Duncan Holley along with David Bull and Gary Chalk, has been involved in publishing books on Southampton FC’s history since the 1980s, but this is his first online venture and it is thoroughly recommended.

Without Hagiology books and the hard work of Duncan Holley, Gary Chalk and David Bull the history of Southampton Football Club would have been if not lost forever buried in the sands of time.

Most Saints fans could name Terry Paine, Mick Channon and Matt Le Tissier as great players from the past, but if they were asked to name any from before their own era of supporting the club, a fair proportion would be hard pressed.

These books have been a godsend to people like myself who have tried to build on their work and encourage Saints fans to embrace the past and not brush it under the carpet and now this online archive will allow all Saints supporters to go to it's home page and at the click of a button go back in time.

Here I have to mention that each profile has far more than just a picture and some stats, many have a scrapbook section with press cuttings etc and by clicking on the pictures themselves you often bring up not only the full expanded version of the image butmore pictures.

You just need to pick a player and then keep clicking, it is a treasure trove of information and photos, behind every click it expands.

Curator of the site Duncan Holley says.

"Since the 2013 publication of “All the Saints” — a book on the 1000 plus ex- Southampton players who had played for the club since 1887 — I became aware at just how quickly reference books of that nature go out of date, as players come and go and more information and photos are flushed out.

So, it is time to embrace the digital age, and using “All the Saints” as my template I have re typed, re-edited, re-corrected and updated. (I remain very pleased with “All the Saints” — no club had produced a better Who’s Who, to my knowledge, and I still recommend anyone picks up a copy at what is now a heavily discounted price, either at the club shop or from www.hagiologists.com ).

I should also add much of what is in this website are the fruits of David Bull’s superb editing and Gary’s sterling research. I thank them, we have made a damn fine half-back line. David is currently working on a Saints at War book, which I for one am eagerly anticipating."

Duncan is right this site will enable him to update and add and also put up stuff that a book does not allow the space to do.

"I have 1000s of unseen images some of which I can now share online, pages from scrap books that have been too large for a book can be viewed and this will all contribute to a more rounded fuller player profile than previously available.

I am also very aware in the 21st century, smart phone age that the ‘go to’ place for fans wanting to find out more about Saints players is Wiki and I am also concerned a lot of the info there is simply incorrect, especially the stats."

So I would recommend that every Saints fans bookmarks the site and considers it the unerring standard and Fonte (sic) of all information about our past players, but not just that some amazing pictures that bring the past to life, not just of the players themselves but the Dell and other football grounds.

Personally I'm frightened to click on to it as i know that the rest of the day will go by in a flash and i'll get nothing done, having said that in these troubled times when there is little to do, what better suggestion than visiting via the link below.

https://www.saintsplayers.co.uk/

Photo: Action Images

highfield49 added 14:18 - Apr 27 Wow, what an achievement. Many thanks Duncan, David and Gary I, for one, am going to spend many happy hours viewing the results of your labours. I've already discovered several players that I'd forgotten were once in a Saints shirt and many others of whom I have no recollection whatsoever! Cheers guys.
0

silverspringsaint added 15:19 - Apr 27 Great initiative, timing works with most of us housebound and unable to see any live action!
0

underweststand added 15:42 - Apr 27 To Duncan, David and Gary. For fans with longer memories this takes us back to recall players we saw when we first started going to ....The Dell. I can even look further back to look at the history of those players that my late father watched in his fan days - between the Two Wars. I still have my well-thumbed edition of " In that Number" ..( numbered copy autographed by Matt Le Tissier . This was a real exercise of love for the Saints. Well done fellas.

0

SaintNick added 08:33 - Apr 28 A quick note, although they have helped most of the work on this has been done by Duncan
0

Blogs 31 bloggers

Tottenham Hotspur Polls