Over on ohwhenthesaints forum, there has been a Q&A with Simon Gillett on his time at Saints, thought I'd share a transcript - sorry its a bit long ! ! !
Would just like to say that my time down at Southampton will always looked back on fondly, I loved (almost) every minute of it and I owe some of the coaching, medical and administrative staff down there a lot as they were very good with me, as they were with a lot of the young lads who came through the youth set up. As for the fans it goes without saying how good they are and every single time I played for Southampton was an honor, although I'm from Oxford I look at Southampton as my home town club really as I was connected to it from a young age and ultimately gave me the chance to do what every boy dreams of, playing professional football.
Anyway nice to meet you all and any questions feel free and I shall try my best to answer them
How are things going at Doncaster? Do you get regular first team games there?
Not a problem. Things have been a bit up and down here since i joined. I started the 1st 12 games of last season then got a medial tear in my left knee, this led to me being out till late feb due to a set back which was very frustrating. I was involved in the last 12 games of the season starting the majority of them. Currently up untill now i have started every game of this season. Things have been tough as we have had a large amount of our squad out injured starting around the time I got injured last year right up untill now some are not yet back so its been difficult, slowly and surely people are getting back fit which is good and i hope thathaving a full fit squad again will reinvigorate us and certainly give us more of a chance of doing something in this division. Any team with 14+ injuries at anyone time would struggle but unfortunately that has been our situation.
I thought you were unlucky at Southampton and deserved to get more games.
Was it frustrating that you were not given a more regular first-team place? How did you feel about it?
Thank you. Personally i was left feeling very frustrated by the whole situation, I was desperate to make it at Southampton and ultimately got my time in the team but with 11 or maybe more managers in my 8 years at Southampton the odds were always stacked against me. We had huge numbers of players from Sturrock, Redknapp and Burley era and was difficult to get into the squad because of so many "senior" players, the managers having to deal with them made me and others fall further down the pecking order. It did allow me to go on loan which was great especially with Blackpool with whom I won a promotion with playing 31 games for them that season. I thought i may have a chance after going out and "proving" myself to come back to Burley who never gave me a chance, this time was by far the most frustrating of my time on the South coast.
You played under several managers at Southampton. Can you tell us how they varied in their methods? Which managers do you feel got the best out of you?
Yeah 11 or maybe 12 I think it was. They all varied massively as you can imagine, I came in under Strachen who I was scared to death of at 16 but soon found my feet and I found he liked me including me in pre season games in my 1st season which was great. Under him was Steve Wigley the reserve coach who Is a fantastic coach and felt he taught me a lot and helped me grow as a player along with Stuart Henderson whom i owe my career as a professional footballer too, he taught me so much and helped me carve out a career,something I will always be grateful for and will never let a bad word be said about. How they got rid of him and replaced him I shall never know the reason, just look at the list of players playing in the league now that he has had through his youth teams-astonishing.
Wiggs went to 1st team manager and wasnt their for long was a bit of a blur that, I think it was difficult coming from within the club perhaps going to be 1st team manager in terms of the 1st team players and the divide between coach and manager.
Sturrock started to bring in new players and youth/reserve team didnt really get a look in only Yoann Folly and Leandre Griffit later who both did really well from what i remember.
Redknapp as we all know brought in many players although a few started to get introduced also,aminly the pacey ones Nathan Dyer and Theo of course, Harry help with my 1st loan move to Walsall, with his friend Paul Merson as manager.....interesting!
Burley didnt give me a chance at all and was obstructive in my career I feel something I feel very disappointed by.
Nigel Pearson was a breathe of fresh air for me personally, he saw and coaxed out my qualities involving me more although still not regularly I was grateful for the chance as I had expected to be leaving had Burley stayed. I think he was very unfortunate not to be kept on as manager and found he was a very good man manager, tough but fair.
Jan and Mark were brought in this where i got a chance to play more regularly and loved every second of it, injury during meant i was out for a while. Relegation and turmoil upstairs...which had been ongoing for years led to another new manager in Pardew, who again I didnt get much of a look in,the odd game or few minutes,which was what I didnt want or need at that stage in my career, the new board had given him money and backing and he found specific players he wanted in which is fair enough and I moved on.
When you were a boy was it your dream to be a footballer? Who were your heroes? Who did you want to be?
It was definitely my dream to be a professional footballer, as many lads its pretty much all I was interested in till a girl called...anyway thats a different story!!!
My hero's I'd have to say early on were Ian Wright, scored for fun and his charisma and wild style I just loved. R9 "The phenomenon" Ronaldo is probably my joint favourite player along with Paul Scholes who in my eyes is the best English Player of all time, for a midfielder he had everything and someone I aspire to be like.
Would just like to say that my time down at Southampton will always looked back on fondly, I loved (almost) every minute of it and I owe some of the coaching, medical and administrative staff down there a lot as they were very good with me, as they were with a lot of the young lads who came through the youth set up. As for the fans it goes without saying how good they are and every single time I played for Southampton was an honor, although I'm from Oxford I look at Southampton as my home town club really as I was connected to it from a young age and ultimately gave me the chance to do what every boy dreams of, playing professional football.
Anyway nice to meet you all and any questions feel free and I shall try my best to answer them
How are things going at Doncaster? Do you get regular first team games there?
Not a problem. Things have been a bit up and down here since i joined. I started the 1st 12 games of last season then got a medial tear in my left knee, this led to me being out till late feb due to a set back which was very frustrating. I was involved in the last 12 games of the season starting the majority of them. Currently up untill now i have started every game of this season. Things have been tough as we have had a large amount of our squad out injured starting around the time I got injured last year right up untill now some are not yet back so its been difficult, slowly and surely people are getting back fit which is good and i hope thathaving a full fit squad again will reinvigorate us and certainly give us more of a chance of doing something in this division. Any team with 14+ injuries at anyone time would struggle but unfortunately that has been our situation.
I thought you were unlucky at Southampton and deserved to get more games.
Was it frustrating that you were not given a more regular first-team place? How did you feel about it?
Thank you. Personally i was left feeling very frustrated by the whole situation, I was desperate to make it at Southampton and ultimately got my time in the team but with 11 or maybe more managers in my 8 years at Southampton the odds were always stacked against me. We had huge numbers of players from Sturrock, Redknapp and Burley era and was difficult to get into the squad because of so many "senior" players, the managers having to deal with them made me and others fall further down the pecking order. It did allow me to go on loan which was great especially with Blackpool with whom I won a promotion with playing 31 games for them that season. I thought i may have a chance after going out and "proving" myself to come back to Burley who never gave me a chance, this time was by far the most frustrating of my time on the South coast.
You played under several managers at Southampton. Can you tell us how they varied in their methods? Which managers do you feel got the best out of you?
Yeah 11 or maybe 12 I think it was. They all varied massively as you can imagine, I came in under Strachen who I was scared to death of at 16 but soon found my feet and I found he liked me including me in pre season games in my 1st season which was great. Under him was Steve Wigley the reserve coach who Is a fantastic coach and felt he taught me a lot and helped me grow as a player along with Stuart Henderson whom i owe my career as a professional footballer too, he taught me so much and helped me carve out a career,something I will always be grateful for and will never let a bad word be said about. How they got rid of him and replaced him I shall never know the reason, just look at the list of players playing in the league now that he has had through his youth teams-astonishing.
Wiggs went to 1st team manager and wasnt their for long was a bit of a blur that, I think it was difficult coming from within the club perhaps going to be 1st team manager in terms of the 1st team players and the divide between coach and manager.
Sturrock started to bring in new players and youth/reserve team didnt really get a look in only Yoann Folly and Leandre Griffit later who both did really well from what i remember.
Redknapp as we all know brought in many players although a few started to get introduced also,aminly the pacey ones Nathan Dyer and Theo of course, Harry help with my 1st loan move to Walsall, with his friend Paul Merson as manager.....interesting!
Burley didnt give me a chance at all and was obstructive in my career I feel something I feel very disappointed by.
Nigel Pearson was a breathe of fresh air for me personally, he saw and coaxed out my qualities involving me more although still not regularly I was grateful for the chance as I had expected to be leaving had Burley stayed. I think he was very unfortunate not to be kept on as manager and found he was a very good man manager, tough but fair.
Jan and Mark were brought in this where i got a chance to play more regularly and loved every second of it, injury during meant i was out for a while. Relegation and turmoil upstairs...which had been ongoing for years led to another new manager in Pardew, who again I didnt get much of a look in,the odd game or few minutes,which was what I didnt want or need at that stage in my career, the new board had given him money and backing and he found specific players he wanted in which is fair enough and I moved on.
When you were a boy was it your dream to be a footballer? Who were your heroes? Who did you want to be?
It was definitely my dream to be a professional footballer, as many lads its pretty much all I was interested in till a girl called...anyway thats a different story!!!
My hero's I'd have to say early on were Ian Wright, scored for fun and his charisma and wild style I just loved. R9 "The phenomenon" Ronaldo is probably my joint favourite player along with Paul Scholes who in my eyes is the best English Player of all time, for a midfielder he had everything and someone I aspire to be like.
