There is a great new addition to the Saints literary library.

In the past 20 years there cant be many people who have watched as many Saints games as Graham Hiley, firstly as the Saints writer for the Echo between 1988 until 2001 and then working for the Club as website & matchday programme editor, in fact by his own records in that time, he missed only six games taking in a total of 945 matches including friendlies.

So it is perhaps only natural that he should be the latest addition to the list of Saints related authors, ironically at the same time when he has moved from Saints to work for the Premier League on their website.

My first though when Graham told me he had his book due out and explained to me the content was that this would be a very similar effort to my own "Saints Preserved" and although I was right I was pleasantly surprised to find that rather than being a blatant copy, it was a complimentary companion.

Of course some areas overlap, but Graham has dug deep into areas uncovered by Saints Preserved and added alternative slants on others to make this a book you would want to own "as well as" and not "Intstead of" Saints Preserved, nor would any owner of SP feel they were paying for the same again.

All in all a great little book that is essential and easy reading and if there is one man that should have his facts right its Graham.

Enough of the praise though, the only way to find out just how good the book is, is to go out and read it, of course one option would be to spent 26 consecutive Saturday's in Waterstones and read a bit at a time, however this would only leave you with sleepless nights as you tried to recall some fact or two at a later date, so the best way would be to go into a good local bookshop and pay £10 to own a copy, worth every penny it will make the ideal gift for a Saints mad friend or relative,    

Photo: Action Images

Southampton Polls