In the aftermath of our
win against Leicester, sad news came through that a true Saints legend had
passed away. I am of an age where I saw the entirety of David Armstrong’s
Saints career and I feel privileged to have done so.

So, what I remember about David Armstrong, the player.



David‘s main strengths were what he added within the context
of a team.  The most obvious things were
goals from midfield and a natural balance on the left-hand side.



In my lifetime, Southampton have had what I would call two
‘best’ teams for different reasons. The Channon-Keegan-Ball team of around 1981
and the team that finished second in the league in 1984.

Back then it was a strategy for Lawrie McMenemy to sign
players who everyone else thought were over the hill and get an extra year or
two out of them. Lawrie supplemented those players with players out of the
youth team and occasionally there was a player from his mid 20s who joined and
one such was David Armstrong.  Consequently,
there was a lot of churn between one season and the next but there were four
players who managed to play regularly for both the Keegan era entertainers and
the side that finished second. Those four were Nick Holmes, Steve Williams,
Steve Moran and David Armstrong.

To say that David had the knack of appearing at the right
place at the right time was a massive understatement. It was crazy how many
goals he would score just by arriving at the edge of the box to usually finish
with his left foot but he also got in there to score quite a few headers as
well. The game I remember most was a home game against Manchester United where
he had two key involvements. One was managing to be half a yard
offside as Kevin Keegan executed one of the most ridiculous overhead kicks into
the top corner. It’s hilarious to watch when you bear in mind today’s
interpretation of the offside rule but back then if a single player was behind
the last defender, even if they were not interfering with play, nor in the
goalkeepers eyeline – that was offside. No matter though because Armstrong turned
up in the right place at the right time to dance through the defence and score
the winner, in front of a Milton Road End containing a 13-year-old yours truly.
 A few years later of course, there was
the assist of all assists with the right footed cross, perfectly onto the foot
of Steve Moran at Fratton Park in 1984.



There were 59 goals in 222 games for Saints in the League,
from a player who did his fair share of defensive work and also towards the end
of his Saints career, played a number of games at left back. His goal return in
successive seasons for Saints was 16, 8, 15, 10, 10 from midfield. How much
would you pay for a player who could do that these days?


Three England caps, one earned whilst at Middlesbrough and
two earned whilst at Saints, tells the story that people outside of
Middlesbrough and Southampton didn’t know quite how good he was and in terms of
wider recognition, he always passed under the radar.  Then as now, you’d have got more England caps
playing for a mid-table big club, than you would playing for Saints, regardless
of our lofty league position in those years.


Later in his Saints career, Armstrong struggled with an ankle
injury that restricted his involvement. It’s a shame he couldn’t have stayed
fit for another couple of years because then he would’ve played with the Le
Tissier – Shearer – Rodney Wallace team of 1987.



Make no mistake, David Armstrong is an absolute Southampton
legend. He was an absolutely key player in those two early 80s Saints sides and
perhaps only Nick Holmes, (because he played in the 1976 FA Cup Winning side),
can lay claim to having played for more iconic Saints line-ups.



After retirement he became a familiar voice on the radio and
one occasion I remember was him turning up on talkSPORT at a time when Saints
were going very well with Mauricio Pochettino as manager. The clowns at
talkSPORT were trying to talk down the fact that Saints were a good side that
year but David Armstrong was having absolutely none of it and talked us up and
wouldn’t have a word said against us. Saints in his blood all those years later.



A brilliant player and by all accounts, lovely approachable man
and it’s really sad that he’s gone at the relatively young age of 67. For me he
is synonymous with a time when football was better and the team that I supported was the envy of most of the country.  



Condolences to his family and friends.



Rest in Peace David Armstrong, Saints Legend