NUMBERS always dominate sport now. Every game is judged on pass completions, misses, possession, percentages of this that and the other.

And on that theme, a number came to mind when I saw Mark Hughes had made his first signing as permanent Saints boss.

Mark signed Stuart Armstrong from Celtic and, immediately, my mind went straight back to the Armstrong I signed from Middlesbrough in August 1981.

The reason I brought Dave Armstrong to The Dell was because he was a left-sided midfielder and, at that time, it was the last bit of the jigsaw I needed for the team I was shaping.

It would eventually be a team that recorded the club’s highest-ever league position, as we finished runners-up in Division One, three points behind champions Liverpool.

It was Dave’s numbers that are still interesting today. He played 359 times at Boro, but 305 of them were without a single break.

That meant no injuries, no dips in form and getting dropped. He was the most consistent of players – and so much so he was awarded a testimonial at the age of 25!

When he came to us, he continued to pile up these impressive numbers, playing 272 times and scoring 71 goals. He also made three appearances for England.

He finished his playing days at Bournemouth, stacking up nine appearances for the Cherries.

Anyway, good luck to our new Armstrong, Stuart. I’m sure everyone would be delighted if he could equal the numbers of our other Armstrong.

Our other new signing, Mohamed Elyounoussi, I have never heard of but the fact he’s coming from Norwary is a good sign.

Other memories instantly sprung to mind when thinking back over our old Norwegians, especially two of them.

Obviously, they are Claus Lundekvam and Egil Ostenstad.

I remember getting a call from Graeme Souness saying ‘get down the training ground, I’ve got three Norwegian trialists for you to have a look at’.

In addition to Ostenstad and Lundekvam, there was another player who the club didn’t end up signing.

I turned to Graeme at half-time during the trial match and said ‘sign the lot, if you can’.

They were that good.

They all went back to Norway and two of them, Claus and Egil, sorted out their business at their old clubs and headed to The Dell to sign permanently.

Like Armstrong, they were the perfect asset and among the early players from other countries to come to the Premier League.

Now it’s unusual for us to be signing someone from Great Britain and the norm to have a player come from abroad.

But the fact that Hughes and his players are now heading to China shows the difference between now and the game back in those days.

We all came into pre-season training and weren’t thinking about heading to some far flung destination but looking into games against local lower league clubs.

Most managers wanted to host games in their own area, helping out some of the lower league outfits and enabling the club's own supporters to attend the games to see new signings for the first time.

The opposition would then get stronger as the weeks went on and preparations intensified, but, still, the furthest you’d likely go would be Scotland.

One year, we went to Scotland via a game in the North East of England, where, ironically, another player from abroad had been recommended to me by an old friend, Tommy Lawrence.

That player was Dane, Ronnie Ekelund. He impressed me so much, we signed him straight away on loan from Barcelona.

He didn’t stay with us too long, but subsequently had spells in England with Manchester City and Coventry.

He was a top player who impressed immediately.

I’m sure Mark will be looking forward to getting started ahead of the new season.

I know China is an awful long way but that goes with the territory these days and he will get to play decent opposition once there.

Saints play German Bundesliga runners-up Schalke and Chinese team Jiangsu Suning.

I visited China when the Special Olympics were being held there and my advice would be not to step on the underground trains there – I could barely breathe!

It will be a great experience, but the main business ahead of next season will happen when they’re back.

Of course, there are players still at the World Cup and I’m sure Mark and his staff can’t wait for that time when everyone is together and he’s completed all the signings he wants.