[Lord Snooty]

Southampton v Huddersfield Town
The Premier League
Sunday May 12th - 15:00 ko
at St Mary's Stadium

Huddersfield Town travel to Southampton to St Mary's Stadium on Sunday afternoon for the final game in our 2018/19 season. And so the curtain will fall on the first chapter of our Premier League history. It's only lasted two seasons, and I think we can all agree that the first half of this story was considerably more pleasant than the latter half.
So it's onwards and upwards, or downwards this time. Seems like ages since we got relegated and usually when we get relegated there's an awful air of despondency and gloom around the place. Remember what it was like in 2003 when we went down to the 4th Division (League 2) and had no idea whether we would have a football club in existence to come back to in the new season. Remember how heartbreaking it was in 2001, losing at home to Birmingham City on the last day to go down. Remember the feeling from then and don't feel down about our situation now. We are in such a great position, both financially and in the stands with packed houses guaranteed again with the amount of sensibly priced season tickets sold, thanks once again to our legendary outgoing chairman, Dean Hoyle. But also on the field of play. We have some superb players, maybe not of the quality required for the Premier League, but definitely good enough for the Championship.
Don't feel down, Town. Just press play on this Petula Clark classic and sing along with my slightly altered lyrics and smile awhile. Then go and bring back three points from Southampton.

When you're alone, and life is making you lonely
You can always go
Down Town
When you've got worries, all the Sky TV money
Seems to help, I know
Down Town

Just listen to the music at the Stoke and Swansea City
Linger in the Cowshed where the hand made signs are pretty
How can you lose?
The games are much brighter there
You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares
So go down Town, things'll be great when you're
Down Town, no cheating Spurs for sure
Down Town, Championship's waiting for you
Down Town

Don't hang around and let your problems surround you
There are Blackburn Rovers
Down Town
Maybe you know that you've got Wigan to go to
And maybe Bellend Road
Down Town
Just listen to the people called the Massive down at Hillsborough
You'll be laughing at them too before the night is over
Happy again

The lights are much brighter there
You can forget all the bent refs, forget all your cares
So go down Town, where all the lights are bright
Down Town, no Match of the Day tonight
Down Town, you're gonna be alright now
Down Town, down Town
Down Town
Down Town

And you may find somebody kind to help and understand you
Someone who is just like you and needs a gentle hand to
Guide them along
So maybe I'll see you there
We can forget about Merson, forget all our cares
So go down Town, things'll be great when you're
Down Town, don't wait a minute for
Down Town, Middlesbrough's waiting for you
Down Town, down Town, down Town, down Town
Down Town, down Town, down Town, down Town, down Town, down Town

*apologies to lyricist Tony Hatch

A brief history of Southampton FC: founded in 1885 by members of St Mary's church, a Grade II listed building located just a half a mile away from the stadium on St Mary Street. The present church is the sixth on the site, the first being built from AD 634 when Saint Birinus arrived at the port on his mission to re-convert England to its former Christian faith. The fifth incarnation of St Mary's was the one where the founder members of the football club worshipped. It was opened a year before the footballers first kicked a ball in a competitive game. That though isn't the present building. It was destroyed in the blitz in November 1940 and so the church was rebuilt between 1954 and 56.
The song "The Bells of St Mary's", made famous by Bing Crosby in the film of the same name, was inspired by a visit to Southampton by lyricist Douglas Furber and composer A. Emmett Adams.

Ring dem bells!

The church owned the ground where the football club made their first home, the Antelope Ground, which they shared with Hampshire CCC. They joined the Southern League and moved to The Dell in 1898, which would be their home for the next 103 years. Made it to the Final of the FA Cup in 1900, losing 0-4 to Bury. And again two years later, they lost another Final, being beaten 1-2 by Sheffield United in a replay after the first match finished 1-1.

The Dell

In 1920 they joined the Football League when it was extended and became original members of Division 3 (South), which they won in their second season to be promoted to the 2nd Division. They stayed there until 1953 when they were relegated again, but came back up again in 1960. Ted Bates was the manager who got them back up and in 1966 he was the first Southampton boss to win promotion to the First Division. They played at the top level for 8 seasons, two of which saw them qualify for Europe in what would now be the Europa League, but was known back then as the Fairs Cup. Bates retired in 1973 and was replaced by Lawrie McMenemy, who promptly got them relegated. However, he was to become a Saints legend in 1976 when he led the club to it's first FA Cup triumph, beating Manchester United in the Final 1-0 with a famous goal from Bobby Stokes.

They won promotion back to the 1st Division in 1978 and followed that with another visit to Wembley for their first league Cup Final, losing 2-3 to Nottingham Forest. The following season McMenemy signed the current European Footballer of the Year, Kevin Keegan, a signing that would eventually spark off a fight in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet between Oz and some German brickies. Southampton were top of the league for two months towards the end of the 81/82 season, but eventually tailed off and finished a disappointing seventh. Keegan bagged 26 goals that season, but was lured away by Newcastle and McMenemy replaced him with Frank Worthington, an inspired signing who helped them achieve their highest ever league placing, finishing as runners up to Liverpool.

They kept their top flight status and were founder members of the Premier League in 1992. Moved from the Dell to St Mary's in 2001. They made it to the FA Cup Final in 2003, skippered by Chris Marsden, losing 0-1 to Arsenal. They were eventually relegated in 2005. And things were to get worse before better. They went into administration in 2009. But as they had already been mathematically relegated, the 10 point deduction was held over to the next season, when they would rival us in League One. That first season saw them finish just outside the Play Offs, but the following season, they pipped us for the final automatic spot as we had to settle for the Play Offs, which we failed to win.

They were managed by ex Scunthorpe United physio Nigel Adkins for that promotion and he followed that up by taking them back up to the Premier League, a feat they thanked him for by sacking him and replacing him with Mauricio Pochettino. They have stayed in the Premier League since then, but couldn't finish above Huddersfield Town last season, finishing in 18th, behind our 17th.  









Head to Head



Town lead in the league match head to head with 11 wins to Southampton's 10, with 4 draws. But with 2 League Cup victories for them, they have edged ahead in the overall stats.

As you can see from those stats, this is only the 13th time we have both been in the same division. This is of course because when we were brilliant in the old days, they were lower league rubbish and vice versa for when they were one of the top teams in the country. We didn't meet until the 1950s when we were relegated for the first ever time and spent one season together before we bounced straight back up and the Saints got relegated back down to Division 3 (South). That first season, 1952/53, saw us win 2-0 down at the Dell and then more emphatically 5-0 back here at Leeds Road.

We then had six consecutive seasons together in the sixties before the Saints finally got above us with promotion in 1966. We were back together again in 1970 after we won the 2nd Division. We played Southampton at home in the second game of the season. It was a Tuesday night match and after beating Blackpool in the opening game, we won 3-1 to go top of the First Division. Goals that night came from Dick Krzywicki, skipper Jimmy Nicholson and future Town boss Steve Smith. The Saints won the return fixture 1-0 in January. The following season saw both teams win away. We won 2-1 down there, our first win of the season in the 7th match, with goals from Les Chapman and Jimmy Lawson. This was our last win in Southampton. They won 2-0 at Leeds Road in December.

It would be another 38 years before we were to meet again in a league match, but in between there was a 2 legged League Cup tie in 1994/95. This was the first season at the MacAlpine Stadium and third division Town took on high flying Saints, who had signed Simon Charlton from us in the previous season. It was a mis-match. We kept it down to 0-1 in the first leg, but got well and truly pumped in the second. We lost 0-5 on aggregate and all five goals were scored by Matt le Tisssier.

Fast forward to 2009 and the Saints are in administration, starting the season on minus 10 points. They came to ours for the second match of the season and left well and truly thrashed. New signing Jordan Rhodes made his full debut after scoring as a sub in the opening game down at Southend and he scored twice in this 3-1 massacre of Southampton, one of them being a tap in after his penalty had been saved. Anthony Kay got the third goal. The return fixture at the brand new St Mary's Stadium was postponed because of a frozen pitch. Tinpot club with no undersoil heating! So having bought tickets for the Saturday afternoon fixture, we had to go all the way down there for a midweek match and got stuffed 0-5. The following season we beat them at home and lost away again.

And then we met in the Premier League last season. They came up here first for the third game of the season and after we had won our first two games, at Crystal Palace and at home to Newcastle, a 0-0 draw seemed a bit of an anti climax. And it was a draw down there as well. Charlie Austin should've been sent off for kicking Jonas Lössl in the face, but stayed on to give Southampton the lead. However, Bomber from Auf Wiedesehen, Pet lookalike, Laurent Depoitre scored the equaliser.

This season, they came here and were one of the few lucky teams who caught us on an off day and left with the three points, beating us 3-1. Their goals coming from Nathan Redmond, Danny Ings (pen) and sub Michael Obafemi, who made the points safe after Philip Billing had given us hope briefly.

Dirty bastard!

So what's happening down at St Mary's?  Managed now by Ralph Hasenhüttl, the former Austria Wien centre forward. He was born in Graz, Austria in 1967 and played for his home town club, Grazer Athletiksport Klub for a couple of seasons until his transfer to Austria Wien (that's Vienna to thee and me) in 1989. He stayed there for five seasons, which were the best of his career, winning three consecutive Austrian Bundesliga titles as well as the Austrian Cup twice. Also during this time he gained his 8 international caps, scoring three goals for the national team. But then he moved to Salzburg, and then to Belgium and Germany, but never regained the success he had at Vienna. Even so, he did finish with over a hundred goals in his career.
He moved into coaching in 2004 and started his managerial career at Spielvereinigung Unterhaching in Munich in 2009. That was in the German 3rd tier. He moved to another side in the same league, VfR Aalen, then up a league to head coach at Ingolstadt 04 where he had Elias Kachunga, Flo Hadergjonaj and the legend that is Collin Quaner in his team.
He got them promoted and then moved to newly promoted RB Leipzig, getting them into the Champions League at the end of his first season, the first former East German team to qualify for Europe since the country's unification. But at the end of last season he was replaced by Ralf Rangnick, who was the man that he had replaced in the first place.
And so he was unemployed when Southampton finally put Mark Hughes out of his and the supporters' misery. Hasenhüttl became the Premier League's first ever Austrian manager in December and after losing his first game in charge (Cardiff away 0-1), he then won the second, a 3-2 win at St Mary's against Arsenal. The third game of his tenure was a 3-1 victory away at Huddersfield Town.  

Club Connections: Chris Marsden signed for Eoin Hand at Town in the season following the disastrous 87/88 relegation. He took some time to establish himself in the first team, but when he did he became a fans' favourite, a classy ball winning midfielder with an eye for a quality pass. His ability wasn't going unnoticed and as Town were struggling financially, he was loaned out to Premier League Coventry City in 1993, a strange move then and still seems odd for a top flight team to loan a player from the 3rd division. But that was the case.
His Town career came to an end in 1994 when Neil Warnock took over and he brought in non league cloggers (and future legends) like Darren Bullock and Richard Logan to replace him after he was moved on to Wolves. His career meandered along in the 2nd division before at the age of 30, he returned to the Premier League.
That was with Southampton when manager Dave Jones signed him from Birmingham City in 1999. He made 129 appearances for the Saints in five seasons, one of which was skippering the side in the 2003 FA Cup Final at Cardiff against Arsenal. He also scored 6 goals for them, one of which was a memorable goal at Portman Road where he dribbled the ball all the way from the touchline, past several defenders, around the keeper into an open net. The baldy Maradona!

Simon Charlton played for us at the same time as Marsden, but left for big money, £250,000, to Southampton in 1993 in the newly formed Premier League.
He came through our youth system and made his first team debut in the 1989/90 season. The following season he established himself as first choice left back when Chris Hutchings left for Walsall. He made 124 goals for us, scoring just the one goal. But it was a famous goal in a famous win at Roker Park in 2-1 League Cup victory over 1st Division Sunderland. We were still in the 3rd Division then and the victory was completed in the 2nd leg at Leeds Road as we pumped them 4-0 for a 6-1 aggregate win. Typically, we lost 1-4 at home in the next round to a Glenn Hoddle inspired Swindon Town.
He played for the Saints after his transfer there, against us in the League Cup match, mentioned above in the Head to Head section. he had five seasons at the Dell, making 114 appearances before he was moved on to Birmingham City and then Bolton Wanderers, where he won the Player of the Year award in 2002 and played in the League Cup Final of 2004.

Frank Worthington was the most flamboyant player ever to play for Huddersfield Town. He was top scorer of our 2nd Division Championship winning side of 69/70 and played in both of our 1st Division seasons that followed. He scored 41 goals for us before moving on after we were relegated, to play for Leicester City and England.
It was there that he developed his playboy image, which he regaled anybody who would listen in later years as an after dinner speaker. It was he who came out with the famous line, now wrongly attributed to George Best; "95% of my money got spent on wine, women and song. The rest I just frittered away." He also did a cracking Elvis Presley impersonation.
After Leicester, he went to Bolton Wanderers and scored the best goal ever scored in the Football League as well as finishing top scorer in the 1st Division for 1978/79.
After a short spell with Birmingham City, he went to crack America with Philadelphia Fury and Tampa Bay Rowdies, before returning to England and ruining his reputation amongst Town fans by signing for Leeds Utd. He played for them in the famous Town win at Bellend Road in the Milk Cup of 1982 when a David Cowling header knocked the Champions of Europe out.
Then from what seemed to be the ultimate depths of a career, he signed for Southampton and at the age of 35, inspired them to their highest ever league placing as they finished runners up in the 1st Division in 1984. He only had that one season there but featured in 34 matches in the campaign.
Unfortunately, he has now been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, but still makes it down to the John Smith's Stadium on occasions.

Oscar Gobern is a legend at both clubs. He started out at Southampton and was largely instrumental in turning the club around after they went into administration and were relegated to the 3rd Division. His debut came in a league match at Preston as he inspired the team to come from 0-2 down to win 3-2. He was rewarded by being sent out on loan to MK Dons, where manager Paul Ince raved about him. After his return to St Mary's he played in a 3-1 win at Bournemouth and became a YouTube sensation for getting red carded for a crazily high kung fu kick. His performances were the main reason that Southampton won promotion back to the Championship in 2011, so it was with great incredulity that Town fans greeted the news that we had managed to secure his signing in that summer, for the absolute bargain fee of £275,000.
He scored in a magnificent 3-0 win at Brammall Lane and then again in a 6-0 win down at Wycombe, the one where Jordan Rhodes scored the other five. Unfortunately he was injured for the Play Off Final and so was unable to score another against Sheffield United, but his mere presence in the stadium was enough to inspire a glorious come back in the penalty shoot out to get the club promoted.
The injuries continued and eventually, new manager Chris Powell reluctantly let him go, initially on loan to Chesterfield, and then permanantly to QPR.
He now plays in the National League for Eastleigh.

Martin Crainie was a vital cog in the machinery of our Play Off winning promotion season under David Wagner in 2017. He made 21 appearances in that season, standing in for skipper Tommy Smith on occasions, one of which was coming on as sub when Smith got injured at Wembley. He was half a leg away from connecting with the last kick of the 120 minutes of the Play Off Final when the free kick was played in. Just think, he could've had his name gone down in Huddersfield Town legend instead of Christopher Schindler.
He started his career at Southampton through their youth system and made his debut in 2004 as an 18 year old in the Premier League, but unfortunately got credited with an own goal in a 0-4 defeat to Chelsea. He made 16 appearances for the Saints in three seasons before moving to Portsmouth. After there, he went to Coventry, then Barnsley, then to us in 2015.
This season, of course, he's been at Sheffield United, earning himself another promotion. He's only on a short term deal, so could be looking for another Championship club in the summer, rather than planning a season in the Premier League with the Blades.

Jamaican international Jason Puncheon plays for us on loan from Crystal Palace, but played for Southampton from 2010 to 2014 and scored one of the goals in the aforementioned Saints' 5-0 win over us. He was signed by Alan Pardew, but when Nigel Adkins took over, he was sent out on loan to Millwall, Blackpool, QPR and Crystal Palace. On his return to Southampton, he got fined for gobbing off about Executive chairman Nicola Cortese.
He's also got a conviction for possession of an offensive weapon, common assault, and a public order offence and so became an easy target for piss poor journalists when he was subbed early on in the Town match at Newcastle, who made up stories about a bust up with Jan Siewert. He hasn't been seen in a Town shirt though since West Ham away. With Town cruising, 3-1 up in the 67th minute at the London Stadium, he came on as a sub for Juninho Bacuna and we ended up losing 3-4.  

There have been others. Brian O'Neill in the 70s. Scott Bevan played in the 2003 relegation season, but started out at Southampton. Lukas Jutkiewicz also started at Southampton, then came on loan to us in 2009. Craig Maskell played 6 times for the Saints before coming to Leeds Road and becoming a Town legend, scoring 68 goals in just 87 appearances. Scott McDonald, who now is an expert with BBC Scotland played twice for the Saints before coming on loan to us and looked rubbish.


Recent form: Town are 20th in the Premier League with 15 points. Saints are 16th with 38 points.



Last 6 matches:

Crystal Palace 2-0 Town
Town 1-4 Leicester (Mooy pen)
Tottenham 4-0 Town
Town 1-2 Watford (Grant)
Liverpool 5-0 Town
Town 1-1 Man Utd (Mbenza)

Saints 1-3 Liverpool (Long)
Saints 3-1 Wolves (Redmond 2, Long)
Newcastle 3-1 Saints (Lemina)
Watford 1-1 Saints (Long)
Saints 3-3 Bournemouth (Long, Ward-Prowse, Targett)
West Ham 3-0 Saints

[theo_luddite]

Cracking thread Snoots, deserves a few more responses than mine got.

Down town .

That will have Pet Clark spinning her stilettos into the ground.

Just in case .... as it seems very quiet in these 'ere parts these days

Is anybody out there, anybody there
Does anybody wonder, anybody care

Oh, I just gotta know
If you're really there and you really care



Even if you're from Sheffield like those bad boys?

[theo_luddite]

Was going to put that on the arse end of my thread but they send the lads and lasses round in white coats if tha' keeps talking to thi sen.

Any road, where was ah? Oh, yeh. Well apart from Spurs finding their level in old Amsterdam this evening, is it an age thing that I'd forgot that Big Frank had played for The Saints or was it just that it's probably easier to remember the half-a-dozen clubs who he didn't play for? Not to mention he managed Tranmere to possibly one of their best ever finishes? Spurs have scored twice while I've typed this, which says everything about my typing speed.

[Lord Snooty]

I wonder if Frank remembers himself that he used to play for Southampton.

[theo_luddite]

Foot in gob moment, or, I've done a Murray Walker - Spurs only go and qualify.

[SHEP_HTAFC]

Fantastic thread Snoots.....
Can't generate any enthusiasm for this game.....even though it could potentially be our last ever Prem game.
This season really can go do one.

[Lord Snooty]

How many, if any, of our returning loan players will be available for this match? Van the Man has apparently been back in training this week. Would love to see little Jack Payne get a run out.

[Lord Snooty]

Durm, Lowe and Zanka out.
Coleman in goal.

[theo_luddite]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p078vml0

[jjamez]

Players we've had out on loan will be unavailable for today. So no rajiv or col.

Be interesting to see if the youngsters get a go