The event seems to be passing without much notice to Saints fans, so here we look back at Lawrie McMenemy and wish him a Happy 80th Birthday.

There are perhaps two men who have managed Southampton Football Club who can truly be called legends, the first is Ted Bates who did much to mould the football club back in the 1950's and then took it into the modern era with our first promotion to the top flight.

The second is Lawrie McMenemy who took those foundations and built on them and in doing so won our first and to date only major trophy as well as regular top ten finishes in the top flight.

Lawrie McMenemey arrived at The Dell in the summer of 1973 as team manager designate to Ted Bates, the truth was that McMenemy already was pretty much the sole man in charge, but Saints wanted to ease him in without pressure from the media or the fans into the job.

By December of that year and Saints 5th place in the League Mcmemeny had his title upgraded to full team manager and Ted Bates was announced as Chief Executive, but then things started to go wrong, the team would only win 3 of their remaining 22 games and went down by 1 point, perhaps emphasising just how good the first half of the season was and how bad the second.

The following season was not good, McMenemy was under fire and he often endured a walk of hate along the touchline at the Dell as Saints fans revolted as the seasonshowed no signs of turning into a promotion push and indeed for the first half of the season threatened a relegation battle.

But Lawrie was backed by the board and much was hoped for by Saints supporters, luckily the team got off to a good start and the pressure was eased a little as the team pushed towards promotion.

However promotion would not be achieved, but the club was about to have it's finest hour.

That came on May 1st 1976 at Wembley were a Bobby Stokes goal gave us the FA Cup and the start of a 10 year period were we spent most of it chasing trophies.

76/77 did not produce the hoped for promotion, but it did have a European Cup Winners Cup Quarter final and a good run in the FA Cup.

77/78 saw McMenemy take us to promotion and then things started to gather pace, the next season saw a League Cup Final appearance at Wembley and then in early 1980 perhaps McMenemies biggest master stroke and one that put him and the club firmly on the map.

That was the signing of Kevin Keegan, for those too young this was te equivalent today of signing Ronaldo or Messi , Keegan was European Footballer of the year in both 1978 & 79 and his Hamburg team lost in the final of the 1980 European Cup, it was that big a signing.

Then followed a period where Saints not only signed some of the biggest names in the game, but were regulars in the top 7 of the League and challenging for trophies.

Sadly we would not win any, but we came close not least in 1983/84 where we reached the FA Cup Semi Final losing injury time of extra time to Everton at Highbury and also in the League were we were runners up to the then invincible Liverpool.

The following season would be McMenemy's last, we finished 5th but the Heysel disaster meant we could not take up our place in the Uefa Cup with English clubs all banned from Europe and McMenemy departed for Sunderland.

There it went a bit pear shaped for him, and he also had a spell in the England camp for the 1990 World Cup until after the 1992 Euros.

In January 1994 he was back at the club as Director Of Football and stayed till 1997 when he fell out with new Chairman Rupert Lowe.

A spell as Northern Ireland manager followed as well as other football related projects before in 2006 he returned to Saints now at St Mary's with new Chairman Michael Wilde, this would be a short stay which saw him leave again when Wilde was deposed.

That ended McMenemy's official connection to the club, but to all Saints fans he should be considered a legend, after all he is the only manager to win us a trophy and his influence it Saints development as a club reaches far beyond just that.

On his 80th birthday perhaps now is the time to honour him personally, I think that a statue should be erected alongside Ted Bates at St Mary's, failing that one of the stands should at least be named in his honour.

At Southampton Football Club we have long failed to honour our club legends as other clubs do, yes the past is in the past, but the great clubs are not frightened of their history, in fact the opposite, they embrace it and see it as part of the club's very fabric.

Time to do that with Lawrie McMenemy, I would love to see a statue erected, indeed whilst we are at it one for Markus Liebherr would make a fitting trio of legends in front of the main stand.

Alas Markus will never see any tribute to him, as Ted Bates did not live to see his statue. So come on Saints lets do something for Lawrie Mcmenemy so that he can see the respect Saints fans have for what he did for this club.

Photo: Action Images

codge added 15:37 - Jul 26 Definitely deserve all the credit for what he did for Saints, a real gent and always accessible to the fans. Real old school but had the vision to see ahead, always a fans man. Wish you all the best to you Lawrie hope you're having a great day.
1

richsaints added 17:11 - Jul 26 I was a teenager in the early 80s and had the honour to watch the 84 side in the flesh in my opinion the best saints side ever Lawrie is for me every bit as much the god figure that i give to matt.
0

richsaints added 17:11 - Jul 26 I was a teenager in the early 80s and had the honour to watch the 84 side in the flesh in my opinion the best saints side ever Lawrie is for me every bit as much the god figure that i give to matt.
0

froggysaint added 20:41 - Jul 26 Excellent idea, and long overdue. A total Saints legend. A picture of LM holding the FA cup hangs behind the bar of my pub in Paris, where it is also appreciated by a couple of my regulars who are Grimsby Town fans.
1

A1079 added 22:07 - Jul 26 Good article Nick and I have long advocated that as a club we have been slow, even poor at times, in recognising those that have served the club well in various forms. Now is the time to do something for Lawrie, not wait until he has passed away. Lawrie gave us hope and made us believe and in many respects set us up as a club which people would notice. Some of my most memorable moments as a fan was during his stewardship. I am not saying it was all perfect or that he always got it right, but his mixture of youth and experience, the style of football, the bringing in of the sweeper system, his take on Total football and bringing players to the club of such standing and his continued support of the club makes him, for me, one of the most deserving of club recognition. A stand after his name or at least a statue now is the right, decent and honourable thing to do.

1

whitty added 23:29 - Jul 26 Agree fully Naming a stand is the right and proper thing to do Why do we fail to recognise a legend whilst he is alive. Always makes an effort with the fans and it's genuine.
1

IWOZTHERE added 13:15 - Jul 27 He was the common denominator during all those memorable times and it deserves recognition. Mind you, so does the bravery of the then board headed by Alan Woodford who backed Lawrie, particularly with the signings and wages of the 'batch' of top names we signed starting with Ossie and most significantly, Keegan. Times have changed but a little of that bravery would be welcome now to kickstart another golden era.

0

Blogs 32 bloggers

Rochdale Polls