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Kelvin Davis appreciation thread

Bad Wolf

By Bad Wolf,
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Bad Wolf

Bad Wolf

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We've certainly had some downs (Sheff Wed away) when it comes to Kelvin but we've had some ups as well (Leeds away). The loyalty he showed us by turning down West Ham within minutes of hearing about our takeover (despite having completed his medical) will never be forgotten. A Saint for life IMO!

All the best, Super Kelv!

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S-Clarke

S-Clarke

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He's a good guy Davis and you can't knock his commitment to this club for what must be 15 or so years now. He'll always be a 'Southampton' figure no matter where he ends up next.

But....i've never, ever seen his credentials for being a coach. He just seemed to land there after retiring and just stuck. We've certainly not improved with him around.

Wish him all the best, but in a coaching capacity he won't be missed. It's time we got serious and we finally have owners who recognise what is needed.

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Bad Wolf

Bad Wolf

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19 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

He's a good guy Davis and you can't knock his commitment to this club for what must be 15 or so years now. He'll always be a 'Southampton' figure no matter where he ends up next.

But....i've never, ever seen his credentials for being a coach. He just seemed to land there after retiring and just stuck. We've certainly not improved with him around.

Wish him all the best, but in a coaching capacity he won't be missed. It's time we got serious and we finally have owners who recognise what is needed.

I agree with all of that. I think the club gave him the job as a coach because of the loyalty he'd shown as a player and I get why they gave him that first job at the club, essentially a glorified cheerleader, that seemed pretty harmless enough and I doubt he was on that much money but moving him to being a first team coach was just bizarre. Even an under 18's coach I think he'd have done well.

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Huffton

Huffton

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Shame, a guy who showed huge loyalty to the club when it would have been easy to go to WHU for a nice big pay rise. Never going to be the best player on the pitch but you could never question his professionalism or dedication. I hope this doesn't sour his relationship with the club and they can find him some kind of ambassadorial role, especially now as Le Tiss appears to have gone full david icke...

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DT

DT

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11 hours ago, SaintsLoyal said:

Average goalkeeper that did ok for us in the lower leagues, i dont know how he ended up being an assistant with no experience. 

This. Extraordinary. And very Saintsy. Rewarding averageness. Probably good at putting cones out though

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MAY-Z

MAY-Z

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19 minutes ago, Midfield_General said:

Here are six things to appreciate at 1:16, 2:06, 2:07, 3:18, 3:54 and 4:52.

Super, Super Kelv! 

 

Mightn’t be an over exaggeration to say that may be the most influential matches a single person has had in the clubs history. That win was so important to automatic promotion so who knows if we would’ve ever made it back up without it

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SNSUN

SNSUN

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5 minutes ago, MAY-Z said:

Mightn’t be an over exaggeration to say that may be the most influential matches a single person has had in the clubs history. That win was so important to automatic promotion so who knows if we would’ve ever made it back up without it

Fraser against Arsenal recently must be up there. Without that win we'd have been in the mix for relegation for sure. But yes I remember watching the Leeds game and wondering how the hell we won it.

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Bad Wolf

Bad Wolf

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13 hours ago, SaintsLoyal said:

Average goalkeeper that did ok for us in the lower leagues, i dont know how he ended up being an assistant with no experience. 

He did far more than 'okay' for us in the lower leagues. He made the League One team of the year two years in a row and was lauded in our last season in the Championship before being relegated when we routinely conceded 3 or 4 and he was our best player.

It was just in the PL that he was exposed and rightly relegated to second or third choice.

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Midfield_General

Midfield_General

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3 hours ago, MAY-Z said:

Mightn’t be an over exaggeration to say that may be the most influential matches a single person has had in the clubs history. That win was so important to automatic promotion so who knows if we would’ve ever made it back up without it

Yep. Up there with some of MLT's one-man-shows, for sure. 

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Chez

Chez

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15 hours ago, SaintsLoyal said:

Average goalkeeper that did ok for us in the lower leagues, 

Just OK? He did brilliantly for us in the lower leagues. Anyone know how many penalties he saved during the two promotion seasons? 

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Midfield_General

Midfield_General

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2 hours ago, SNSUN said:

Fraser against Arsenal recently must be up there. Without that win we'd have been in the mix for relegation for sure. But yes I remember watching the Leeds game and wondering how the hell we won it.

I remember the Sky mic clearly picking up what Warnock said as he grudgingly shook Nigel's hand at the end:

"How the fook did you win that?"

Which was a fair question, to be honest. 

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Chez

Chez

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15 hours ago, Huffton said:

Shame, a guy who showed huge loyalty to the club when it would have been easy to go to WHU for a nice big pay rise. 

This. Obviously he got paid here too and we were offering first team football, but it was a significant signing for us, along with Lallana. those two, Ricky and signing Fonte from the Championship really created some momentum, shaped the side and utlimately got us back to the top flight.

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HarvSFC

HarvSFC

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8 hours ago, Bad Wolf said:

He did far more than 'okay' for us in the lower leagues. He made the League One team of the year two years in a row and was lauded in our last season in the Championship before being relegated when we routinely conceded 3 or 4 and he was our best player.

It was just in the PL that he was exposed and rightly relegated to second or third choice.

Made the Championship team of the year too, three consecutive team of the years for us. As we know, we didn't win the league in any of them and in 09-10 we finished seventh in League One, although that was down to the -10. So, it wasn't the token gesture of simply picking the goalkeeper who won the league. Our player of the season in 08-09 as well.

I don't know how people can discredit him. He was the best goalkeeper in those divisions at the time and exactly what we needed at the time, while Liebherr also saved money on not having to sign a new goalkeeper until we got to where we wanted to.

There is and was a lot of average goalkeepers in the lower leagues and as we've experienced for a number of years that it's a very hard position to fill. Fortunately, we only had to experience Bialkowski for one match in that team, or we'd be having very different conversations today.

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david in sweden

david in sweden

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most of you ( above) have given credit where it's due, and every club needs a " talisman " who can be a game-changer, 

and although his first few seasons were a bit indifferent.... KD has done his bit ( and a lot more ) for the club.

In turn -  for their part the club has rewarded him for that service,  but if he is determined to pursue a career in the game

he should seek a coaching / managerial job in a lower division, and prove himself once again in a new role.

Sounds a bit unusual?,  but Nigel Adkins' goalie career did him no harm, without which we might still have been a struggling 

side lounging in L1 / Championship. 

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Lighthouse

Lighthouse

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7 minutes ago, Sergei Gotsmanov said:

A great man to have around the club. I am not sure the value of that will have been understood when this decision was made.

I’ve never understood this line of thinking when it’s so at odds with what we see on the pitch. People say this about Kelvin, JWP, Long and Walcott but our performances look devoid of confidence, cohesion and at times effort. It seems to me the value of having, "a great man around the club," is minimal at best and that if they like him that much they can go and play golf on their day off.

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CB Fry

CB Fry

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47 minutes ago, Sergei Gotsmanov said:

A great man to have around the club. I am not sure the value of that will have been understood when this decision was made.

But but but but we're fucking shit mate.

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S-Clarke

S-Clarke

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13 hours ago, Sergei Gotsmanov said:

A great man to have around the club. I am not sure the value of that will have been understood when this decision was made.

It does seem like he landed this coach role by default because he was 'good to have around the club', but fundamentally his job was to coach and assist and challenge Ralph but I don't think that ever happened.

Stick him in an ambassadorial role if we want someone who is 'good around the club'.

I'm not disagreeing that he is a good person, and he will be remembered by Saints fans for ever. He's a good guy. But you can't say it's been working with him as a coach (he was a first team coach before Ralph too)

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steve green

steve green

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On 26/05/2022 at 14:19, Midfield_General said:

I remember the Sky mic clearly picking up what Warnock said as he grudgingly shook Nigel's hand at the end:

"How the fook did you win that?"

Which was a fair question, to be honest. 

One of my most cherished moments from those days, Nigel had the grace to look a little embarressed.

My other fond memory of Kelvin was him coming on during the game against Burnley (2015) when Fraser got crocked. Promptly made a couple of great saves to ensure we got the points to maintain our CL challenge. Heady days.

 

Lets not get all Spursy, just wish the bloke well.

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