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Episode 158: THROWBACK Wednesday! Where are they now?
71 Plays14 days ago
Southampton – AS we head into an international break, we thought we would have a throwback to an amazing piece of research Zak did to see where our players from the 2015/2016 season are now! We'll be back tomorrow with some more regular content!
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Transcript
Introduction and Personal Catch-Up
00:00:01
Speaker
Every club. Every day. The Global Sports Podcast Network. Hello and welcome to the Daily Southampton, part of the Global Sports Podcast Network. I am your host today, Zach Ingo Finch, and I am joined by Gregory Elliott, a good friend of mine, fantastic co-host, just a generally good human being most of the time. How you doing, mate?
00:00:28
Speaker
You're all right. You're tired today. Bigging me up more than I deserve there. Yeah, no, running on some low energy this week. There's no real football to fire me up. so Nah, it's not ideal. Greg's had some busy personal life stuff. I had a flu jab the other day, and apparently I'm still dealing with the the man flu that comes from it.
00:00:47
Speaker
So yeah, we start we start we start in low energy.
Southampton's 2015-2016 Season Review
00:00:51
Speaker
We'll pick up, because we're going to talk about a fun season. A season that feels like a bygone era at this point. It is the 2015 to 2016 season where we got, I want to say, our highest ever finish, at least in the Premier League, of sixth.
00:01:06
Speaker
It was also our first season back in European competition since like 2003, 2004. So, yeah, it was a very, very exciting season.
00:01:17
Speaker
And I wanted to cover off a few of the players and personnel that because that's the kind of way that my brain works when I think back to these sort of times. And then obviously other bits and pieces, of of course, as well.
00:01:29
Speaker
Any thoughts on that season? Do you remember much of it, Greg? Yeah, I do. I do remember that season really well, actually. And it was it another one of those seasons that was really strange, right? like we finished sixth and it was fantastic, obviously. we were flying,
00:01:47
Speaker
I mean, it's another one of those ones where, like, I'm just looking at the table now. We finished on 63 points, which really, in the scheme of things, when you think about, you know, the last four or five seasons and the amount of points totals the top teams have been on, 63 seems like such a low number. But less then I guess in the same regard, I'd give my left leg for 63 points this season. so Well, that's the thing. it was It was kind of weird because, like, Leicester won with 81 points.
00:02:18
Speaker
And then Villa, Norwich and Newcastle were relegated this season. Newcastle were relegated with 37. So that was back when I think the big 40 number mattered a lot more. i just don't think it does nowadays. Like, look at the bottom of the the table nowadays. It's crazy.
00:02:34
Speaker
But this is where we were sandwiched in between Manchester United and West Ham. We had three points less than Man U. bad new work Yeah, so they obviously City finished in fourth. Leicester won.
00:02:46
Speaker
It was a very straight, it was that kind of last year I remember it being that felt like anybody could win the league. Whereas it feels like after this season, everybody got their act together.
00:02:57
Speaker
Lots and lots of money started being spent. And now I think that the divide is is kind of crazy, right? Like, yeah, it's just it's really weird to think. And obviously the bottom for the relegation was quite tight. You had Sunderland finishing on 39 points but with Newcastle relegated with 37. Bournemouth and Bristol Palace both were 42. So that's not like a huge... It was a very... It was a much more... I don't know. I guess i guess the Leicester winning really shook everybody, right?
00:03:24
Speaker
Because this yeah they didn't go undefeated. But it was that was, yeah, it was a crazy, crazy season. One of our best seasons ever. And one of ours where we picked up quite a lot of what I would consider like core prophylic Saints players over the last couple of years.
Player Journeys Post-Season
00:03:38
Speaker
So we're going to talk about a couple of them today. Most will most all know.
00:03:42
Speaker
So I'm going to start off with with a man who played alongside Font in the Euros. And that is Cedric Suarez. So where do you think Cedric Suarez is nowadays, Greg?
00:03:54
Speaker
Pfft. Oh, I don't know. have absolutely no idea, mate. Do you remember where he left after he left us? No, I can't say that I do. So so that's that's funny because because it should because as he went to Arsenal.
00:04:08
Speaker
That's right. Yeah, did. He is still technically at Arsenal. Wow. But mainly on the bench. Like i think last season he had a loan spell at Fulham. But yeah, he's been relatively anonymous since then.
00:04:20
Speaker
I think he he he appears throughout the the Arsenal documentary quite a bit. And he was also, he's also not played internationally since 2021 either.
00:04:31
Speaker
So it's really sort of one of those, in comparison to some of the other people that have left Saints. Obviously, he was a really solid right back for us. And it was one of those things where you were talking about how, like, oh, we've got so many right backs. And you remember I was telling you, we went through that little weird crisis where like James Oswald Prowse played at right back.
00:04:47
Speaker
Because if Cedric were injured, there was like no other players that would play it. He was kind of, I think, our natural replacement for... Nathaniel Klein after Klein went as well. And obviously he put in put in a few good seasons for us. And yeah, it's kind of weird to think. So obviously he was a lot smaller than you, but he kind of also was one of those, the start of sort of the attacking fullback as well.
00:05:06
Speaker
Where like he wasn't really as good defensively as I remember, but it was always there. Always prominent down the wing. I remember Yeah, 100%. So yeah, it's kind of bit of a sad progression of when a player leaves a club for better and brighter things.
00:05:19
Speaker
And then kind of just doesn't really get the game time. And that seems to have kind of been what's happened with him. So then he had a loan spell. And that obviously he's still there as an option for Arsenal. But obviously that's not really the case. So yeah, it's a bit of a bit of a strange one. Because as you said, like a lot of people have just kind of forgotten about him entirely. But he still technically plays in the Premier League.
00:05:38
Speaker
And that's where he's been the whole time. Yeah. That's Cedric Suarez. Now, another person who sort of played in the middle role, sort of defensive midfielder, kind of. Do you remember Jordy Classy?
00:05:51
Speaker
and other do, yeah. There it is. so So, he he e this was probably his busiest season for us.
00:06:02
Speaker
So, he had about 20 appearances in the league. And yeah, it was just this main sort of season of action before. He had like the next season where he had some some bit parts and then he disappeared off of two AZ Alkmaar where we we he played in the friendly in preseason this year, if you remember rightly.
00:06:23
Speaker
Or do, yeah. Yeah, so he played he played in that friendly and obviously talks fondly about his time at Southampton. But yeah, he was kind of like a player where... I just remember there sort of like being, I feel like if you're to join around the same time as like, as like Romeo, but you still got big Vic in the middle of the park as well. This is before he went to Tottenham.
00:06:44
Speaker
Yeah. Kind of difficult to get sort of a look in. And I don't think he had the, I don't know he played really well, but I don't think he quite had the strength and physicality to play in that role as as much as the rest of them. that we were looking for at that particular period of time. No, so but like he seems to have sort of been alright, and he's had a sort of relatively sort stable career at AZ since then.
00:07:04
Speaker
So yeah, it's kind of that's where Geordie Classy it goes is currently now. So, we'll talk about a definite famous saint that will be on your list, after a word from our partners at Zencastr.
00:07:17
Speaker
Yeah, so here at the Global Sports Podcast Network, we spent a lot of time selecting our delivery platform, and Zencaster came out the clear winner. With 4K video recording from your phone, and AI editing that automatically removes all those ums and ahs, it's super easy to start a podcast that sounds great and is delivered efficiently.
00:07:35
Speaker
If you're ready to tell your story, check out the link in the show description and learn more about Zencaster. Righto, mate. So, the the next player on this list is the...
00:07:46
Speaker
ever reliable, a man who managed to get himself a transfer off of the back of dominating Liverpool at St Mary's is Sadio Mane, who I recently saw in like a Twitter post that went viral, did my head in. It was like, just remember what Klopp did for this club. It was sort of like insinuating that Klopp is the one that developed Mane and Virgil.
00:08:06
Speaker
As opposed to seeing two really good players and taking them away from what it was a fantastic Southampton side at the time. yeah It was very upsetting. Obviously, he was our top scorer during that season as well with 15 goals, including hat-trick against City. The fastest hat-trick in Premier League history, right? you know Yeah. i think But yeah, yours he had the that was the season he had the hat-trick against City as well.
00:08:29
Speaker
But obviously, it didn't, you know, I'd say it didn't work out great for him. It did at Liverpool. And then afterwards, sort of he had that what like year at Bayern Munich where... You're on a changing room bus stop with yeah someone, right?
00:08:43
Speaker
And then obviously that kind of spelt the end of his career Bayern. It was very sort of weird. it like It so sort of felt with him going out of that Liverpool system that he played in for so long. He didn't really get to shine as much. And now obviously he's in Saudi Arabia, as as we found out the other day. My favourite football league...
00:09:04
Speaker
It's not. They annoy me. Al Nassar is where he plays. He plays alongside Cristiano Ronaldo. Yeah, it's it's a weird one. like he was we have never We have never replaced him. We have always tried to sort of find a really, really pacey winger on the side, usually sort of of African origin as well. so like we We kind of replaced him with Gianepo a little bit, if I remember rightly, for a short period of time. Well, no, but like the idea was that we picked up this sort of this sort of unknown in sort of the lower European leagues, really, really pacey winger.
00:09:34
Speaker
and we would and he would become another Mane and it just hasn't happened. There's comparison there whatsoever. mad to me. But yeah, i mean, Mane was just such an unbelievably quality player.
00:09:45
Speaker
He was sort of still quite raw when he played for us. you There was a lot of really felt when he picked up the ball that You had no clue what he was going to do with it because neither did he. And it just sometimes that turns into a flash of absolute brilliance. But yeah, what a player and what a player he went on to become.
00:10:06
Speaker
And yeah, and I mean, it's often said, I i mean, I see it posted a lot about sort of how humble of a man he is and what he does for his roots and his village in Africa. So yeah, yeah being a good human too.
00:10:20
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's that's that's like the nice thing. It's the same with Big Vic in Kenya, right? like I remember he had like a road named after him or something like that as well. like you can These players deeply care about their background and have always represented their nations in the African Cup nations. But Mane truly was one of like the greats to put on a Southampton shirt. But you're right, he he wasn't the player that he went on to become.
00:10:42
Speaker
But I think the difference with him when he played for us is he had those moments of absolute brilliance that came out of nowhere. more often than he had those moments of why have you managed to put the ball out of the stadium sort of thing. Yeah.
00:10:56
Speaker
so So, yeah, fantastic player for us. And then a personal favourite player of mine, one that I don't think you named in your your your top 11, which was upsetting, is Dusan Tadic.
00:11:07
Speaker
Because Dusan Tadic was us just an incredible... He was Koeman's first signing, by the way. in 2014. He was the fourth player to achieve three or more assists in a one Premier League game as well. it just like a random stat. I know how you like your stats.
00:11:23
Speaker
But yeah, Dusan Tanic is just an amazing player. i I was kind of devastated when he went. It felt like the reason he was let go was they were kind of like, oh, he was past his best kind of thing. And he went on Ajax to go to the Champions League final. It was like, what?
00:11:38
Speaker
Yeah, it yeah You're right, it felt strange at the time as well, because he was such a quality player. We talk about those players who raise the game of the players around them, and he is one of those. Just his presence and you know the visibility he had of a game of football, or presumably has, is yeah that's another player that we've never had a player of that same sort of quality.
00:12:11
Speaker
we've so So where do you reckon he's playing his trade nowadays? Or do you know? Was he... Was it Fenerbahce he went to? He is Fenerbahce. So he is currently being managed by the special one in a league, you know, which is... Which he keeps describing as corrupt and terrible and blames every single defeat he has on the officials.
00:12:33
Speaker
which means if he wants to come and manage us, he'll be at home, right? Yeah, with with our fan base and with what's happening. Right. so So the next man on my list, Greg, the next guy who we all know and we all love and we miss, and I still miss all of his little pictures of him going on dog walks in Winchester because I'm a sad little man, and that is Ori and Rumeo.
00:12:56
Speaker
Plus, I also miss his absolute love and friendship between my Yoshida. It was a beautiful thing. So, Romelu joined this year, and he joined us for £5 million, pounds which you look the money that's spent nowadays, and that is a sickeningly low amount for the player that we had for such a long period of Saints career, right?
00:13:17
Speaker
He probably paid more out of his wages in booking fines than that You are not probably wrong. I'm pretty sure he got a book in his first game.
00:13:25
Speaker
He never got sent off, either. Like, he... Like, to this point, if you put a pound on him to get booked every single week in every game he played, there's no way you weren't leaving the season quids in.
00:13:38
Speaker
right Did he get, like, his first... I can't remember if it was recently he got his, like, first ever red card for either Girona or Barcelona. One of the two. I remember that being, like, a big thing on on Saints Twitter at the time.
00:13:50
Speaker
But just he was just such a such a... We always played better with him than without him. And I don't think that, you know obviously our style of football has changed quite a lot since then, but he was just such just such like a brick in like the middle of the park. Like no one could get past him. Right.
00:14:08
Speaker
And, or if they, use you know, our style of football has changed a lot, but really, you probably fit in now still. Yeah. He, you know, if you're telling me that Flynn Downs isn't trying to emulate an Oriol Romeo type role,
00:14:21
Speaker
you're kidding yourself this is also true but yeah it's it's kind of mad because obviously see he he left us and he went he obviously ended up going back to barcelona at one point and he's currently on loan to girona so i think he went to girona went from girona to barca for like two seasons and now he's back on loan at girona alongside ex-saint who we've already discussed before paulo gazinger So that's kind of like weird that there's like two little... I love those sort of little two meet-ups. The same thing with like Billy Sharp playing alongside Yoshida at LA Galaxy for like half a season. it's just sort of bizarre little, like you know, they get to know each other in the locker room kind of things.
00:14:57
Speaker
But obviously, yeah, like I consider Romeo to be a club icon. I did not begrudge him leaving. it wasn't I don't think him leaving was anything like some of the other ones that have thrown their toys out of the pram.
00:15:09
Speaker
No, quite agree. It was... It was done in a fitting manner and to go back to his boyhood club right in Girona. Exactly. Can't say fairer than that.
00:15:20
Speaker
Rightio, so I've got some more. We've got some some sort of big names and then some special mentions. However, first of all, let's hear from the Global Sports Podcast Network.
Global Sports Podcast Network Spotlight
00:15:30
Speaker
So the Global Sports Podcast Network is changing the face of football podcasting with dedicated daily content for every Premier League team, women's football, fantasy football, and a daily Premier League wrap-up broadcasted in five different languages.
00:15:42
Speaker
This is your one-stop shop for your daily football fix. Find GSPN wherever you find your usual podcasts. Rightio, so the next person on our list who who's not as prolific in a Saints shirt, but is prolific for one thing, and I think that's, to be honest, probably one of the small highlights of his career, which is Kuka Martina, who you will remember as the guy...
00:16:03
Speaker
that scored the absolutely cracking goal against Arsenal. That goal will forever stick in my memory. and the the I mean, the reason that that goal sticks in my memory is that I had just got back home that day from bringing my daughter home from the hospital for the first time. So we we got home about 10 minutes before kickoff and my father-in-law put a roast dinner in front of me and I sat down and nearly threw it everywhere as I jumped up shouting at that goal. I definitely woke up my newborn daughter at that ap point.
00:16:34
Speaker
Good Lord. That's the thing. That was just such and such an incredible goal. And like that is mainly what he's known for, which is, I guess I'm saying, because he's also played... He also plays international football for... Let's see.
00:16:47
Speaker
If I made that up, if I massively fluffed this, let's find out. But he's obviously... like One of the other things is he was like a... loyalist of... Yeah, I was right. Kureka.
00:17:02
Speaker
I can always pronounce that really badly. But he was like a Koeman loyalist. So after he left us and his contract expired, he was picked up again by Koeman at Everton. So he was one of two players that another one we'll discuss later.
00:17:14
Speaker
But like yeah, you know he played pretty solid for us, really. and like he so He debuted in our second away leg to Vitease.
00:17:24
Speaker
in the Europa League. So to be fair, considering I'm also going to talk about somebody that played a bit of European football over Jose Font, I'm not really surprised Jose Font kind of felt like he was going to go out the door eventually.
00:17:35
Speaker
yeah But yeah, so obviously he went on to play for Everton for a while. And then after leaving Everton, he went to the Netherlands and played for some teams there. And his last team was NAC Breda.
00:17:47
Speaker
And he's still I think he still technically plays for his international club or international team, sorry. But he it was difficult to find like information out as to whether he was retired or not, because technically his contract and expired July last or july this like this year.
00:18:03
Speaker
He hasn't been picked up again, but it still lists him as an international player. So i think it's one of those sort of like weird middle ground areas where no one quite knows. by the way According to the ever-reliable source of Wikipedia in front of me,
00:18:18
Speaker
he's had two appearances for the international team in the year 2024. Yeah, so I can't work out if it was beginning of the year or end. So it's very much, very, very strange one. Obviously, next one, not to say he overshadows Kuka Martina, but definitely does.
More Player Transfers and Careers
00:18:33
Speaker
It's obviously Virgil van Dijk, who's one of my favourite players of all time, who we don't need to discuss where he is because he's at Liverpool.
00:18:39
Speaker
And he still plays solid football and he's still an absolute hero in my eyes, but unfortunately did throw his toys about the pram a little bit when he left. 13 million quid and we sold it for 75. That's kind of some crazy business that was done back then.
00:18:54
Speaker
That's classic Saints methodology of making profit back then. But yeah, I mean, what can you say? Just one of the best centre-backs to ever do it. Yeah, well, that thing is also like goal scoring for us as well. So like three appearances in, he scored against Swansea and he was also the fan and teammates player of the season, his first season, and signed a six-year deal afterwards. Not that that deal meant any anything and other than the fact that we got 75 million for him.
00:19:20
Speaker
But yeah, he's just it was it was amazing to see him in a Saints shirt and go, cool that's kind of crazy that he was a Saints player for like a little bit, right? but That partnership with him and Font is just fun.
00:19:32
Speaker
Yeah. incredible i mean yeah imagine imagine what could have been that's how i feel most days mate especially with us sitting so glued to the bottom of the table at the moment so the next player graziano pella who obviously we all know in love and he he has so much there's such like a cult formed around him nowadays right and it's because he was he scored but i still remember like when he first came in, people still complaining he wasn't scoring enough goals.
00:20:02
Speaker
Obviously, like, Ballet outscored him this season as well. But it's one of those things that, like, now we would just be happy if we had shots off on target. But back then, like, we were so we were so ruthless as a fan base. And obviously, famously, when he left our club, he he went over to China to become the seventh best played player in the world at the time £350,000 a That's crazy. but for For sort of this little old striker Italian striker from Southampton.
00:20:33
Speaker
And then had a season at Parma, which was his last season before his contract was not renewed. But he did score an overhead bicycle kick, which was his first, like, I say overhead, it was an overhead kick.
00:20:44
Speaker
But which is crazy when you think that, you know, sort of comes from sort of, the you know, he hadn't played in the Serie A for so long. plays in sort of a much lower quality standard league.
00:20:56
Speaker
Although I say that, I think he played a couple of Asian Champions League games in Shandong and then goes back and and still manages to do it sort of in an older age. He's retired, but not formally. So he just doesn't have a club, is quite happy to jet set about with his, can't work out if his fiance, wife or girlfriend, but is is quite happy and comfortable just sort of chilling and not being picked up because he's probably got enough money to survive forever if he doesn't need to.
00:21:22
Speaker
But yeah, he was just he was just a really solid player for us. But yeah, I do remember sort of the other thing maybe be overshadowed by the return and of goal scoring form of like Danny Inks, but he did a proper job for us and he always scored stylish goals. What front three that season, right? Him, Mane, Kadic just seems such a world away, doesn't it?
00:21:41
Speaker
it It really does. And that's that's the thing. like This wasn't a huge amount time ago. I say that. Eight years for sort of a lot of our younger fans is going to be a long time. For us, though,
00:21:51
Speaker
It's like a blink in time, right? You just yeah flick through. So yeah, very, very sort of good player for us. And we're going to move on now to somebody that only had, but I barely remember ever playing.
00:22:06
Speaker
And he only played made that 12 appearances for us. But it's Yuanmi, I think is how you spell his name. He was a Spanish player, a little guy. you remember him? I do remember him, yeah. so here now Yeah, he played like 12 play times against us. His debut was against Vitiz, where he replaced Jordi Classy.
00:22:22
Speaker
And he's still playing as well. So he's still playing for Betis in the Liga. He also had a season in Saudi, I think just before the Saudi League kicked off.
00:22:33
Speaker
to the way that it is now where it's a high, like highly paid money league and then it's back, but he's still, he's still kind of playing like he's played six games for the league of two this year. So fair play to the guy, but I just, I genuinely can't remember him much.
00:22:50
Speaker
Oh, and that's no disrespect. Like he seems have gone to have like a pretty, pretty right career afterwards. But it's like sometimes you get these sort of players, right? That you kind of, we have for a little, for like such a short period of time.
00:23:00
Speaker
And one of them is on this list that, you know, I'm hoping I'll get to you because i know that we're rapidly running out of time. But yeah, he was, he was a player we had this year. Crazy. That's all I have to say. The next one, however, is a much more prolific Saint.
00:23:13
Speaker
And that is Ryan Bertrand, who this was the season that he officially joined us after being on loan from Chelsea for a year. He made 32 appearances during the season, scoring once and stayed right up until 2021.
00:23:25
Speaker
So he did stay solidly for the remainder of his contract, where after his contract expired, he went to Leicester, where he played all of four games. yeah which is kind of upsetting before eventually obviously retiring. I think there was an injury or something there, if I remember rightly.
00:23:39
Speaker
And say what you want. He was one of the ones that went to Leicester after he was one of the unfortunate cohort that got nine nilled. But I don't think that's what I remember of him. I just remember him being our left back solidly. Like my memory goes pretty much Luke Shaw, blank, Ryan Bertrand.
00:23:58
Speaker
Yeah. Then a couple of seasons where we were trying to figure out whether it was Peru or whatnot after sort of Ryan went. So, yeah, just, I think he, considering like, you know, technically when he came to us, he was a Champions League winning like left back, right?
00:24:12
Speaker
And he played that game. So like, but yeah he was just yeah, I just, I just really, I really liked Bertrand. I still remember that sort of, I think as gill he was a bit of a character yeah on and off the pitch. I think it was brilliant. Yeah.
00:24:23
Speaker
sort of embodied I think a lot of the character that run through the team of that season for sure but yeah did when you say Ryan Bertrand the only clip that springs into my mind is it the awful throw in and the tap of the watch with a wink like yeah yeah the awful throw in I remember the tap of the watch all the time and in the winks of the camera but i use it he was a great servant for the club and it's kind of you know we've struggled I really think to to have a consistent left back really until we got Manning in in my opinion.
00:24:53
Speaker
And then Manning was also a consistent left back for most of last year. And now it kind of differs between whoever really fancies giving it a crack, right? Or whichever four players they dis decide decide to shove down the left wing.
00:25:06
Speaker
But it works out quite well. So the nextberg next person is Martin Stecklenburg, who also was one of those ones who was a Koeman, like, i guess, loyalist. He actually joined us on loan from Fulham that year and made a couple of appearances.
00:25:22
Speaker
He ended up, after going to Everton, going to Ajax, which is, I think, his original club. And he ended up actually playing in 2020. think it 2021 season he got his place back because Inanna was banned for doping, which is a thing that I just never knew about.
00:25:36
Speaker
Because unfortunately, like like our Man U cohorts, I just don don't have as much knowledge about the ins and outs of every other player. But yeah, so he and then obviously he's retired now. But he was one of those ones where like,
00:25:47
Speaker
Yeah, he just kind of was brought in. And then i remember seeing him later on down the years on the Everton team sheet. But I think it was hard to kind of move like Forster at this point out of the goal, right? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, Forster was on fire at the time. And i think in the couple of games he had with us, he was... He seemed right, i think. He showed promise, but... wasn't You know, wasn't anything... He was a goalkeeper.
00:26:08
Speaker
He was as sure was a goalkeeper that played for Southampton, bless him. But yeah, obviously he's retired now. And obviously went on. Right, we've got two more, Greg. The rest of the team are all members of the team that we've spoken about previously. And you know it's kind of it kind of takes the fun out of it if i tell them if I tell Greg where they are now, if I've already told him, even if knowing Greg, he probably has forgotten.
00:26:32
Speaker
So, Greg, it's a joke. It's an absolute joke. Parklife is probably what he's most known for for playing at Southampton.
00:26:43
Speaker
I know him as the man that scored like a couple of days after we signed him at Manchester United, giving us a win at Old Trafford. That's how I like to remember him. but not as the guy that was fighting with fans on Twitter, uploading a picture of himself in a Liverpool shirt and having a scrap.
00:26:58
Speaker
I will point out, before we go any further, like he's admitted nowadays that maybe his behaviour was a bit over the top and has attributed a lot of it to the fact that he's recently, as an adult, being diagnosed with ADHD, something that both me and Greg also know about, so you can kind of forgive him a little bit.
00:27:14
Speaker
However, he now plays his trademate at my hometown, which is bizarre to think. and he plays for AFC Tottenham, plays for the Stags. Yeah, that's mental, isn't it? but I guess some people just love the game, because clearly he must have enough money to not. their play like Yeah, play. Why wouldn't you want to keep playing? I mean, it shows that he was always a player in it for the football and nothing else.
00:27:40
Speaker
Exactly. ah like i think he was quite more realistic. Some of our fans had a bit of a meltdown about it and yeah Right up until you know the sort of... the crazy stuff always gave 100% on the pitch.
00:27:52
Speaker
You can't... I still remember him... No, not at all. there was There was one game I remember scored like... I think it was like we were playing West Ham and he scored like the last gasp minute penalty against West Ham. It was like something like the 96th minute. We got a pen against them, we scored, we won. It was like 2-2 right up until that point. and I'll always remember that. But he was just he was just a solid player for us. and like I know that I think it was just a bit sour when he left, i think from both ends, right? Like...
00:28:18
Speaker
Fans giving him a bunch of stick because he actually supports a team and put up there. Like, you should never do that. And obviously he would get riled up. So then he would start tweeting back. And if anything, I think it shows you that the how good the social media managers of players are nowadays in comparison to even a couple of years ago.
00:28:34
Speaker
But yeah, the fact that he he rocks out for my hometown is very, very bizarre. But fair play to the guy. So the last one, Greg. The last man is a centre-back we had for a little bit.
00:28:44
Speaker
It's Stephen Calker, who... but so Yeah, exactly. Who was on loan that season from QPR, who played like eight times in total.
00:28:55
Speaker
He only played twice in the league, one time starting, two as a substitute. The rest of the times he played in Europa, which is nuts if you think about it. He played in the Europa League, also he played the league f for us.
00:29:06
Speaker
He's now... at Ankara in the Turkish second league. So basically the Turkish equivalent of the championship. But like, he is the party that comes up on the list quite a lot of players you never knew played for Saints. And it's like, yeah, it was a bit weird.
00:29:22
Speaker
It's not a huge amount you can say. Like he played it enough games to have made an impact that season, I guess, but not enough for me to remember much of anything other than seeing him starting lineup and being like,
00:29:34
Speaker
Who's Colker and Stecklenburg? That was probably a couple of the thoughts I had at that time. But yeah, so it's obviously the rest who were at the club with people like Yoshida, Stephen Davis, Rodriguez, Gaston Ramirez went on loan that season.
Reflections and League Dynamics
00:29:47
Speaker
James Ward-Prowse, Matt Target, Harrison Reid, Sam Gallagher, obviously all went off to their respective destinations in the end. But yeah, it was just like it was just kind of a mad season, like us getting one of our highest finishes in like one of the yeah weirdest years that we possibly could have.
00:30:01
Speaker
And then obviously afterwards, you know, this, this, the problem was, is that this was the season that put everybody the shop window, right? So, so Virgil van Dijk were in the shop window. So did Mane and everybody in the league that year. Was this, was this the last year that football was really, truly great?
00:30:16
Speaker
I think if you look at the, the points in the league and you look at the difference, you know, like sort of, People going in down on the sort of like 37 points and then the league being won on eighty one on 81 shows you that it was far more competitive that year.
00:30:31
Speaker
And what I mean by far more competitive is a lot of the big players, sort of or sort of sort of the big players of the league, really struggled to kind of get into the positions you'd be expecting to us. like Like to put it into context, we finished two places above Liverpool that year.
00:30:44
Speaker
ahs That's crazy. Chelsea chelsea finished 10th. You know, Leicester won, Arsenal and Tottenham were third, Arsenal were second, City were fourth, which you just can't fathom nowadays, well, I don't know, your current form.
00:30:57
Speaker
And, you know, and that was that was also a season that, like, West Brom and Sunderland and Swansea and Stoke were like solid staples of the Premier League. And that shows you, like, you think now of, like, solid Premier League teams, you know, you think of your sort of Everton's and your Crystal Palace and that kind of stuff. But this season really shows, like, look, you've got Stoke, who are no longer in the league, Swansea, Watford, West Brom, Sunderland. Sunderland managed to stay up by, by like, you know, two by two points. It's kind of crazy. I just, I genuinely do think that, like,
00:31:28
Speaker
the league is something different now because even the amount of points being taken by sort of the top 10 to the bottom 10 means that you're you're not having the level of competition. Like I think that a lot of fans are stuck in that mentality of like, well, you know, four points. It's not even by Christmas. We're going to be down automatically.
00:31:45
Speaker
And I think that back then, yeah, because Villa went down with 17 and was stone cold bottom. But they also got three, one and eight draws that season. Whereas I just don't think that's something that happens nowadays.
00:31:57
Speaker
That shows you the goal. That's not even a decade. And yet, you know, the differences between Absolutely crazy. But it was a it was a fun year all round. We all remember Leicester fondly.
00:32:08
Speaker
i will remember all of those people that were like, I hope Leicester beat us at home. So it'd be nice to see him win the league because that's not how you support football club. Especially a football club like Saints. We need to support our players as much as they possibly can, which is why we try desperately to remain positive.
00:32:24
Speaker
I do all of my work possibly to undo Greg's positivity. not Not intentionally. It's just unfortunately who I am as person. but it was a fantastic season and long may, I think hopeful hopefully it gives a bit hope to everybody that with the ups and the, you know, with the downs, they're also ups.
00:32:42
Speaker
And this was probably peak of our, at least our lifetime of the ups. But then we went on to play Puel ball for a little bit and that was terrible. And we kept finishing. All right. So, you know, what do we, what do we know? Swins roundabouts. Hopefully there's some light at the end of the tunnel. We never, we never know we might end up becoming good.
00:32:58
Speaker
So that's the positive note. I want to leave you on. telling you, mate. 15 points, next five fixtures. You wait and see. Wonderful. So just to let you know, Greg, still got that clipped for Christmas. It's actually scheduled for all of our socials to go out on Christmas Day, regardless of the position of the league.
00:33:18
Speaker
And with that, I have been Zach Ingo Finch. This has been Gregory Elliott. You've been listening to the Daily Southampton, part of the Global Sports Podcast Network. If you want to help us out as we're a young growing podcast, you know, follow us on the socials or on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.
00:33:32
Speaker
And we will join you in the next week for whatever we've got planned up our sleeve. We've got lots of wildcard content. Yeah. Reviewing Jake Paul versus Mike Tyson because there's no real football on.
00:33:45
Speaker
Hopefully, maybe we'll talk about what some of our players got into the internationals and how upset we are that Rambo didn't make it. And also how upset we are that he definitely is going to be back after two weeks. Right. That's it. That's like right.
00:33:56
Speaker
Thank you very much, everyone. Bye-bye.
00:34:04
Speaker
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