STEVE WILLIAMS has called for a return of the man who led Saints to their finest hours.

The former Saints and England midfield star said: "The fact that Lawrie McMenemy still lives in the town yet plays no part in the club, says everything about what is wrong with the club," said the former midfield star.

"Once they were a tight-knit, home-spun club. But not any more.

"If they were they would realise that somebody like Lawrie has so much to offer. Yet they don't use him at all. It's unforgivable.

"If the people who run the club had any footballing sense, they would bring him back in some influential role, appoint one of our brightest young managers, someone like Mark Wright, who shares Lawrie's strong feelings for the club, and I'd bet you'd see a big change for the better.

"It might take a couple of years, but between them they'd get the club back into the Premiership."

Williams formed the midfield link with Alan Ball and Nick Holmes which was such a key weapon in getting Saints back into the top flight in 1978.

He said: "Just look at Nick. He's Saints through and through yet he's out in the sticks managing Salisbury.

"He, too, should be playing some kind of role at St Mary's. I'm talking about good football people who care for the club.

"They are out there but Saints are ignoring them and now they have gone so far back as a team that they are virtually going to have to wipe the slate clean and start again.

"In the days when Saints were regularly finishing in the top six, we had about 17 quality professionals. Now they have 40 average ones.

"Apart from Niemi, I would be hard-pressed to name another quality player. They rave about Peter Crouch but he's just an average striker. A good striker is someone who gets you 25 goals.

"I doubt anyone in the current squad would have got into the 1980s side.

"Now somehow they have got to replace 40 average players with 25 good-uns.

"If the club think they are good enough to bounce straight back they are deluding themselves.

"It's the toughest league to come out of and they won't get back without major changes."