TODAY is former Southampton striker James Beattie's birthday - and we've got a special gallery to mark the occasion.

The former forward is 38 today, and during his time at The Dell and St Mary's, he made 233 league and cup appearances for Saints, scoring 76 times.

He joined for £1m from his hometown club, Blackburn Rovers, in July 1998 - a deal which is often erroneously thought to be a part exhange in the £7.5m transfer of Kevin Davies.

Beatts established himself as Saints lead striker and formed a deadly partnership with Marian Pahars and then later Brett Ormerod.

It was during his time playing alongside Ormerod in 2002-03 that he fired home 23 times in the Premier League for Saints as the team went all the way to the FA Cup Final in Cardiff.

He actually had the ball in the back of the net that day, but it was disallowed for offside.

Such was his importance to the squad, manager Gordon Strachan once said to the media that he would "like to thank Mr and Mrs Beattie for what they did 25 years ago."

He left Saints in January 2005, having been sold by Harry Redknapp to Everton for £6m and ineveitably, Beattie scored his first goal for the Toffees on his return to St Mary's a few weeks later.