DEATH OF SAINTS' LEGEND RON DAVIES

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/saints/news/10450007.Saints_legend_Ron_Davies_dies/?

Paine to Davies..... ........Those were the days!!

they certainly were, I still remember a goal from Ron Davis, sure it was against wolves at the Dell. Saints attacking Milton road end, think it was Paine on right but cant be sure and cross was pulled back to around penalty spot about 2 foot of the ground and Ron Davis flew in with a diving header and sure he headed the ball as hard as a Lambert volley, ball hit the back of the net before their goalie had moved.

Great centre forward, always thought a shame not English as never got the chance to prove just how good he was on the international stage.

Ron was my first real footballing hero. He could do what no other centre forward could in those days, and probably even now.

A quote from Mick Channon on his racing website.....

"I was only 16 the year we got promoted in 1966 and then this big Welsh bloke comes to the club. He was an absolute monster - brave, loyal, funny and bloody good at scoring goals.

"Bloody hell! He could head a ball harder than I could kick it - near post, far post, penalty spot. 'THUD!' was the noise it would make. I played for twenty years and nobody ever came close to Ron Davies in that department.

"I was just a kid, waiting for my chance, occasionally playing on the left wing when John Sydenham wasn't fit but usually watching from the stand as Ron played up front alongside Martin Chivers with Terry Paine supplying the crosses for them to do the business.

"We're talking about three World Class players here. The rest of the lads would scratch, bollock and bite their way through games and it was the best thing I've ever been involved in.

"We had such a great set of lads, Jimmy Gabriel, Eric Martin, Joe Kirkup, Jimmy Melia, Denis Hollywood, Bobby Stokes, Brian O'Neil, Hughie Fisher, Jim Steele - they all played a massive part, but Martin, Terry and Ron had the cutting edge and laid the foundations for what followed.

"Bill Shankly called Southampton FC 'The Alehouse Brawlers' and he wasn't far wrong. We played hard, got on great and had some great times down the pub. Ron bought into that immediately - he belonged at Southampton!

"He'd get battered by centre-halves and batter them back. He was our focal point, our top goalscorer and he put us on the map. When he came to The Dell, even the big boys had to take notice. We couldn't be bullied out of games. His signing was Ted Bates's masterstroke.

"He was simply unplayable.

"I can always look back and say this player or that player had the measure of me. I might go past them now and then, but Ron was simply unplayable. With the right service nobody could handle him and he'd score at will.

"Terry Paine was a genius and supplied most of the crosses for Ron but although many will remember the power of his headers, my main memory of Ron is of those balls that even he didn't look like getting to.

"Those hanging balls to the back post. Ron would sort of jump backwards and hang in the air and just plant the ball back to the near post. You often thought they'd sail over but the keeper would then scramble back and it would drop under the bar, inside the post.

"That's such a difficult thing to do but Ron did it time and time again.

"He was brave, ruthless, hard and talented and not just a battering ram of a centre-forward.

"He was also a talented artist and would often come up with caricatures of the lads that made him a few bob from The Echo and they still stick in the memory. I can still see the one he drew of Brian O'Neil, socks down, shirt out, covered in mud, kicking a ball up the rather large hooter of our Assistant Manager John Mortimer. He was one of the boys was Ron.

"When the lads finished playing back in those days they didn't have a lot to fall back on. Ron left for the States and we lost touch. He fell on hard times I think but he never sought help, never played on his past achievements. We'd have done anything to help and I know the Southampton public still hold him in the very highest regard.

"Seventy is no age, and obviously I feel very sad that he's gone and my thoughts are with his family at this time.

"Matt Busby said that Ron Davies was the best centre-forward in Europe which speaks for itself as a tribute.

"Saints fans would shout, 'Give it to Ron - On his head!' and when they got what they wanted, it was always a great sight to see."

If those two were our front two today we would see some goals, wouldn't we? Every player that has spoken about Big Ron has said the same thing, he was a damn genius and knew how to score.