[Lord Snooty]

Southampton v Huddersfield Town
The Sky Bet Championship
Saturday February 10th - 15:00 ko
at St Mary's Stadium

Huddersfield Town travel to Southampton to the Dell on Saturday afternoon for the first game under the new management of (insert name here).

Or will it be more of the same with Jon Worthington in charge? The lad did well last Saturday, but this won't be as easy. A trip to the south coast to play a team currently on a club record-breaking unbeaten run in all competitions, which now stands at an impressive 24. Impressive? Come back when you've gone 43 regular league games unbeaten, pal.

The 24th game in this run came in an FA Cup replay on Tuesday night. Young French striker Sekou Mara scored twice and Scottish international Che Adams got a third. The Armstrong boys were both on the bench, rested for the big game against the Terriers.

We haven't won away at Southampton since 1971. If that run is ended on Saturday, I will double my current tally on the Players for Pounds chart. Hold on, that's a bold statement. Just checking. Bear with......

Six quid. Reyt theo. If we win, I'll double that.

Tickets:
Adults - £30
Over-65s - £25
18-25-year-olds - £25
Under 18s - £20
Under 14s - £15

Official coach travel is available, priced at £34-per-person. Coaches will depart from St. Andrew’s Road Car Park at 7.30am.



Head to Head




Southampton lead the head to head with 13 wins to Town's 11, with 6 draws.

There's never been any kind of rivalry between the two clubs. Most of the time we have avoided each other with us being brilliant in the first part of the 20th century and they being mainly in Division Three (South). Then when we were in the lower leagues ourselves, the Saints had their glory days.

The first meetings came in Division Two in 1952/53 after we had been relegated for the first time ever. It was just a one season stay in the Second Division as we stormed back up again, doing the double over Southampton along the way. It was 2-0 at the Dell in the first game with Tommy Cavanagh and Jimmy Glazzard scoring in front of a crowd of 20,867 squeeezing into their tiny little ground. Huddersfield Town still pulling them in. The return game at Leeds Road saw our brave boys wallop the Saints 5-0. Cavanagh and Glazzard were amongst the scorers again, with Vic Metcalfe (pictured) getting two and Len Quested rounding it all off.

The first time that we met in Division One was in 1970/71 after we had won the Second Division title. It was a special night at Leeds Road, coming as the second game of the season. We had beaten Blackpool 3-0 in the opening game on the Saturday, then on the Tuesday night, we beat Southampton 3-1 to go top of the league. Most exciting! There were 24,424 there, me and my dad amongst them. Dick Krzywicki, Jimmy Nicholson and Steve Smith scored for us.

We got relegated after the next season, so we didn't play each other again until 1994/95 in the League Cup 2nd round. It was our promotion season under the leadership of Neil Warnock and we were part way through an unbeaten league run of 13 games when we got the Saints in the Cup. It was a two legged affair, which we were totally outclassed in. They won it 5-0 on aggregate with all five goals being scored by Matthew le Tissier.

Southampton had a fall from grace in the early 2000s and so we met up in the third tier in 2009/10. Lee Clark was now in charge at the Town and the Saints came up north for the second game of the season again. Having scored on his debut away at Southend in the previous game, Jordan Rhodes scored his first goal at the Galpharm Stadium in a 3-1 win. He scored from the rebound after his penalty was saved by Kelvin Davis. Rickie Lambert equalised shortly after, but then Jordan put the Terriers 2-1 up before Antony Kay made the points safe.

We met up again in the top tier, now calling itself the Premier League, in 2017/18 and 18/19. Three draws and a defeat in those four games, the first of which at the John Smith's Stadium being the only goal less draw the two clubs have played out. The last of those four was the final match in our short but eventful Prima Donna League life. A one all draw down there with super Alex Pritchard getting an equaliser in front of the huge away support, all dressed in the free away shirts given away by the club.

The season after our relegation, we had our one and only FA Cup meeting, which Southampton won 2-0 at St Mary's. Will Smallbone and Jake Vokins both scored, Smallbone on debut, Vokins in only his second game as their second string proved too good for ours.

And then they got relegated last season, so played each other in the Championship in November. Adam Armstrong opened the scoring, before Ben Jackson equalised late on in a 1-1 draw.

So what's going on down at St Mary's church? Managed nowadays by Russell Martin, a former Scottish international who recently told Rishi Sunak to piss off!

He's a member of the Green Party, a vegan and a Buddhist. A decent bloke with no time for a corrupt Tory prick. He was born in 1986 and is now 38 years old. His childhood was anything but normal, growing up in Brighton with an English mother and a brutal Scottish father, who's gambling addiction led to them losing the family home. His dad was a bad man who also spent time in prison for domestic abuse.

Russell had to get himself a job, cleaning pub bogs before school, but at school he did well and eventually got a place with the Brighton and Hove Albion Academy before signing for Wycombe Wanderers.

He stayed there for four seasons, all in League Two, then signed for Peterborough United in 2008. Manager Darren Ferguson made him club captain and he led them to promotion to the Championship in his first season there. Things didn't go great though and Fergie got the chop, replaced by Mark Cooper, who's first job was to ship Russell out on loan to Norwich, who at the time were a division below in League One.

That loan was made permanent in January 2010 and he helped the Canaries win promotion back to the Championship. He played every minute of every game in the next season as they won a back to back promotion into the Premier League under Paul Lambert. Russell came second in the Player of the Season award, second to Grant Holt.

At the end of that season, he won his first of 29 Scotland caps, as a sub against Wales.

He had ten seasons at Carrow Road, four of them in the Premier League. At the back end of his time there, he had a loan spell up in his adopted country, playing 15 games in the Scottish Premiership for Rangers, before winding down his playing career at Walsall and then the MK Dons.

He'd been player/coach at both of those clubs and when Paul Tisdale got the boot from the Dons, he was then given his first proper manager's job, in November 2019.

Although praised for his team's style of play, Russell couldn't get the Dons higher than mid table obscurity. His card had been marked though and so it came as a surprise to some when he was appointed Head Coach of Swansea City in the Championship in August 2021, following the departure of droopy faced Steve Cooper, who had spent the summer on gardening leave.

He had two season's of mid table obscurity again, but his one big achievement was when his side became the first team in the 110 year history of the South Wales derby to do the double. They beat Cardiff City 3-0 and 4-0.

So after all these mid table finishes, it was once again a bit of a surprise when newly relegated Southampton took him on in the summer, to replace Rubén Sellés, who had taken on the job til the end of the season after they looked doomed following the disastrous tenure of Nathan Jones.

He's got the Saints up into the promotion race, but his name made it onto the front pages when at a game against Plymouth in December, he refused to meet diminutive dimwit Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, a Southampton born leader of the country's most effective criminal cartel.

The midweek line up at home to Watford in the Cup:

13 Lumley
24 Charles
5 Stephens
35 Bednarek
29 Meghoma
16 Smallbone
4 Downes
19 Rothwell 
33 Dibling
10 Adams
18 Mara

Subs:
1 McCarthy
2 Walker-Peters
3 Manning
9 A Armstrong
17 S Armstrong
21 Harwood-Bellis
23 Edozie
27 Amo-Ameyaw
40 Bragg




Southampton in popular culture: The most famous thing about Southampton is the doomed ship, the Titanic departed from there in 1912 on it's maiden voyage.




Southampton's club anthem is of course the song "Oh When The Saints Go Marching In". This obviously sounds a lot better when it's the Town that go marching in, but for now, here's Stuart and Adam's dad, the legend Louis Armstrong, giving it some welly.










Recent form - last 6 matches:

Town 4-0 Sheff Weds
QPR 1-1 Town
Blackburn 1-1 Town
Town 1-1 Plymouth
Man City 5-0 Town (FA Cup)
Leicester 4-1 Town

Saints 3-0 Watford (FA Cup)
Rotherham 0-2 Saints
Watford 1-1 Saints (FA Cup)
Swansea 1-3 Saints
Saints 4-0 Sheff Weds
Saints 4-0 Walsall (FA Cup)


Town are 21st in the Championship table with 31 points. Southampton are 2nd with 61.

Leading scorers:

Terriers:
Michal Helik (8)
Delano Burgzorg (6)

Saints:
Adam Armstrong (15)
Ché Adams (10)
Ryan Fraser (7)

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[theo_luddite]

Point (or potential £6) noted Snoots.

[Lord Snooty]

Intersting chat with Brodie Spencer. Talking about his growing up in Belfast and supporting Rangers, his time playing against them and Celtic whilst on loan and the story behind how he ended up getting his first full international cap. Starts at 3:46 on the video if you're intersted.

Jon Worthington will once agin be leading the team. His start time is 34:15. He reports on the squad injury and illness updates. Rudoni and Kasumu are both raring to go. Healey is out, probably for a few weeks. Radulovic is ok. Helik is touch and go, not far off being fit and will be assessed on Saturday morning. Out then

And Danny Ward trained fully with the first team for the first time today. Won't be ready for Saturday though.

[jjamez]

Do we think that since it's taking this long to appoint someone, we are potentially looking at someone other than duff?

Eustace looks set to go to Blackburn after they've disposed of jdt

[theo_luddite]

They supposedly took their time last time and recruited a guy in who promised attacking football, who then having seen us rip QPR a new one for 15 minutes decided he preferred defensive football instead. I'd prefer they take another 5 or 10 games if I'm honest.

I was looking around "The Sack Race" website and noticed that 5 out of the 10 teams in the Scottish Championship are looking for a new head coach (and that's only the one's without one). Not that most of them should be competing with us for a signature, though Dundee Utd & Dundee might disagree, 'appen.

Quite honestly, I'm not inspired by who the bookies claim to be favourites, especially when Colin is still at 20/1 today.



If Eustace is going to Blackburn, I wouldn't want the lad from Blackburn either. If his issue is with a failure to click on the right button on the EFL website to bring a lad in from the USA in January, when Blackburn were the worst away side I've seen at ours and that was on Boxing Day, he can stay in Lancashire for me. Rather than more Chumpionship failures I'd rather we looked at folk getting a tune out of players a division or so below us. Failing that, look abroad again, but not the furrin' coaches that have also failed at our neighbours either.

You could argue Moore was geting a tune out of Wendies, but he nearly broke all the strings on that banjo too. They scored 1 (or less) in at least 25 of their 46 League games last season.

There's an Eye-tillian appeared in the betting. He was appointed to Serie B Modena last Summer. Someone knows or has heard something.
Currently achieving mid-table mediocrity, when can we sign him?

Well, given the available and well known Portuguese bloke would probably bankrupt us on his hotel bill alone, let alone any wage demands, plus he likely wouldn't look anywhere below Top 6 of any European League, have we tried a Spag Bol in charge yet? Can't recall one. I recall a bowl of Carbon(e)ara bankrupting our headless chicken neighbours after leaving another massive Yorkshire club, but that was supposedly as a player, though for the most part he didn't.

[theo_luddite]

All change on the banks of The Darwen. Eustace in, Useless, sorry Tomasson out.
Yet another club to sack their manager 2-3 weeks AFTER playing us. This is a wierd season.

[jjamez]

By sounds of it, the spaghetti and meatballs manager was a hoax bet that picked up traction, which that Alan nixon has doubled down on.

Surely the longer it goes the less likely it is to be duff and more likely someone that we've had to properly find

[Lord Snooty]

Town’s team vs Southampton
1. Lee Nicholls
4. Matty Pearson
6. Jonathan Hogg ©
8. Jack Rudoni
10. Josh Koroma
14. Sorba Thomas
17. Brodie Spencer
18. David Kasumu
21. Alex Matos
32. Tom Lees
33. Yuta Nakayama

Substitutes
Chris Maxwell, Giosue Bellagambi; Bojan Radulovic, Brahima Diarra, Tom Edwards, Ben Wiles, Pat Jones, Ben Jackson, Tom Iorpenda

---

Worthington is without Josh Ruffels (groin), Michał Helik (knee), Delano Burgzorg (ankle), Jaheim Headley (ankle), Ollie Turton (knee), Kian Harratt (suspended), Radinio Balker (illness), Danny Ward (Achilles), and Rhys Healey (groin).

---

Huddersfield Town’s Interim Manager Jon Worthington has made three changes to the starting line-up for this afternoon’s Sky Bet Championship game against Southampton; 3pm kick-off at St. Mary’s Stadium.

The first change comes in defence, where Radinio Balker unfortunately misses out through illness. His place in the team is taken by the returning Yuta Nakayama, who makes his first appearance in five league games having returned from Asian Cup duty with Japan.

Having missed last weekend’s 4-0 home win over Sheffield Wednesday through illness, David Kasumu and Jack Rudoni come straight back into the team on the south coast too. Kasumu makes his first start in three games in place of the injured Rhys Healey (groin), whilst Rudoni returns in place of Bojan Radulovic.

Kasumu is making his 50th competitive appearance for the Terriers today.

The side is otherwise unchanged from the win over the Owls, which means captain Jonathan Hogg starts his 350th game for Huddersfield Town in all competitions.

Radulovic is OK to take a place on the bench today after being forced off the pitch last weekend through a poke to the eye, and he’s joined by goalkeeper Chris Maxwell, who is involved for the first time in seven league games following a hamstring injury.

B Team players Luke Daley, and Conor Falls drop out of the match day 20.

[Lord Snooty]

SORBAAAAAAAAAA

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KASUMUUUUUUUU

[ritchiebaby]

Who needs a manager!!!