be?" The only name I could come up with was Trevor Francis and he said "No son, better than that" !! The one signing Saints have made where I can remember exactly where I was and how I heard the news.....I guess that qualifies as a WOW signing It really was the 'JFK' moment wasn't it ? For me,I was in 'A'level year,decided to spend a day at home on'studyleave' (more productive than a wasted Monday with some guff lessons etc), at 2pm my mother called out to me " did you hear that, on the radio they've just said Kevin Keegan is to sign for Saints ?". No I had not heard it,but that was the end of the studying as I then listened to every Sports News that afternoon just to make sure there was no mistake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S-Clarke Posted 21 July, 2012 Share Posted 21 July, 2012 I really wish I was around when Keegan was signed, would have loved to have been around to soak up the atmosphere - must have been electric all over the City. Would love to have seen other fans reactions too! Doubt we'll ever make a signing that'll shock as much as that again, it would need to be someone like Ronaldo or Messi to have he same impact I'd expect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theyin Posted 21 July, 2012 Share Posted 21 July, 2012 For my mind, I don't think there has been another signing in the history of football that has left fans, of whatever colour going, WTF (or whatever the vernacular of the day was). It was and remains unprecedented. Ronaldo to RM? Big deal, they're a big club known to splash out and we all knew he wanted to go there. KK to Saints, no one knew nothing and the fact the Euro player of the year came to an outfit like ours, well, it just ain't gonna happen is it gov? Who's for bringing Ledley out of retirement? I jest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lets B Avenue Posted 22 July, 2012 Share Posted 22 July, 2012 I seem to remember when we signed Peter Osgood we broke the British transfer record, so that was certainly a WOW moment that a player of that calibre was joining Southampton.... I'm afraid it wasn't. Bob Latchford had gone from Birmingham to Everton, a month earlier, for £350,000. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doughnutman Posted 22 July, 2012 Share Posted 22 July, 2012 Have to say Clyne had quite a wow factor. Highly rated star, looked at by Man Utd and seen as a huge prospect for the international scene. Sent from my BlackBerry 9800 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CLOTH EARS Posted 23 July, 2012 Share Posted 23 July, 2012 As people have said the Kevin Keegan signing just blew their minds, it did mine! ALL football fans of he time were majorly stunned when we pulled that one off. It is definately one of those where were you when you found out moments. I was at School when a girl who i knew said that Saints had signed Keegan. I genuinely laughed and said something along the lines of ' I aint buying that ' Anyway, on the way home from school another nipper said to me 'hey saints have signed Keegan', I still didn't buy it as i assumed it had originated from the same rediculous rumour. Its only when i got to the bottom of my road when i saw a woman i knew stood on her doorstep and she shouted out at the top oh her voice 'What do you think about Keegan signing?' That was it i run like an olympic sprinter the remaining 300 yards to my house. When i got in mum had the radio and TV on and the Keegan thing was being talked about on the radio when i got in the door also when all the news bulletins came on the radio they led with the 'Saints sign Keegan story' The evening news on TV led with it as 'THE MAIN STORY' it was quite incredible really. I was so excited as a 14 year old i couldn't function correctly for days i was mesmorised but many thousands more were the same. The only thing that would get close now would be if Saints signed Messi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sotonian Posted 23 July, 2012 Share Posted 23 July, 2012 Love this thread, the one I would add is frank worthington, not here long, but what a great player for us Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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