11SATURDAY, AUGUST 8, 2009 THE DAILY ECHO

PAPAINE’S W RLDThe Saints legend’s EXCLUSIVE column on all things football ll

IT WAS a special sea-son for SouthamptonFC. It was the dawnof a new era for theclub.

It was pushed along by a very suc-cessful youth side, which I was verymuch a part of. A number of playerscame through to make a number offirst team appearances from that side.

There was me, John Sydenham,Maughan, Simpson, Holmes andGodfrey. We got through to the semi-final in the FA Youth Cup, where weeventually lost to the Busby Babes.

We lost 5-2 at The Dell and then wentto Old Trafford and were the firstteam to beat them, 3-2 – yours trulypunched in the winner. It wasextremely nice for Sir Matt Busby tocome and congratulate us after thegame.

That was really the starting of theclub under the only real managerSaints have had, Ted Bates.

We got promoted from Division IIIwith a very talented Southamptonside.

We had George O’Brien, who scoredmany, many goals for Saints, and thetalented Dick Conner. We also hadDerek Reeves, a centre forward who

we got from Bournemouth Gasworks,if the memory serves me right.

It was a combination of a bit ofeverything. A bit of youth and a bit ofexperience, with players to put theball in the back of the net for you.

The club was being moulded, struc-tures were being put in places to allowthe club to go forward.

It was never a club with a lot ofmoney to spend so a lot of praiseshould go to Bill Ellerington, the keyscout at the time.

A lot relied on his ability and withTed Bates, they were a tremendouscombo.

Ted was also very shrewd in thetransfer market.

We had a striker at the time calledCharlie Livesey. He got into a bit oftrouble in London and JimmyThompson, who was scouting for us at

the time, spoke in court on his behalfand got him down to Southampton.

Charlie was a revelation and weeventually sold him back to Chelseaand got Cliff Huxford as part of thedeal.

Huxford was the dynamo at the backof the title win, one of the hardest mento play the game.

Opponents had a real fear factorcoming up against him.

And with George O’Brien, and twowingers in myself and JohnSydenham, we were unstoppablegoing forward. We also had TommyTraynor at left back, Ron Davies, whorecently died, at right back, as well asTommy Mulgrew at inside left.

It was a really experienced side,with a little flavour of youth andpanache. Put all that together and wehad a real decent side.

We had the potential going forwardto score goals.

No goal was more important thanone against Reading toward the end ofthe season.

Brian Clifton, a local lad fromWhitchurch, made a huge impact. Iremember the photo of the header hescored against Reading in the Easter.The goal pretty much won us the titleand will always be remembered inSouthampton’s history.

The ball came in from a corner andClifton thundered it home. The DailyEcho’s Jimmy Adams, a great photog-rapher, captured it as it flew in.

I remember George O’Brien went upto Brian after the game and said: “Youlucky so-and-so. You know that goal’sgoing to be remembered forever.”

And it did. It helped Saints move for-ward and won us the title.

Fifty seasons ago (1959/60campaign) Terry Paine waspart of the last Saints teamto play in the third tier ofEnglish football. Here, theSaints legend looks backon what proved to be avery special season.

A shockfor CityIT WAS a nice sea-son. I remembergoing to first divisionManchester City andwinning 5-1. Imaginethat now. A thirddivision side goingto the PremierLeague and winningby that scoreline.

Apart from the FACup run in ’63 itstands as the bestvictory of my career– going to an estab-lished top leagueside and absolutelyhammering them 5-1.

We had one ofthose days where wecould do nothingwrong. We were even1-0 down, believe itor not.

We had a youngkeeper called BobCharles and, afterthey scored, he musthave looked at theclock and wonderedwhat kind of after-noon it would be.

And, better still,they had BertTrautmann in goal, aGerman paratrooperin the Second WorldWar, who had a greatreputation and wehammered five pasthim.

It was the talk ofthe FA Cup. Youwon’t see that kindof result again.

Ted wasthe bestI JOINED Saintswhen I was 16 andwent on to turn pro-fessional with them. Iwas on the winningsides that won therespective league in1959/60 and theequivalent of what isknown as theChampionship sixyears later.

I was fortunate tobe brought along byTed Bates, pictured,with a number of oth-

ers as well. And tobe able to do it withone club was a greatachievement.

We went from theold third division andgot promoted to thesecond, then into thefirst and even gotinto Europe.

It was an outstand-ing achievementfrom an outstandingmanager.

THE START OFSOMETHING VERY SPECIAL

CLINCHER: Brian Clifton’s famous goal against Reading virtually secured the title for Saints.