SATURDAY, AUGUST 8, 2009
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THE DAILY ECHO
PAINE’S W RLD PA The Saints legend’s EXCLUSIVE column on all things football ll
A shock for City
CLINCHER: Brian Clifton’s famous goal against Reading virtually secured the title for Saints.
Fifty seasons ago (1959/60 campaign) Terry Paine was part of the last Saints team to play in the third tier of English football. Here, the Saints legend looks back on what proved to be a very special season.
I
T WAS a special season for Southampton FC. It was the dawn of a new era for the club.
It was pushed along by a very successful youth side, which I was very much a part of. A number of players came through to make a number of first team appearances from that side. There was me, John Sydenham, Maughan, Simpson, Holmes and Godfrey. We got through to the semifinal in the FA Youth Cup, where we eventually lost to the Busby Babes. We lost 5-2 at The Dell and then went to Old Trafford and were the first team to beat them, 3-2 – yours truly punched in the winner. It was extremely nice for Sir Matt Busby to come and congratulate us after the game. That was really the starting of the club under the only real manager Saints have had, Ted Bates. We got promoted from Division III with a very talented Southampton side. We had George O’Brien, who scored many, many goals for Saints, and the talented Dick Conner. We also had Derek Reeves, a centre forward who
THE START OF SOMETHING VERY SPECIAL we got from Bournemouth Gasworks, if the memory serves me right. It was a combination of a bit of everything. A bit of youth and a bit of experience, with players to put the ball in the back of the net for you. The club was being moulded, structures were being put in places to allow the club to go forward. It was never a club with a lot of money to spend so a lot of praise should go to Bill Ellerington, the key scout at the time. A lot relied on his ability and with Ted Bates, they were a tremendous combo. Ted was also very shrewd in the transfer market. We had a striker at the time called Charlie Livesey. He got into a bit of trouble in London and Jimmy Thompson, who was scouting for us at
the time, spoke in court on his behalf and got him down to Southampton. Charlie was a revelation and we eventually sold him back to Chelsea and got Cliff Huxford as part of the deal. Huxford was the dynamo at the back of the title win, one of the hardest men to play the game. Opponents had a real fear factor coming up against him. And with George O’Brien, and two wingers in myself and John Sydenham, we were unstoppable going forward. We also had Tommy Traynor at left back, Ron Davies, who recently died, at right back, as well as Tommy Mulgrew at inside left. It was a really experienced side, with a little flavour of youth and panache. Put all that together and we had a real decent side.
We had the potential going forward to score goals. No goal was more important than one against Reading toward the end of the season. Brian Clifton, a local lad from Whitchurch, made a huge impact. I remember the photo of the header he scored against Reading in the Easter. The goal pretty much won us the title and will always be remembered in Southampton’s history. The ball came in from a corner and Clifton thundered it home. The Daily Echo’s Jimmy Adams, a great photographer, captured it as it flew in. I remember George O’Brien went up to Brian after the game and said: “You lucky so-and-so. You know that goal’s going to be remembered forever.” And it did. It helped Saints move forward and won us the title.
IT WAS a nice season. I remember going to first division Manchester City and winning 5-1. Imagine that now. A third division side going to the Premier League and winning by that scoreline. Apart from the FA Cup run in ’63 it stands as the best victory of my career – going to an established top league side and absolutely hammering them 5-1. We had one of those days where we could do nothing wrong. We were even 1-0 down, believe it or not. We had a young keeper called Bob Charles and, after they scored, he must have looked at the clock and wondered what kind of afternoon it would be. And, better still, they had Bert Trautmann in goal, a German paratrooper in the Second World War, who had a great reputation and we hammered five past him. It was the talk of the FA Cup. You won’t see that kind of result again.
Ted was the best I JOINED Saints when I was 16 and went on to turn professional with them. I was on the winning sides that won the respective league in 1959/60 and the equivalent of what is known as the Championship six years later. I was fortunate to be brought along by Ted Bates, pictured, with a number of oth-
ers as well. And to be able to do it with one club was a great achievement. We went from the old third division and got promoted to the second, then into the first and even got into Europe. It was an outstanding achievement from an outstanding manager.