http://www1.skysports.com/football/...grounds-in-the-world-selected-by-kevin-davies Kevin Davies lists his top ten football grounds for Sky. The Dell comes in as his number 7. Nice picture of Marian Pahars, Thought you might like to add your Dell memories. One of my favourites will always be Matty's goal against Arsenal in the last league game there.
My number one memory is the first time I ever went. Saints v Hereford with Terry Paine playing for Hereford. An evening game, the smell of the pitch, the floodlights and that noise. Hooked. Other special memories: - Saints 8 Coventry 2 - Saints 5 Sheffield Wednesday 1 - Saints 0 Hamburg 0 - England Ladies 3 Belgium ladies 0 - and finally, my one appearance on the hallowed turf in a Hampshire cup final
Oddly enough mine is a defeat at the Dell , 2~5 to United and Best hatrick , has stayed in my memory as best individual performance I've seen on a football pitch
Loved every inch of the old Dell, probably as I played there 3 or 4 times many, many years ago. Everything about the place was pretty awful, the sand injected pitch, pretty basic changing rooms and old gym under the West stand. I often think when I go to excellent St. Marys that I wish I was back in the old doss hole Dell viewing from behind an old pillar?
I had a pillar to my left....everything seemed to happen behind the pillar. Don't miss the toilet (singular), but the kiosk served a lovely cup of tea.
Funny you mentioned the kiosk cup of tea? I can see the woman now, *** hanging out of her mouth, ash falling evertwhere. Happy days.
Did anyone read the comments..? It staggers me. Why don't people read..? It's Davies personal preference list of those he's played in. So he's bound to leave out several famous stadiums. And those who get it criticise him for only playing in certain stadia. This allows SKY to milk the article by asking another player along sometime for his/her personal list.
I have some great memories of going to the dell as a kid. Southampton 1-1 Sheffield Wednesday my first ever game. When we beat Aston villa 4-1 and I was right behind the goal in the standing end.
Dell Boy, what were the games you played in at The Dell? I forgot about that gym. I remember that we'll too.
In some ways you didn't miss a lot. The memory is significantly better than the reality. The cold, the lack of facilities, the concrete, the stinking toilets, the dirt. It became much more comfortable when everywhere was seats, but then it had lost an essential something as well. It was a tight little ground, that could once hold 30,000 people, or more if everyone breathed in and out at alternative moments. That was when it was at its best because it was designed to be that way. When it had its capacity reduced to 22,000 and then to 15,575 it became a shadow of those hectic heydays, where you could barely get a view because of all the straining heads, trying to see past each other. I don't miss it because I'm older and the memories are quite enough. There's no way I'd go back to the stadium I remember, and stand there for nigh on 2 hours on a January Wednesday evening at 7.30pm. and that doesn't include the half hour before the kick off. St Mary's, by comparison, may lack the immediacy and atmosphere that the old Dell had, but in every other single aspect it is better. There is one thing I still do though before every match I go to, and that is to just find a place to stand and just drink in the noise and the view. And it reminds me of the first time I stood on the terraces of The Dell and saw that incredibly green pitch with the Sun shining on it, and the noise of the first crowd of the new season. I'm creating memories.
I will never forget being there, when Crossley saved Mattys penalty! Oh and of course the 6-3, 3-1 beatings over Man U
Great post TSS, and if I recall correctly you and I both had the same first match at the Dell, Saints v Man City on 20 August 1966, just 3 weeks after England had won the World Cup and Saints were playing their very first ever match in the First Division. As with you, the colours still stick in the memory, but even stronger are the memories of my first evening game there, when everything was a blaze of green and red and white, plus whoever we were playing that night. But standing was no joke, especially as a 12 year old and therefore shorter than most of the others on the terraces. The best approach we found was to get to the front, and usually that meant getting there early. The first time I saw Man United play at the Dell we started queuing at the West Stand turnstiles at 10:30 am, for a 3:00 pm kickoff, and we weren't the first in line by any means. And that was after my Dad had driven us down from Andover, so going to football meant a long day in those days, but I wouldn't have missed any of it. For various reasons I never went to the Dell in the all-seater days, but I can imagine that the smaller crowds meant a certain loss of atmosphere. Happy days indeed, but like TSS now the bones are beginning to creak a bit I wouldn't want to go back to standing all day!
