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Perry Groves


sadoldgit

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Meant to write this a while back so apols if it has been covered already. Groves is a regular on TalkSport and was talking about when he knew his days were numbered at Saints. He had been out injured for a long time but was fit again. Alan Ball told him he was playing at full back. He had NEVER played in that position in his life and knew his time was up at that point. He played a stinker and never played for the Saints again. To be fair he admitted that he was finished at that point after a bad run of injuries. My issue though is why play him at all if you have decided he is not good enough? Anyone remember him playing at full back?

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Meant to write this a while back so apols if it has been covered already. Groves is a regular on TalkSport and was talking about when he knew his days were numbered at Saints. He had been out injured for a long time but was fit again. Alan Ball told him he was playing at full back. He had NEVER played in that position in his life and knew his time was up at that point. He played a stinker and never played for the Saints again. To be fair he admitted that he was finished at that point after a bad run of injuries. My issue though is why play him at all if you have decided he is not good enough? Anyone remember him playing at full back?

 

 

 

His last game for us was in the FA Cup 3rd rd at Forest in January 93. Bally didn't become our manager until January 94, so it must have been in training as he never made the pitch for us ever again.

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Another one of our London club crock cast offs, Frank Saul, Jamie Redknapp, Kerry Dixon and David Howells to name but four

Charlie George was a bit wonky donkey too when he joined us, but he did rattle a few in more than them in the 44 games he had with us between 1978 -81 so I suppose shouldn't be included in the list.

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We signed him, Dixon and Monkou with the Shearer money, plus got in Speedie. Only Monkou was any good. Askham could have given Nick Nack lessons in how to spunk money away.

 

Didn't we insist on speedie and dixon coming as a package on the shearer deal, and one of them didn't want to move? Worked out brilliantly, that did.

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Didn't we insist on speedie and dixon coming as a package on the shearer deal, and one of them didn't want to move? Worked out brilliantly, that did.

 

that was Speedie. He was at Blackburn at the time, Dixon was still at Chelsea. When they both signed that great quote from Branfoot "Dixon and Speedie will score more goals than Alan Shearer this season" They didnt even make as many appearances between them as goals scored by Shearer.

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Another one of our London club crock cast offs, Frank Saul, Jamie Redknapp, Kerry Dixon and David Howells to name but four

 

Agree Redknapp was crocked but he gave it a good go when he did play.

 

I remember him him being interviewed after the Man U game when we were relegated and he said "The fans applauded us off but we didn't deserve it. We let them down".

 

It may have been professional pride but it seemed like he really cared.

 

Also remember being at the Clock End at Highbury when Howells scored to cancel out Bergkamps goal to earn us our second point of the season (in October).

Edited by ecuk268
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Charlie George was a bit wonky donkey too when he joined us, but he did rattle a few in more than them in the 44 games he had with us between 1978 -81 so I suppose shouldn't be included in the list.

 

I was going to mention Charlie George, but you beat me to it.

 

I suppose that as we signed him from Derby (he did play for Minnesota Kicks in between, but we paid Derby the transfer fee) he technically wasn't a London club cast-off, but I take the point.

 

He had probably just passed the peak of his career when he joined us, and Derby had three good years out of him. We probably squeezed the last drops of juice out of him as he never played as many games for another club as he did after us.

 

Some might argue he was a bit of a cast-off, but I remember being bloody excited when he signed.

 

Interestingly, looking at his record, I never realised he only won one England cap.

 

Rather than dub him a cast-off, he is a prime example of another hugely talented played grossly under-used by the national team.

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that was Speedie. He was at Blackburn at the time, Dixon was still at Chelsea. When they both signed that great quote from Branfoot "Dixon and Speedie will score more goals than Alan Shearer this season" They didnt even make as many appearances between them as goals scored by Shearer.

 

That's up there with that Lambert/Billy Sharp quote from that bloke on here, what was his name? :o

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Askham could have given Nick Nack lessons in how to spunk money away.

 

My mate was a penny share dealer in his younger days and Askham was one of his biggest clients, he pretty much said the same about him when it came to share dealing! :lol:

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Charlie George was a bit wonky donkey too when he joined us, but he did rattle a few in more than them in the 44 games he had with us between 1978 -81 so I suppose shouldn't be included in the list.

 

Ah Charlie George. I remember he took the worst penalty that I have ever seen taken in my life. Can't quite recall whether it cleared Milton Road stand or not, but it was a damn close call.

 

But.....

 

It's nice to have moved up in the world a bit, where we don't have to accept cast offs from other clubs and give once good players a run out in their twilight playing days.

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I was going to mention Charlie George, but you beat me to it.

 

I suppose that as we signed him from Derby (he did play for Minnesota Kicks in between, but we paid Derby the transfer fee) he technically wasn't a London club cast-off, but I take the point.

 

He had probably just passed the peak of his career when he joined us, and Derby had three good years out of him. We probably squeezed the last drops of juice out of him as he never played as many games for another club as he did after us.

 

Some might argue he was a bit of a cast-off, but I remember being bloody excited when he signed.

 

Interestingly, looking at his record, I never realised he only won one England cap.

 

Rather than dub him a cast-off, he is a prime example of another hugely talented played grossly under-used by the national team.

He was past his best when he joined but had the odd flash moment. He used to live at the bottom end of Hursley and would stand watching me playing for IBM reserves on a Sunday morning whilst walking his dog.

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We signed him, Dixon and Monkou with the Shearer money, plus got in Speedie. Only Monkou was any good. Askham could have given Nick Nack lessons in how to spunk money away.

Do you try and fit "nik nak" in to every other every post?

 

Some would say thats a bit obsessive turk.

 

Did he sack a relative of yours? Or give them a hard time?

 

The grinding noise from your petite axe is an irritant mate.

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Do you try and fit "nik nak" in to every other every post?

 

Some would say thats a bit obsessive turk.

 

Did he sack a relative of yours? Or give them a hard time?

 

The grinding noise from your petite axe is an irritant mate.

 

Stop trolling me Road Saint. Concentrate on the post subject, which was the amount of money squandered by a previous chairman. If anything its a complement to Nick Nack that someone was better at it than him.

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Stop trolling me Road Saint. Concentrate on the post subject, which was the amount of money squandered by a previous chairman. If anything its a complement to Nick Nack that someone was better at it than him.

There is never a "perfect" chairman.

 

But one that was trusted by a billionaire and bought little old southampton to their sights and interest will ALWAYS be held in high esteem.

 

What came after that my friend, is what they call history...

 

#Top 7 English Top Flight 2015

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There is never a "perfect" chairman.

 

But one that was trusted by a billionaire and bought little old southampton to their sights and interest will ALWAYS be held in high esteem.

 

What came after that my friend, is what they call history...

 

#Top 7 English Top Flight 2015

 

I've always said he was a decent lower league chairman, a Neil Warnock of chairman, good in the lower leagues but got found out at top level. As so it has been proven. He's played a key part in our success but he's rightly been replaced by someone to take us to the next level. Anyway stop taking this subject off topic, it's about Perry Groves and former players in the 90's not our glorious former CEO.

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How much did Groves cost us? I can't find him on Soccerbase, or Speedie for that matter. Lists that we paid £575k for Dixon - quality ROI. Up there with Osvaldo and Ramirez - comparatively speaking.

 

I remember watching Dixon's laboured performances, he was diabolical in a team that was desperately short of quality (Le Tissier excepted). How we managed to stay up under Branfoot, I'll never know.

 

According to Soccerbase we also flogged Rideout that year too, for £250k. Pretty sure he would have scored more than the 1 that Dixon managed for us...

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I was going to mention Charlie George, but you beat me to it.

 

I suppose that as we signed him from Derby (he did play for Minnesota Kicks in between, but we paid Derby the transfer fee) he technically wasn't a London club cast-off, but I take the point.

 

He had probably just passed the peak of his career when he joined us, and Derby had three good years out of him. We probably squeezed the last drops of juice out of him as he never played as many games for another club as he did after us.

 

Some might argue he was a bit of a cast-off, but I remember being bloody excited when he signed.

 

Interestingly, looking at his record, I never realised he only won one England cap.

 

Rather than dub him a cast-off, he is a prime example of another hugely talented played grossly under-used by the national team.

 

Very talented player and a coup when we signed him, I remember him teasingly appearing on the gantry before matches at the Dell, felt like we were being taunted! McMenemy once said that having Charlie George at Saints 'was like having an enormous diamond in a safe and not knowing the combination' - that about sums it up.

 

Perry Groves on the other hand was total sh*t!

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How much did Groves cost us? I can't find him on Soccerbase, or Speedie for that matter. Lists that we paid £575k for Dixon - quality ROI. Up there with Osvaldo and Ramirez - comparatively speaking.

 

I remember watching Dixon's laboured performances, he was diabolical in a team that was desperately short of quality (Le Tissier excepted). How we managed to stay up under Branfoot, I'll never know.

 

According to Soccerbase we also flogged Rideout that year too, for £250k. Pretty sure he would have scored more than the 1 that Dixon managed for us...

 

I'm pretty sure he cost £750k, which was the same price as Monkou.

 

Our striking talent in those days was incredible along with Speedie and Dixon we could boast Ian Dowie, Nicky Banger, Paul moody, Frankie Bennett and Craig Maskell. To think people moan about our players now!

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It's nice to have moved up in the world a bit, where we don't have to accept cast offs from other clubs and give once good players a run out in their twilight playing days.

Yes, sure glad that we don't need to sign any of those players again, Ball, Osgood, Mills (Mick), Armstrong, Keegan, Shilton, Worthington, McCalliog, Ruddock. ****e the lot of them :)

Charlie was a big deal when we signed him, and he was top drawer but sadly only very briefly.

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I vividly remember a league cup game at Priestfield when Dixon and Speedie gave 2 of the most abject performances I've ever seen in a Saints shirt. Dixon missed an open goal from 2 yards and Speedie spent most of the game moaning at whoever happened to be nearest to him.

 

About 7 years later I happened to be at a non-league match where Speedie was playing for Hendon. He spent all his time following the ref around and complaining about every decision before the ref booked him. He finally shut up and got subbed a few minutes after. He was total gash.

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I have a hand written letter from branfoot explaining how the whole Shearer / Dixon Speedie deal was great business for the club (In response to a **** off you stupid **** letter of my own to him).

 

I seem to remember that Monkou rumour at the time we bought him was that he was only sold after being caught with in the showers in a compromising situation.

 

Friend gave Monkou a lft home from man u once and he was a top top bloke.

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I vividly remember a league cup game at Priestfield when Dixon and Speedie gave 2 of the most abject performances I've ever seen in a Saints shirt. Dixon missed an open goal from 2 yards and Speedie spent most of the game moaning at whoever happened to be nearest to him.

 

About 7 years later I happened to be at a non-league match where Speedie was playing for Hendon. He spent all his time following the ref around and complaining about every decision before the ref booked him. He finally shut up and got subbed a few minutes after. He was total gash.

 

Didn't speedie give a fan a slap for protesting on the pitch?

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I have a hand written letter from branfoot explaining how the whole Shearer / Dixon Speedie deal was great business for the club (In response to a **** off you stupid **** letter of my own to him).

 

I seem to remember that Monkou rumour at the time we bought him was that he was only sold after being caught with in the showers in a compromising situation.

 

Friend gave Monkou a lft home from man u once and he was a top top bloke.

 

Monkou was a complete legend. He used to hang out in Videotheque on Bedford Place quite a bit and once made a point of coming into Virgin to thank me for recommending him the first Leftfield album.

 

There's a recent interview with him here:

 

http://www.thefa.com/news/2015/mar/ken-monkou-from-making-pancakes-to-getting-on-the-board-190315

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Yes, sure glad that we don't need to sign any of those players again, Ball, Osgood, Mills (Mick), Armstrong, Keegan, Shilton, Worthington, McCalliog, Ruddock. ****e the lot of them :)

Charlie was a big deal when we signed him, and he was top drawer but sadly only very briefly.

 

If you want to misinterpret peoples' posts, that's fine. I am not sure many of those that you mentioned were in the twilight of their playing days. For example, Ruddock played for 11 years more after he left us, a year at Spurs, 5 at Liverpool, a couple at West Ham.

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The 1980's and 1990's were the golden era days. It all went wrong when we moved to SMS.

 

It changed when we moved to SMS, but that was through bad management/ownership. Without the move to SMS we would without a doubt be in the lower leagues and not in the strong position we are in today.

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I'm pretty sure he cost £750k, which was the same price as Monkou.

 

Our striking talent in those days was incredible along with Speedie and Dixon we could boast Ian Dowie, Nicky Banger, Paul moody, Frankie Bennett and Craig Maskell. To think people moan about our players now!

 

 

Yes but Frankie Bennett could always lend a hand in the hospitality!

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It changed when we moved to SMS, but that was through bad management/ownership. Without the move to SMS we would without a doubt be in the lower leagues and not in the strong position we are in today.

 

It was a miracle that we survived on crowds of 15k at The Dell. Not so much bad management as getting by on what we had and making the most of it. There wasn't the sort of money around that there is now and I remember being told that Rupert Lowe didn't know where the next pound was coming from at one point. A number of people tried to turn things around and failed. Still, without those years in the footballing wilderness we would not be where we are today. Who would trade those wonderful years as we started our climb back for years of Premiership mediocrity? Not me for one. There was no way we could have remained at The Dell sadly but things move on and so has the club.

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I have a hand written letter from branfoot explaining how the whole Shearer / Dixon Speedie deal was great business for the club (In response to a **** off you stupid **** letter of my own to him).

 

I seem to remember that Monkou rumour at the time we bought him was that he was only sold after being caught with in the showers in a compromising situation.

 

Friend gave Monkou a lft home from man u once and he was a top top bloke.

 

I remember the shower rumour, also the one that Graeme Le Saux was gay because he read The Guardian. Oh to be back in those enlightened times!

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