Kelvin Davis (Split)

[a1ex2001]

15 hours ago, jawillwill said:

Haven't forgiven him? Bloody hell...it was an off day, 15 years ago. He was a pretty key player in getting us back to the Premier League after that game. Let it go.

Key player lol, he was an average championship keeper at his best people just give him loads of credit for hanging around when we were poo.  He was shocking that day and giving the fans the bird for getting on his back when they’d texted that far to watch the team was ridiculous I would happily have seen him transfer listed and never put the shirt on again.

[Crab Lungs]

34 minutes ago, a1ex2001 said:

Key player lol, he was an average championship keeper at his best people just give him loads of credit for hanging around when we were poo.  He was shocking that day and giving the fans the bird for getting on his back when they’d texted that far to watch the team was ridiculous I would happily have seen him transfer listed and never put the shirt on again.

Do you know Kelvin well? I’m lucky enough to have known him fairly well and he’s a decent guy. And to be fair, he’s never waaaaahed about the incident and just got on with things. 

id say it’s a more a reflection of our idiotic fan base than him. They give it out but can never take it back.

booed Tadic, Pelle, boruc… they’ll boo anyone. We have a significantly high percentage of low iq morons, sadly.
 

Edited 26 July, 2022 by Crab Lungs

[jawillwill]

54 minutes ago, a1ex2001 said:

Key player lol, he was an average championship keeper at his best people just give him loads of credit for hanging around when we were poo.  He was shocking that day and giving the fans the bird for getting on his back when they’d texted that far to watch the team was ridiculous I would happily have seen him transfer listed and never put the shirt on again.

Weird.

I think most people acknowledge that he had his limitations as a goalkeeper but on balance his positive performances outweighed his negative ones (for the level we were at, at the time). Personally, I think his performance v Leeds was the most memorable day on our rise back to the PL (and arguably 'one of' the most memorable results of my lifetime*). 

Maybe we should have stuck with Bart in goal for that season ...https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.skysports.com/amp/football/news/11700/7368637/bartosz-blunder-costs-saints

* there's some competition from others.

[Chez]

3 hours ago, jawillwill said:

Weird.

I think most people acknowledge that he had his limitations as a goalkeeper but on balance his positive performances outweighed his negative ones (for the level we were at, at the time). Personally, I think his performance v Leeds was the most memorable day on our rise back to the PL (and arguably 'one of' the most memorable results of my lifetime*). 

Maybe we should have stuck with Bart in goal for that season ...https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.skysports.com/amp/football/news/11700/7368637/bartosz-blunder-costs-saints

* there's some competition from others.

He was bloody great for us in the lower leagues. Just how many pens did he save in the promotion seasons? It seemed to be almost all of them at one point. Great servant to the club, and sticking with us instead of moving to West Ham was just one of a number of key parts to our rise back to the top table.  

[Klaus Schwab]

5 minutes ago, Chez said:

He was bloody great for us in the lower leagues. Just how many pens did he save in the promotion seasons? It seemed to be almost all of them at one point. Great servant to the club, and sticking with us instead of moving to West Ham was just one of a number of key parts to our rise back to the top table.  

Last minute against Brighton stands out 

[a1ex2001]

On 26/07/2022 at 18:21, Chez said:

He was bloody great for us in the lower leagues. Just how many pens did he save in the promotion seasons? It seemed to be almost all of them at one point. Great servant to the club, and sticking with us instead of moving to West Ham was just one of a number of key parts to our rise back to the top table.  

He was an average championship keeper we could have replaced with dozens of others, look how quickly he disappeared once we got to the top flight. He chose well paid first team football with us over a similarly well played bench role with West Ham whoop de do.  I’ll never understand the weird status he holds.

[Colinjb]

11 minutes ago, a1ex2001 said:

He was an average championship keeper we could have replaced with dozens of others, look how quickly he disappeared once we got to the top flight. He chose well paid first team football with us over a similarly well played bench role with West Ham whoop de do.  I’ll never understand the weird status he holds.

You may not understand it, but you describe it well. He chose to stick with us, it may show how desperate things were at the time, but it was the start. That he went on to be key in our rise back to the top flight cements it. Leeds away in 2012 still gives me chills.

Just don't mention the near post.... And yes, I was there at Hillsborough for that game. 

"Brazil............. it's just like watching Brazil........"

Edited 28 July, 2022 by Colinjb

[a1ex2001]

3 minutes ago, Colinjb said:

You may not understand it, but you describe it well. He chose to stick with us, it may show how desperate things were at the time, but it was the start. That he went on to be key in our rise back to the top flight cements it. Leeds away in 2012 still gives me chills.

Just don't mention the near post.

How was he key to our rise? Ridiculous sentimentality!  He chose first team football over the bench do you really think he would have turned down West Ham’s number 1 spot?

[Colinjb]

8 minutes ago, a1ex2001 said:

How was he key to our rise? Ridiculous sentimentality!  He chose first team football over the bench do you really think he would have turned down West Ham’s number 1 spot?

Well, He was the first choice keeper for those three seasons as we rose from league 1 to the top flight. And the no1 spot was never on offer at West Ham, so your point is moot.

Such strange bitterness to a player who was a rock of stability during one of the best times to be a fan in our history. At that time we didn't need Buffon, we needed someone to dedicate himself to the cause and work. He did that.

Edited 28 July, 2022 by Colinjb

[Whitey Grandad]

7 minutes ago, a1ex2001 said:

How was he key to our rise? Ridiculous sentimentality!  He chose first team football over the bench do you really think he would have turned down West Ham’s number 1 spot?

His wife didn’t want to move.

[a1ex2001]

4 minutes ago, Colinjb said:

Well, He was the first choice keeper for those three seasons. And the no1 spot was never on offer at West Ham, so your point is moot.

No1 spot is hardly a glowing reference or are McCarthy and Forster key just because they happen to start most weeks as they are adequate and we don’t have a better option!

[northam soul]

Didn’t realise Delap played in goal.

[Colinjb]

1 minute ago, a1ex2001 said:

No1 spot is hardly a glowing reference or are McCarthy and Forster key just because they happen to start most weeks as they are adequate and we don’t have a better option!

No, but two promotions during his tenure is.

Edited 28 July, 2022 by Colinjb

[Toadhall Saint]

4 minutes ago, a1ex2001 said:

No1 spot is hardly a glowing reference or are McCarthy and Forster key just because they happen to start most weeks as they are adequate and we don’t have a better option!

So disrespectful - has he shagged your wife/husband?

[Toadhall Saint]

4 minutes ago, Colinjb said:

No, but two promotions during his tenure is.

Exactly this.

[Chez]

On 26/07/2022 at 18:27, Klaus Schwab said:

Last minute against Brighton stands out 

I looked it up and he saved 5 of 11 pens during the two seasons in League 1, none of 3 in the championship promotion season and two of four when back in the Prem. Rate him or not, that's pretty good going. 

[Chez]

not sure why any genuine Saints fans would want to bother belittling any of the players that gave us two of the best football seasons in my lifetime. Celebrate each and every one of them. 

Any news on Delap?

Edited 28 July, 2022 by Chez

[Restark19]

Nothing like seeing the hot tag on a transfer target thread and getting your hopes up only to find its a completely unrelated argument about a player that left the club 6 years ago!

[Colinjb]

10 minutes ago, Restark19 said:

Nothing like seeing the hot tag on a transfer target thread and getting your hopes up only to find its a completely unrelated argument about a player that left the club 6 years ago!

Almost feel the need to apologise for biting. 

[farawaysaint]

Super Kel was one of my favourite players of that era. Had his limitations but model pro and a great bloke. People have already mentioned the Leeds game but… the Leeds game.

[S-Clarke]

a1ex has had a bit of a nightmare here, it has to be said.

[Dellman]

1 hour ago, Chez said:

not sure why any genuine Saints fans would want to bother belittling any of the players that gave us two of the best football seasons in my lifetime. Celebrate each and every one of them. 

Any news on Delap?

Quite right! What sort of fan needs to post abuse of the goalkeeper who helped us rise from nowhere to the Premier League in consecutive seasons? Yes, the Leeds match was unforgettable and probably the decisive event of that season but he was the guardian throughout those lovely happy seasons. Why the moans? Thanks Kelvin, great guy, great servant

[saintrich]

I never rated Davis before he decided to stay in league one, but I definitely changed my mind in the three seasons after that. 

Panathinaoikos (H) 06/07 let a mishit cross sail straight over his head into the top corner.

Preston (H) 06/07 let a tame Simon Whaley free kick trickle through his legs.

QPR (H) 06/07 Got tackled by Ray Jones by the corner flag.

Those 3 alone happened in the first 2 months or so of his Saints career and I thought he was terrible at this point.

Sheff Wed (A) 07/08 The 5-0/fan abuse 

QPR (H) 07/08 Him and Jermaine Wright had an almighty mix up to let Patrick Agyemang score (I rightly got a lot of stick for leaving my mums 50th birthday meal after the main course and not staying for Dessert so I could make it to this game on time. Darren Powell scored in the 1st minute so I was chuffed with myself for leaving early at the time, but we lost 3-2 and Jermaine Wright may have possibly been more at fault, but I still blamed Davis anyway).

That Leeds game alone made up for all of those (mostly insignificant) moments, but there were plenty of other great performances during that time - what a great period those JPT, Promotion x2 seasons were! 

[Dorchester Saint]

11 hours ago, a1ex2001 said:

No1 spot is hardly a glowing reference or are McCarthy and Forster key just because they happen to start most weeks as they are adequate and we don’t have a better option!

Morning!!

Have you sobered up yet? 

[OldNick]

12 hours ago, a1ex2001 said:

He was an average championship keeper we could have replaced with dozens of others, look how quickly he disappeared once we got to the top flight. He chose well paid first team football with us over a similarly well played bench role with West Ham whoop de do.  I’ll never understand the weird status he holds.

'He choose well paid first team football' at the cost of a massive pay rise. Not many of our heroes would do that, the argument on here is 'well you'd change jobs if you got a lot more.' As for the ridiculous comment his on another post that his wife didnt want to move, he wouldnt have to as it was only London and so could have driven easily enough

[OldNick]

9 hours ago, saintrich said:

I never rated Davis before he decided to stay in league one, but I definitely changed my mind in the three seasons after that. 

Panathinaoikos (H) 06/07 let a mishit cross sail straight over his head into the top corner.

Preston (H) 06/07 let a tame Simon Whaley free kick trickle through his legs.

QPR (H) 06/07 Got tackled by Ray Jones by the corner flag.

Those 3 alone happened in the first 2 months or so of his Saints career and I thought he was terrible at this point.

Sheff Wed (A) 07/08 The 5-0/fan abuse 

QPR (H) 07/08 Him and Jermaine Wright had an almighty mix up to let Patrick Agyemang score (I rightly got a lot of stick for leaving my mums 50th birthday meal after the main course and not staying for Dessert so I could make it to this game on time. Darren Powell scored in the 1st minute so I was chuffed with myself for leaving early at the time, but we lost 3-2 and Jermaine Wright may have possibly been more at fault, but I still blamed Davis anyway).

That Leeds game alone made up for all of those (mostly insignificant) moments, but there were plenty of other great performances during that time - what a great period those JPT, Promotion x2 seasons were! 

The one I recall best was when we were playing Sheff Utd (?) in the Stern John game where he hade a fantastic fingertip save from I think it was Lee Hendry. Again I think we were 1 down at that stage

[OldNick]

11 hours ago, a1ex2001 said:

No1 spot is hardly a glowing reference or are McCarthy and Forster key just because they happen to start most weeks as they are adequate and we don’t have a better option!

Did we have a better option then?

[Ldnsaint]

On 26/07/2022 at 14:07, a1ex2001 said:

Key player lol, he was an average championship keeper at his best people just give him loads of credit for hanging around when we were poo.  He was shocking that day and giving the fans the bird for getting on his back when they’d texted that far to watch the team was ridiculous I would happily have seen him transfer listed and never put the shirt on again.

what a load of crap 🤣

[Saint86]

On 28/07/2022 at 21:51, a1ex2001 said:

How was he key to our rise? Ridiculous sentimentality!  He chose first team football over the bench do you really think he would have turned down West Ham’s number 1 spot?

Do we need to have a support circle for you? You seem to have Kelvin issues? We can sit round the fire and discuss all the bad things he did to you if you'd like? (said in jest - I hope obviously!) 

But regardless, personally the guy was one of the key rocks of the promotion teams, and his decision to stay was one of the very first pieces of that jigsaw. First team keeper throughout two promotions and a Wembley winning cup run. All that after he turned down a guaranteed move to a premier league team 2 divisions higher to risk staying at financially adrift saints at the start of a very big rebuild - didn't he turn down / delay west ham before the takeover happened? And it wasn't just about first team football, he spoke many times throughout that period about being in local shops and seeing "save our saints" buckets and people collecting money to effectively pay his wages and save the club, and wanting to give something back. Sure he wasn't very good when it came to prem level keepers, but that isn't the point... and we all have many memories of key Kelvin moments - probably headed up by the Leeds game.

He certainly deserves a key place in memories from that period imo - along with a couple of others that didn't quite make it all the way to the prem but played pivotal parts in our rise.

Edited 30 July, 2022 by Saint86

[Saints foreva]

14 minutes ago, OldNick said:

The one I recall best was when we were playing Sheff Utd (?) in the Stern John game where he hade a fantastic fingertip save from I think it was Lee Hendry. Again I think we were 1 down at that stage

Richard Wright was in goal for us that day. 

[Whitey Grandad]

40 minutes ago, OldNick said:

'He choose well paid first team football' at the cost of a massive pay rise. Not many of our heroes would do that, the argument on here is 'well you'd change jobs if you got a lot more.' As for the ridiculous comment his on another post that his wife didnt want to move, he wouldnt have to as it was only London and so could have driven easily enough

If you don’t know what you’re talking about it’s best to do some research first. West Ham’s training ground is in Romford. It’s the other side of London and ‘only’ 108 miles and 2.5 hours away on a good day. That’s five hours of commuting each day if there aren’t any problems.

[charliemiller]

On 26/07/2022 at 14:40, Crab Lungs said:

Do you know Kelvin well? I’m lucky enough to have known him fairly well and he’s a decent guy. And to be fair, he’s never waaaaahed about the incident and just got on with things. 

id say it’s a more a reflection of our idiotic fan base than him. They give it out but can never take it back.

booed Tadic, Pelle, boruc… they’ll boo anyone. We have a significantly high percentage of low iq morons, sadly.
 

He was a patron of the pancreatic Cancer trust , he personally had Saint Lee , Lee marchant as his guest at a match when he was terminal with cancer . Top bloke and made Lee very happy took him in the dressing rooms and introduced him to the players .

[OldNick]

1 hour ago, Whitey Grandad said:

If you don’t know what you’re talking about it’s best to do some research first. West Ham’s training ground is in Romford. It’s the other side of London and ‘only’ 108 miles and 2.5 hours away on a good day. That’s five hours of commuting each day if there aren’t any problems.

Fair point about distance but I have never seen any indication of his wife not letting him. At that time I had a decent contact in the dressing room who knew KD very well and at no time was this stated.

[Miltonaggro]

As a figure Kelvin Davis is rather like Franny Benali, obvious limitations as a player comparatively from the stands, but a 100%er for Saints and a good fit for the club at the time.  Also, as per Benali, a down to earth decent bloke by all accounts.  In a world where franchises are trying to poach 16 year olds with £1M bribes, positive attributes as rare as rocking horse shit regardless of personal opinion.

[Chez]

5 hours ago, OldNick said:

The one I recall best was when we were playing Sheff Utd (?) in the Stern John game where he hade a fantastic fingertip save from I think it was Lee Hendry. Again I think we were 1 down at that stage

last game of the season in the Championship?

[Chez]

5 hours ago, Saint86 said:

But regardless, the guy was one of the key rocks of the promotion teams, and his decision to stay was one of the very first pieces of that jigsaw. First team keeper throughout two promotions and a Wembley winning cup run. All that after he turned down a guaranteed move to a premier league team 2 divisions higher to risk staying at financially adrift saints at the start of a very big rebuild - didn't he turn down / delay west ham before the takeover happened? And it wasn't just about first team football, he spoke many times throughout that period about being in local shops and seeing "save our saints" buckets and people collecting money to effectively pay his wages and save the club, and wanting to give something back. Sure he wasn't very good when it came to prem level keepers, but that isn't the point... and we all have many memories of key Kelvin moments - probably headed up by the Leeds game.

He certainly deserves a key place in memories from that period - along with a couple of others that didn't quite make it all the way to the prem but played pivotal parts in our rise.

Decent post. I dare say we offered and paid him huge wages for a league 1 side, and he would have been a bench warmer at West Ham, but (effectively) dropping down two divisions is quite a decision to make and delaying any West Ham decision, so the Saints buyout could go through, possibly was a risky move. 

Pretty sure he was in the league 1 and PFA Championship teams of the year. Not always a great gauge as the players vote quite early and often for the successful sides and well known players, but even so, I think that reflected how good he was for those two or three years.

I don't care that he wasn't good enough once in the Prem. Nor was Richardson, Chaplow, Hammond or Hooiveld, but they are legends in my book.

I also was at the Wednesday game. Fucking horrible, but what came after has airbrushed that out of my mind.

 

[John Boy Saint]

Think its pretty much settled that Saturday evening Leeds game - has given him the right to be considered to be seated in the echelons of Saints Fans favouritism.

The majority of us know where we sit in he grand scheme of things, and realise that the likelihood of getting a Shilton or Banks between the sticks is mere musings in the smoke from the pipe of life.  

[Turkish]

5 hours ago, Saints foreva said:

Richard Wright was in goal for us that day. 

Correct, he was signed on loan and kept Davis out of the team second half of that season.

[OldNick]

1 hour ago, Chez said:

last game of the season in the Championship?

Yes, when we stayed up, that year anyway!!

[OldNick]

6 hours ago, Saints foreva said:

Richard Wright was in goal for us that day. 

Ok, my memory has gone!! I was sure it was that game but obviously not.