This may be of interest to some

[hypochondriac]

Was just clearing out an old filing cabinet for my old man and found some of his old newspaper clippings from 1984 when we finished 2nd.

[Chewy]

What a team / squad that was. The first full season I can properly remember ... little did I know that would be as good as it got!! Steve Moran was my first Saints hero, still to this day only eclipsed by the one and only MLT.

 

Thanks for the memories

[Golac's Iron Gonads]

Lovely stuff, had been a season ticket holder for 5 years but not living in Southampton didn't come across much press like this. Nice to see after all this time.

[Micky]

Great stuff, great team, great players, great memories. Chelsea in the second tier as well, where were the skates? Thanks for posting, appreciated.

[Crab Lungs]

Those attendances ....

[beatlesaint]

That was a fantastic season, remember it well

[saintmatt]

Thanks for sharing this, very interesting

 

Those attendances ....

 

^this was my first thought too!

[OttawaSaint]

That was back when I lived near Andover. Dad had taken me to the Dell in 1980 for my first taste.

 

I can remember quite vividly my Dad lamenting how many late goals Liverpool got in that 1984 season, tutting and saying "lucky lucky Liverpool" as the scores came in on the TV.

[Bobbyboy]

Mark Wright was the Robinsons Barley Water Young Player of the Year. Wonder what the prize was?

[ecuk268]

Remember being on the Milton Road terraces when we put 8 past Coventry whose left back was one Stuart Pearce.

[Chewy]

Remember being on the Milton Road terraces when we put 8 past Coventry whose left back was one Stuart Pearce.

 

Missed that - remember watching it come in on the old Grandstand vidiprinter. It was one of those occasions they had to put the number in letters as well, just in case people thought it was a typo ...

Southampton 8 (eight) - Coventry 2

 

Funnily enough though, the return fixture was my first ever away game; a drab 0-0 at the old Highfield Road with the highlight being the first sending off I'd witnessed. Think it was Stephen Hunt (??) for clobbering Steve Williams who got stretchered off IIRC?

[ericb]

Remember being on the Milton Road terraces when we put 8 past Coventry whose left back was one Stuart Pearce.

 

That was my first game watching Saints, i mistakenly thought that was what football was going to be like but it was all downhill from there!

[kyle04]

Ivan Golac, great player, was there for "that" goal....

[bangkoksaint]

Remember being on the Milton Road terraces when we put 8 past Coventry whose left back was one Stuart Pearce.

 

Remember that so well. My dad nearly didn’t take me. If I recall it was 8-2. Moran, Danny Wallace hat tricks with Frank Worrhington and Armstrong getting the other two. Worthingtons was given by the Lino as it was hacked away after it had crossed at the Milton Road end. Puckett missed a simple chance- hit the post I believe? Allardyce was in the Coventry side.

[Fan The Flames]

That was back when I lived near Andover. Dad had taken me to the Dell in 1980 for my first taste.

 

I can remember quite vividly my Dad lamenting how many late goals Liverpool got in that 1984 season, tutting and saying "lucky lucky Liverpool" as the scores came in on the TV.

 

I don't know how true it is but I remember hearing that if matches were 80 minutes long we would have won the league.

[ooh it's a corner]

Gary Lineker scoring for second division Leicester.....

 

Hard to remember a time when he wasn't back page news-worthy.

 

I was gutted when we came second, really thought we had a chance to win it that year. The media were even worse than they are now. I can remember being second, and the radio commentary team talking about the top four, from first to fourth, but missing out Southampton......

[Sergei Gotsmanov]

Those attendances ....

 

I spotted that. Extraordinary. Wolves getting 11,000, Forest 16,000.

[OttawaSaint]

So much has changed!

 

2nd div: Chelsea, Watford, Cardiff, Crystal Palace, Leicester, Newcastle

3rd div: Burnley, Fulham, Huddersfield

4th div: Bournemouth

[doggface]

National 5 a side champions? WTF....

[OttawaSaint]

National 5 a side champions? WTF....

 

Ohhh yes! I remember that now. Was on the TV too. Was fun to watch.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/football/that-1980s-sports-blog/2018/dec/22/soccer-sixes-perfect-christmas-present-football-fans

 

EDIT: apparently it wasn't the same tournament though. The linked one is the one I remember.

 

The above article is a good read for a certain age group. Brought back so many memories. David Speedie in goals for Coventry, Paul Davis and Glenn Cockerill’s first game against each other after the infamous broken jaw punch at Highbury.

Edited 11 March, 2019 by OttawaSaint

[SaintsLoyal]

Post it on the history facebook group

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/SaintsArchive/

[saint1977]

Thanks for posting that Hypo. Happy days and my first real season as a Saints fan - and what a season it was! Was an era when all sides really could compete and the six a sides are example of something you’d never see today but underlined the emphasis on entertainment. That said, as some have noted, attendances were lower and the money did come in handy.

 

Look how many goals we scored in 83-84 - Moran got 25 after a slow start, Armstrong got 19 (19!) and Danny 11.

 

Shelton said in his book how gutted he was we didn’t beat Everton (calling Old Nick) as that side deserved to win something and he rated it as far more consistent than the flamboyant but home-dominated Keegan era sides that I just missed out on.

[hypochondriac]

No problem. It's made my dad happy that it's brought back some memories for other people.

[Toomer]

That season I only missed about four games home and away and two were down to the birth of my daughter.

[adrian lord]

Brilliant stuff. Thanks.

 

Ivan Golac. What a guy.

[It's There]

The early 80s saw great football from Saints. Characters and crafters and some super goals. Happy memories of seeing consistent wins. My son still struggles to believe we came second only to Liverpool. It seems so unlikely now!

[John Boy Saint]

Those attendances ....

Hardly a surprise, those were still nasty days to go to football in, grim facilities, not at all family friendly pleasant stadia, and the chance of being set upon to or from the ground, away games weren't much of a day out but a good chance of getting in a scrap.

 

We stayed with my sister in the Peak District for the recent Man U game, she wanted to go along with us. We hopped on the train from hers into Manchester, I had my Saints coat on, which you would never have done back then, she was a bit surprised that nobody said anything to me aside "Hello" and other pleasantries.

[OldNick]

Those attendances ....

years of football violence, the recession took its toll.

[OldNick]

Hardly a surprise, those were still nasty days to go to football in, grim facilities, not at all family friendly pleasant stadia, and the chance of being set upon to or from the ground, away games weren't much of a day out but a good chance of getting in a scrap.

 

We stayed with my sister in the Peak District for the recent Man U game, she wanted to go along with us. We hopped on the train from hers into Manchester, I had my Saints coat on, which you would never have done back then, she was a bit surprised that nobody said anything to me aside "Hello" and other pleasantries.

exactly, going to away games was not the experience it is now. The Fa cup game away at Pompey, they dropped us off at the top of Goldsmith avenue and we were left to wander to the ground, not a sign of a Bobby. It was interesting and as for after the game lol.

[norwaysaint]

Lineker scoring for Leicester andf Barnes scoring for Watford in the second. Incredible the amount of class in our team, Wright, Mills, Shilton, Moran, Williams, Armstrong, Golac, Wallace, Holmes, these were top class players, although obviously at varying stages of their careers.

[Saint-Fred]

83-84 was my favourite season ever but i didn't think we would win the league. I think it was a good finish that lifted us at the end.

However the other cutting from 81-82 with Keegan was when I thought we would win it. Top for a couple of months and still top as late as March I think. We fell away when Keegan was struggling with injury but he was still division 1 top scorer I think

Brilliant times, the football was stunning.

Great post OP some fantastic memories

[Charlie Wayman]

All this does is remind us all how old we're getting!

[eelpie]

All this does is remind us all how old we're getting!

 

 

Talking of old news (and apologies for hijacking this interesting thread, but I don't know how to start a new one)

 

 

 

Our ancient ex-manager 'Arry Redknapp is in the news again for his contribution to Birmingham's recent fine and points deduction for overspending:

 

"Birmingham are the first club to be deducted points since the EFL introduced its new profitability and sustainability regulations at the start of the 2016-17 season.

 

In January, Blues revealed a £37.5m loss in the 12 months to the end of June 2018, largely a result of their wage bill rising from £22m to almost £38m after an extensive recruitment drive in 2017.

 

The independent panel heard that they spent £7.45m on four new players in January 2017, when Gianfranco Zola was manager, and a further £23.75m to add 14 players to the squad that summer, by which time Harry Redknapp had taken charge."

 

Both Zola and Redknapp were sacked after short stints as manager, the costs of which were also given as factors to Birmingham's rule breach.

[Micky]

'arry Redknapp, a wheeler dealer, you're 'avin' a larf mate, proper manager is 'arry!

 

Sent from my SM-T580 using Tapatalk

[saint1977]

'arry Redknapp, a wheeler dealer, you're 'avin' a larf mate, proper manager is 'arry!

 

Sent from my SM-T580 using Tapatalk

 

Take it you’ve seen the You Tube video where Geoff Shreeves uses that exact phrase in an interview with him. Fair to say Harry was not in agreement.....

[Dogs]

Interesting post,WD.

[eelpie]

Talking of old news (and apologies for hijacking this interesting thread, but I don't know how to start a new one)

 

 

 

Our ancient ex-manager 'Arry Redknapp is in the news again for his contribution to Birmingham's recent fine and points deduction for overspending:

 

"Birmingham are the first club to be deducted points since the EFL introduced its new profitability and sustainability regulations at the start of the 2016-17 season.

 

In January, Blues revealed a £37.5m loss in the 12 months to the end of June 2018, largely a result of their wage bill rising from £22m to almost £38m after an extensive recruitment drive in 2017.

 

The independent panel heard that they spent £7.45m on four new players in January 2017, when Gianfranco Zola was manager, and a further £23.75m to add 14 players to the squad that summer, by which time Harry Redknapp had taken charge."

 

Both Zola and Redknapp were sacked after short stints as manager, the costs of which were also given as factors to Birmingham's rule breach.

 

Sorry, I should have posted this in the Che Adams thread that has links with Birmingham's overspend. Please transfer, mods.