| Top 10 Saints' strikers of all time 13:34 - Jun 29 with 2338 views | dirk_doone |
How would you rate them? Ings must be in the mix, along with the likes of Kevin Keegan, Alan Shearer, Ted Drake, Martin Chivers, Ron Davies, Mick Channon, Ted MacDougall, Danny Wallace, Marians Pahars, James Beattie, Rickie Lambert and many others. We've also had a few who would be considered among the best strikers at their previous clubs, like Peter Osgood at Chelsea, Mark Hughes at Man United and Joe Jordan at Leeds. Should Le Tissier and Sadio Mané be included as strikers? |  |
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| Top 10 Saints' strikers of all time on 23:52 - Jun 30 with 394 views | dirk_doone |
| Top 10 Saints' strikers of all time on 22:38 - Jun 30 by SaintNick |
Till I looked after reading your post I didn't realise that Ted Drake had scored so many goals for us in so few games, truly a great striker who as you say had his career cut short by the war.
But quick question does he fall into the category of those who had a great career which started at Saints or they were there early on, but they were not true greats for Saints.
Gareth Bale is definitely in that category, Alex Oxlade Chamberlain another, I would also say Sadio Mane |
One thing in his favour is that he was born in Southampton and he didn't ever want to leave Saints but he was told he had to go to Arsenal because Saints needed the transfer fee to pay off outstanding debts.
"In the 1932-33 season Drake scored 20 goals in 33 games. Herbert Chapman, the manager of Arsenal, tried to sign Drake but he rejected a move to London as he was happy playing for George Kay. The following season Drake was the Second Division's top goal scorer. George Allison, the new manager of Arsenal, made another attempt to sign Drake in March 1934. Southampton had financial problems at the time and agreed a fee of £6,500 for their star centre-forward. While at the club he had scored 48 goals in 74 appearances."
There is a photo of him on the train at Southampton Central Station, looking unhappy at being sent away to London but, what could he do?
He was seen off on the train to London, where he was going with some trepidation, but where he went on to become an Arsenal legend, helping them to win 2 league titles. He had been the Second Division's leading goal scorer with Saints and he was Arsenal's leading goalscorer in all of his five seasons at the club.
He became one of the unlucky ones whose career was tragically cut short by war. He was only 27 and at the peak of his career when that happened. He was averaging more than a goal per game for England at the time.
If he'd had his wish, he'd have stayed at Saints for his whole career but like so many players he was told he had to accept being sold to another club and he did. Coincidentally, like Alan Shearer, he scored a hat-trick on his debut for Saints. His 7 goals at Villa Park for Arsenal should have, in fact, been 8 but the referee missed one that crossed the line and there was no goal-line technology in those days.
One final thought: there have been some great strikers born in the Southampton area, like Drake, Chivers and Ings.
Sadly, for Saints, we've never had wealthy owners and so we've always had to sell our best players. What might have been? [Post edited 1 Jul 2020 0:29]
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