Pelle wasn't particularly good, he just happened to play in front of a group that was exceptionally good at creating space and chances. Over his two seasons, Shane Long was at least as productive, and his hold-up play was better to boot.
Tall Paul actually does a good job of trying attacking knock ons for our players to run onto but our players are so used to playing defensively noone runs onto them so it looks poor.
Maya Yoshida was the most important signing we made during our last spell in the Premier League. (That year, we finished 5 points above the relegation zone - I reckon Jos Hooiveld, god love him, would have cost us 6 points over a full season.)
Saints have overachieved for a club from the size of its city compared to bigger cities such as Plymouth and Bristol and spending 46 out of the last 57 seasons in the top division in the modern game is a record fans should be proud of and we don't have a divine right to be in the top division.
The motive is kind of irrelevant. The act of staying put, means he was loyal. If a player said they are staying with their club, because they get paid high wages, or because they think the club has a good chance of winning silverware, what is the difference?
Yeah, plus the fact that it was his boyhood club. The true test for me was when he turned down Chelsea in 1995 when Matthew Harding offered him 10 times the wages he was getting at Saints.
I just mean his loyalty was to his wife rather than the club. Though she left him not long after iirc lol
