Completely agree, I feel lucky to have watched him.
Im trying to think of justification for benching him.
Worst Saints Manager
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Im trying to think of justification for benching him.
So here we have a player who never bothered with training very much, and basically got all his exercise during games. How the hell is benching him going to make him get fit?
I don’t know, I’m not Ian Branfoot so I can’t answer that.
All I can imagine is it was a coercive move to improve discipline?
I agree- these days a lot of players are very skilful but at the time there were very, very few who could do what Matt did . He frequently won games single handedly and at a time when Saints were struggling. Those who didn’t see him in his pomp should watch ‘Unbelievable’ although I think it was only available on the now pretty much obsolete VHS.
I can understand why the younger members have gone with Jones but having lived through the Branfoot era l am torn between Branfoot and Jones. Some of Branfoot signings weren't great for us Kerry Dixon, David Speedie and Paul Moody. Moody came from non league Waterlooville and never made the huge step up but did have a fairly successful career in the lower leagues.I was going to add a 38 year old Peter Reid who had just been sacked as Man City manager to the list of players signed by Branfoot but I don't think he did too bad if I remember correctly but some older members may put me straight. I can't remember if Terry Hurlock was awful or not but he did punch Speedie 
. Also leaving out Le Tissier was a huge mistake. Jones on the other hand was so far out of his depth he should never have been appointed in the first place. Can we have two votes?
. Also leaving out Le Tissier was a huge mistake. Jones on the other hand was so far out of his depth he should never have been appointed in the first place. Can we have two votes?
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I can understand why the younger members have gone with Jones but having lived through the Branfoot era l am torn between Branfoot and Jones. Some of Branfoot signings weren't great for us Kerry Dixon, David Speedie and Paul Moody from footballing giants Waterlooville. I was going to add a 38 year old Peter Reid who had just been sacked as Man City manager to the list but I don't think he did too bad if I remember correctly but some older members may put me straight. I can't remember if Terry Hurlock was awful or not but he did punch Speedie
Reid was never Saints manager. Branfoot signed him as a player when he was sacked from Man City and then when Branfoot was sacked Reid was mentioned as a replacement but he ended up just leaving Saints altogether.
I think It was more Branfoot trying to make an example of him. It doesn't matter who you are if you don't do what I ask of you then you won't play sort of thing.
That's what I meant Reid was on the list of Branfoot signings but reading it back I can see I could've made it a bit clearer. I did read somewhere that Reid was offered the job after Branfoot was Sacked but declined because Branfoot gave him a chance to play again and didn't want to stab him in the back or something along those lines which is also why he left.