Steven Davis epitomises the phrase unsung hero, but with every passing season the choir starts to grow and this season was no exception.
Over the past 18 months or so Saints fans have started to wake up to the fact that Steven Davis is one of the most important members of the team, Lawrie Mcmenemy once said that in any team you need "Hod Carriers & Violinists" what he meant was that your flair players will get the plaudits and win you matches, but without the players who put in the legwork and do the grafting, they would not be able to shine.
That is still the case today, we have been lucky enough to see some real flair players over the last couple of seasons, but it is because of the likes of Steven Davis that they have been able to play some great football.
What Davis does for the team is provide a link, he does not try the spectacular but buzzes around providing that outlet for the side, his job is to get the ball and move it on quickly turning defence into attack, how often do you see him get the ball and within seconds its played 10-15 yards out wide for the likes of Dusan Tadic and Sadio Mane to do their stuff they then get the plaudits.
But Davis's contribution should not be overlooked, his play is vital, in defending he gets behind the ball and closes down, in attacking he makes himself available for a simple ball and then moves it quickly.
In the past he has been one of those players that fans only seem to realise how good he is when he is not there, but in the past two seasons most Saints fans have started to wake up to his qualities, this year he started 31 of our 38 games plus another 3 as sub, scoring 5 goals in the process with the highlight being the brace he got up at Tottenham Hotspur to give us our first victory over the North London Soccer Chickens since our last stint in the Premier League over a decade ago.
Recognition has come in the player of the year votes both in the season just gone and 2014/15, where although he has not come near troubling the winners, he has been the only other player to get a significant proportion of the vote, as in the last poll where Shane Long and Virgil Van Dijk scored around 85% of the voting in various polls, but it was Davis with around 10% who came in third with no one else scoring above 1%.
This is a great testimony to his performances last season, he was rock solid down the middle in his displays, occasionally brilliant, rarely mediocre, just steady and doing the job he is there for week in week out game in game out.
So a great season for Steven Davis and it has to be said a great signing for the club when they returned to the Premier League, when you consider that at the same time we paid a club record fee for Gaston Ramirez and compare that with what we paid Rangers for Davis and it has to be said it has been mney well spent.
Watch What Nick, Clive & Freddie Have To Say About Steven Davis And What Mark Out Of Ten They Give Him By Clicking On The Video Link Below.