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I read this on the internet, what does everyone think.
1. Matt Le Tissier 2. Peter Shilton 3. Alan Ball 4.Ron Davies 5. Mick Channon 6.Terry Paine 7. Rickie Lambert 8.Virgil Van Dijk 9.Alan Shearer 10. Kevin Keegan
In fairness the top 10 isn't too bad, but putting Alan Ball above Mick Channon, Ron Davies & Terry Paine is not right, those 3 alongside Le Tiss are probably our greatest ever players in terms of both talent & contribution for the club, after those four its all a bit less clear.
On the rems of both talent and contribution to the club you can't argue with most of them, the only one I would dispute is Virgil Van Dijk, for the short time he was at the club he was probably one of, if not The best Central defender that we have ever had , but in his 3 seasons at the club (effectively 2 because of his injury) he played just 67 League games, so from that perspective he doesn't fit the bill, Mark Wright & Chris Nicholl would be in my top 10 before him, Van Dijk most will grudgingly admit is a quality player but not a Saints legend
I think I would have Nick Homes and possibly Steve Williams in there. Shearer no. He was no where near great when playing for us, but became great after. I think who ever made the list got a bit confused between legends for us or just legends overall. Alan Ball as you say, no way above many of those others.
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10 Greatest Players In Saints History Ranked on 08:45 - Feb 5 with 1086 views
10 Greatest Players In Saints History Ranked on 08:36 - Feb 5 by jopreston
I think I would have Nick Homes and possibly Steve Williams in there. Shearer no. He was no where near great when playing for us, but became great after. I think who ever made the list got a bit confused between legends for us or just legends overall. Alan Ball as you say, no way above many of those others.
When you try and have a top 10, there are almost 3 lists.
1. Club legends like Nick Holmes or Francis Benali, good solid players who played a lot of games for the club and had a big solid contribution, if not spectacular.
2. Players who were great players but who were only here a short term but had a big impact, Kevin Keegan for instance.
3. The main list that is a combination of all of the above 2.
All of the 3 lists will have players in it that the fans will argue about
Satisfying The Bloodlust Of The Masses In Peacetime
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10 Greatest Players In Saints History Ranked on 08:57 - Feb 5 with 1058 views
10 Greatest Players In Saints History Ranked on 08:57 - Feb 5 by dixiefrog
For me, two notable omissions in Ted Bates and Steve Moran.
Not sure that Ted Bates would be one of our greatest players, but is certainly in our top 2 managers and overall perhaps number 1 in the list of people who have had the biggest contribution to the club.
Satisfying The Bloodlust Of The Masses In Peacetime
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10 Greatest Players In Saints History Ranked on 10:57 - Feb 5 with 960 views
Not the worst list i've ever seen, i'd probably have Mark Wright in there somewhere though as he's the best center back i've ever seen play for us.
Controversially i'd also argue Shearer shouldn't be there, he wasn't with us that long in reality, in fact it feels like he's in there for what he did after he left rather than at the time.
I'd personally have Holmes or Danny Wallace in there ahead of Shearer.
My list would be,
1. Matt Le Tissier 2. Mick Channon 3. Terry Paine 4. Ron Davies 5. Alan Ball 6. Mark Wright 7. Rickie Lambert 8. Virgil Van Dijk 9. Danny Wallace 10. Kevin Keegan
[Post edited 5 Feb 11:25]
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10 Greatest Players In Saints History Ranked on 11:09 - Feb 5 with 918 views
10 Greatest Players In Saints History Ranked on 08:45 - Feb 5 by SaintNick
When you try and have a top 10, there are almost 3 lists.
1. Club legends like Nick Holmes or Francis Benali, good solid players who played a lot of games for the club and had a big solid contribution, if not spectacular.
2. Players who were great players but who were only here a short term but had a big impact, Kevin Keegan for instance.
3. The main list that is a combination of all of the above 2.
All of the 3 lists will have players in it that the fans will argue about
How do you define a legend ?. To be legend you don't have to be the best player. Matt Le Tiss is a standout because of his ability & loyalty. Mick Channon & Terry Paine because of their contribution. Franny Benali + Jason Dodd + Nick Holmes were club legends because of their commitment to the club. I think everybody will come up with their own ideas of legends.
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10 Greatest Players In Saints History Ranked on 11:23 - Feb 5 with 879 views
10 Greatest Players In Saints History Ranked on 11:09 - Feb 5 by GRIM
How do you define a legend ?. To be legend you don't have to be the best player. Matt Le Tiss is a standout because of his ability & loyalty. Mick Channon & Terry Paine because of their contribution. Franny Benali + Jason Dodd + Nick Holmes were club legends because of their commitment to the club. I think everybody will come up with their own ideas of legends.
I have a fairly strict opinion on this,
A legend is a player or person who's had a significant and sizeable impact on the history of southampton football club, so Ted Bates, Lawrie, Mick Channon, Matt Le Tiss, Bobby Stokes, Ron Davies.
By the nature of the word - legend - there should be very, very few.
Then you have cult hero, there's loads more of these, they're the Franny types or Holmes and Lambert. Some of them are good players some of them have just done a lot for the club or city, but they didn't really have a monumental impact on the history of the club.
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10 Greatest Players In Saints History Ranked on 11:30 - Feb 5 with 852 views
It's the issue of mixed criteria again. Are we talking about the greatest players who ever played for Saints, like Gareth Bale and Alan Shearer, or players who played for Saints a lot, like Rickie Lambert, who fans of some of the 8 other clubs he played for, like Liverpool, wouldn't consider great, or players who played for Saints and Pompey, like Mick Channon and Ron Davies, who Pompey fans wouldn't consider great, or great players who only played for Saints i.e. Le Tissier (and nobody else who was any good)?
The only way you can fairly do it is the first one: the greatest players who ever played for Saints, which would, of course, include the likes of Bale, Shearer, Shilton, Ball, Keegan and van Dijk, even though their finest years were spent at other clubs.
10 Greatest Players In Saints History Ranked on 11:30 - Feb 5 by dirk_doone
It's the issue of mixed criteria again. Are we talking about the greatest players who ever played for Saints, like Gareth Bale and Alan Shearer, or players who played for Saints a lot, like Rickie Lambert, who fans of some of the 8 other clubs he played for, like Liverpool, wouldn't consider great, or players who played for Saints and Pompey, like Mick Channon and Ron Davies, who Pompey fans wouldn't consider great, or great players who only played for Saints i.e. Le Tissier (and nobody else who was any good)?
The only way you can fairly do it is the first one: the greatest players who ever played for Saints, which would, of course, include the likes of Bale, Shearer, Shilton, Ball, Keegan and van Dijk, even though their finest years were spent at other clubs.
[Post edited 5 Feb 11:43]
A very subjective list. Personal memory matters alot to me in who I'd pick whilst recognising clear greats from the past like Channon, Davies and Paine. I'd have Lallana and Danny Wallace as I loved watching both them tear apart defences.
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10 Greatest Players In Saints History Ranked on 12:10 - Feb 5 with 745 views
10 Greatest Players In Saints History Ranked on 11:53 - Feb 5 by felly1
A very subjective list. Personal memory matters alot to me in who I'd pick whilst recognising clear greats from the past like Channon, Davies and Paine. I'd have Lallana and Danny Wallace as I loved watching both them tear apart defences.
I have a mate who's supported Oxford United all his life and his list of their greatest players is headed by Trevor Hebberd, who no fans in Southampton or anywhere else would regard as great. As you say, these things can be based on individual memories of certain years in a fan's life or they can be more objective and based on how the football world in general regards that player.
10 Greatest Players In Saints History Ranked on 12:10 - Feb 5 by dirk_doone
I have a mate who's supported Oxford United all his life and his list of their greatest players is headed by Trevor Hebberd, who no fans in Southampton or anywhere else would regard as great. As you say, these things can be based on individual memories of certain years in a fan's life or they can be more objective and based on how the football world in general regards that player.
Not Joey Beauchamp?
We thought that we had the answers,
It was the questions we had wrong.
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10 Greatest Players In Saints History Ranked on 12:22 - Feb 5 with 714 views
10 Greatest Players In Saints History Ranked on 08:57 - Feb 5 by dixiefrog
For me, two notable omissions in Ted Bates and Steve Moran.
Ted Bates was an average Second Division footballer. Even at the peak of his playing career, nobody, even in Southampton, would have described him as being anywhere near as good as his fellow striker, Charlie Wayman, or good enough to play in the top flight, let alone, great. We've had hundreds of players better than him.
In about 20 years time, when we are all getting misty-eyed about the current era, I dare say a fair few fans will be including Adam Armstrong in their list.
Bit ironic given the recent discussions on him on here over the last couple of days.
10 Greatest Players In Saints History Ranked on 12:29 - Feb 5 by PatfromPoole
In about 20 years time, when we are all getting misty-eyed about the current era, I dare say a fair few fans will be including Adam Armstrong in their list.
Bit ironic given the recent discussions on him on here over the last couple of days.
If you're putting Adam Armstrong on a greatest player list you're not misty eyed, you've got full blown cataracts
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10 Greatest Players In Saints History Ranked on 12:58 - Feb 5 with 613 views
I just had a look at the 10 Greatest Players in Chelsea History. Peter Osgood is ranked No.5. He played 126 league games for Saints and even played in our FA Cup winning team, yet he doesn't get anywhere near our top 10. It's a funny old world.
You can't have a Top 10 Greatest Saints players and not include the goal machine Steve Moran, one of my favourite ever players to pull on a Saints shirt.
173 league appearances (plus 7 as sub) and 78 goals. Many fond memories of Steve scoring up and down the country on away weekenders with my drunken mates back in the days.
He scored some fabulous goals for us - and of course - who could ever forget this beauty!
Old School is Cool
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10 Greatest Players In Saints History Ranked on 13:27 - Feb 5 with 550 views
10 Greatest Players In Saints History Ranked on 13:12 - Feb 5 by PatfromPoole
But could you not say similar about Bobby Stokes?
I don’t deny the hugeness of his goal at all, but Armstrong’s goal was a huge moment for the club.
Or rather, it should have been…..
I didn't say Stokes was one of the best, i said he was a legend. Because he scored the goal that one us our one and only trophy (and no i don't count the JPT, play offs or Southern league trophies).
There's a universe difference between Stokes winning us the FA Cup and Armstrong winning the 3rd play in the second division trophy
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10 Greatest Players In Saints History Ranked on 14:00 - Feb 5 with 501 views
Everyone of us has their own favourites, mine is from 1971 players that I’ve watched live and have given me the most pleasure( not necessarily legends, although imo they are all legends apart from Ekelund ) are
Matt Le Tissier Mick Channon Terry Paine Ron Davies Mark Wright Rickie Lambert Ronnie Ekelund Mark Dennis Steve Williams Kevin Keegan
10 Greatest Players In Saints History Ranked on 14:00 - Feb 5 by Hollywood56
Strange how nobody has mentioned Anti Niemi, JWP or Mark Dennis, then of course there's David Peach and Eric Martin, where do you stop? Mane'?
Or Jack Robinson or Edgar Chadwick or even Alf Ramsey.
Where do you stop? Well to qualify as 'great' they at least need to have played for their country. Let's face it, in the modern era, when there are so many international games, with up to 40 players being involved for their country in a typical international week, if you haven't even been picked as a sub for one international game in your entire career, you can't be considered very good, let alone great. Even Alex McCarthy got one cap.
So, for a start, we've had 40 players who were capped for England as Saints players plus a lot more, like Alan Ball, who were capped for England when at other clubs as well as lots of other internationals, like Bale, Fonte and Mane.
Fonte won 50 caps for Portugal, most of them as a Saints player, and was in the teams that won the European Championship and the Nations League, which, obviously, no England player has ever won.
Keegan was only with us for 2 seasons, before buggering off and dropping down a division to join Newcastle. His 1st season with us was injury prone, so probably played two thirds of the games and scored about 12 goals , but his 2nd season was great and he scored 26 league goals.
1 good season doesn't make him one of OUR greatest players, but perhaps when considering his whole career, he was one of the greatest players to play for us.
TimSaint
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10 Greatest Players In Saints History Ranked on 16:30 - Feb 5 with 251 views
10 Greatest Players In Saints History Ranked on 14:44 - Feb 5 by dirk_doone
Or Jack Robinson or Edgar Chadwick or even Alf Ramsey.
Where do you stop? Well to qualify as 'great' they at least need to have played for their country. Let's face it, in the modern era, when there are so many international games, with up to 40 players being involved for their country in a typical international week, if you haven't even been picked as a sub for one international game in your entire career, you can't be considered very good, let alone great. Even Alex McCarthy got one cap.
So, for a start, we've had 40 players who were capped for England as Saints players plus a lot more, like Alan Ball, who were capped for England when at other clubs as well as lots of other internationals, like Bale, Fonte and Mane.
Fonte won 50 caps for Portugal, most of them as a Saints player, and was in the teams that won the European Championship and the Nations League, which, obviously, no England player has ever won.
[Post edited 5 Feb 15:14]
But what about Bednerak? He's played 60+ times for Poland and 200+ for Saints but hardly a great player/legend
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10 Greatest Players In Saints History Ranked on 16:35 - Feb 5 with 246 views
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