Saints make Terry Paine honorary president

Terry Paine Terry Paine

Saints legend Terry Paine has been appointed to the role of honorary president by the club.

The 73-year-old will take up the post on January 1, when he will receive the title from the family of Ted Bates in a ceremony before Saints take on Arsenal at St Mary's.

Paine, who made 815 appearances for the club and now lives in South Africa, will "act as an ambassador at home and abroad" according to the club.

The former number seven and 1966 World Cup winner, who writes a weekly column in the Sports Pink, said: “It is a great honour for me to be named honorary president of Southampton Football Club. 

“I’ve been bursting with pride since Nicola (Cortese) offered me the role. Everyone has been coming up to me asking if I’m ok because I have been bounding around with a permanent smile on my face for the past week.

“Having joined the club at 17 before going on to make over eight hundred appearances means I hold the club very close to my heart. To be able to come back to the club in this role is a nice way to finish off my Southampton career. It really feels like I am coming home.”

Saints chairman Nicola Cortese added on the club's website: “I can think of no one more deserving of this prestigious title than Terry Paine.

“Terry and I have remained in permanent contact since the takeover of the club in 2009 and he has always been very supportive of what we do here at Southampton.

“To me he is a real ‘Mr Southampton’ having dedicated many years of his life to our great club, so it is a pleasure to award him with the formal role his continued support deserves."

Comments(23)

MGRA says...
11:17am Wed 26 Dec 12

ok so who is going to be first to state the obvious ?

oldsaintsfan says...
11:23am Wed 26 Dec 12

Marvellous player and top man and the best crosser of the ball I have seen. It is good to see the club honouring its past. Congratulations Terry and well done NC.

Tirau Dan says...
11:30am Wed 26 Dec 12

Absolutely rapt.. well done Nicola and Congratulations President Terry..

Any chance of Big Ron coming over for an honour please?

Night Rider says...
11:33am Wed 26 Dec 12

Good news indeed. Terry was a good player during his time he will make a great ambassador a home and abroad in RSA.Mayuka should start today...........

Sir Ad E Noid says...
12:02pm Wed 26 Dec 12

MGRA wrote:
ok so who is going to be first to state the obvious ?
Your go.

Nemesisaint says...
12:02pm Wed 26 Dec 12

MGRA wrote:
ok so who is going to be first to state the obvious ?
What do you mean, it should have been Le Tiss?

OSPREYSAINT says...
12:05pm Wed 26 Dec 12

Tirau Dan wrote:
Absolutely rapt.. well done Nicola and Congratulations President Terry..

Any chance of Big Ron coming over for an honour please?
Not forgetting Terrys partner in crime John Sydenham!

miltonarcher says...
12:35pm Wed 26 Dec 12

Well done Nicola. Now, take a look at the picture of Terry Pain in the Saints strip. Can you see the stripes? See how this strip from way back looks better than the current bland strip. Get your act together and get us back in the red and white stripes for pities sake!

miltonarcher says...
12:35pm Wed 26 Dec 12

Terry Paine, sorry for the typo

Rednose says...
12:48pm Wed 26 Dec 12

Congratulations to Terry Pain and I'm sure Le Tiss would be the first to say well done you deserve it. I wish people would stop trying to creat stories that are not there. Terry was branding saints in his heart long before Le Tiss picked up the Iron to do the same. I really hope what ever is going on between NC and ML is sorted out, perhaps a New Year a new start for their relationship. I think we all would love Matt to be officially part part of the Saints again, but for now Welcome back into the fold Terry. Love the fact you feel, after all you've achieved, that this is a great honour. A real tribute to the work NC, NA and the whole team as put in over the last few years. Hopefully Matt's day will come. COYR for today, 3 points and we're on are way up that table. Happy New Year everyone.

Pogle says...
1:09pm Wed 26 Dec 12

MGRA wrote:
ok so who is going to be first to state the obvious ?
Obviously not that obvious on the following comments!

White and red till dead says...
1:17pm Wed 26 Dec 12

miltonarcher wrote:
Well done Nicola. Now, take a look at the picture of Terry Pain in the Saints strip. Can you see the stripes? See how this strip from way back looks better than the current bland strip. Get your act together and get us back in the red and white stripes for pities sake!
Fully agree re the stripes. A number of years ago after the 2003 final put us into Europe there was a Save Our Stripes campaign - where are they now when we need them??

oldsaintsfan says...
1:45pm Wed 26 Dec 12

White and red till dead wrote:
miltonarcher wrote:
Well done Nicola. Now, take a look at the picture of Terry Pain in the Saints strip. Can you see the stripes? See how this strip from way back looks better than the current bland strip. Get your act together and get us back in the red and white stripes for pities sake!
Fully agree re the stripes. A number of years ago after the 2003 final put us into Europe there was a Save Our Stripes campaign - where are they now when we need them??
Yes, get the stripes back asap.

TEBOURBA says...
2:37pm Wed 26 Dec 12

The Spirits of Christmas really did visit Nicola!
I forgive him everything.
IMO Terry Paine is the finest player ever to pull on a Saints' shirt, a World Cup Winner Medallist, he made the likes of Ron Davies, Martin Chivers Mick Channon and many more.
Mick Channon wrote that Terry was the finest player he ever shared a pitch with.
A wonderful gesture by Nicola, I'm sorry for misjudging him in the past.

just kidding says...
3:07pm Wed 26 Dec 12

Terry, you were my hero, from the time I was a kid watching from the kids section at the old Dell. Congrats on the award. Any chance of getting you fit enough for the new year?

Tye-Dye pt2 says...
4:16pm Wed 26 Dec 12

TEBOURBA wrote:
The Spirits of Christmas really did visit Nicola!
I forgive him everything.
IMO Terry Paine is the finest player ever to pull on a Saints' shirt, a World Cup Winner Medallist, he made the likes of Ron Davies, Martin Chivers Mick Channon and many more.
Mick Channon wrote that Terry was the finest player he ever shared a pitch with.
A wonderful gesture by Nicola, I'm sorry for misjudging him in the past.
It takes the bigger man to apologise fair play to you, I happily will admit being wrong about you. I truly believe for all his sometimes apparent lack of empathy NC has the club at heart, it appears we are in for a tough fight till May and it could end in tears, but I am certain as can be he will back Nige to the end, stability at the helm is what we have(the squad's another story :) Great gesture by NC and none of us could possibly disagree with his choice, now to make LeTiss the official spokesman and we'll all be happy? COYS!!

Strasbourg Saint says...
5:32pm Wed 26 Dec 12

TEBOURBA wrote:
The Spirits of Christmas really did visit Nicola!
I forgive him everything.
IMO Terry Paine is the finest player ever to pull on a Saints' shirt, a World Cup Winner Medallist, he made the likes of Ron Davies, Martin Chivers Mick Channon and many more.
Mick Channon wrote that Terry was the finest player he ever shared a pitch with.
A wonderful gesture by Nicola, I'm sorry for misjudging him in the past.
Blimey! Is it Christmas? :)

John Gillham says...
9:09pm Wed 26 Dec 12

I used to watch Terry from the terraces in the late 1960's. He was one of the Saints greats - perhaps the best. Were it not for Ramsay's wingless wonders he would have made many more appearances for England - he surely deserved to. As a player he was a rather like Gareth Bale - a winger who could tackle and waltz around full backs with his sheer pace and trickery. He and John Sydenham supplied all the crosses that enhanced the reputations of Ron Davies and Martin Chivers. Well done Southampton. Far too many Saints fans don't realise how good he was.

OSPREYSAINT says...
11:49pm Wed 26 Dec 12

Strasbourg Saint wrote:
TEBOURBA wrote:
The Spirits of Christmas really did visit Nicola!
I forgive him everything.
IMO Terry Paine is the finest player ever to pull on a Saints' shirt, a World Cup Winner Medallist, he made the likes of Ron Davies, Martin Chivers Mick Channon and many more.
Mick Channon wrote that Terry was the finest player he ever shared a pitch with.
A wonderful gesture by Nicola, I'm sorry for misjudging him in the past.
Blimey! Is it Christmas? :)
It is, let's keep this positivity going and move onward and upward.

Yon_St_Harri says...
1:05am Thu 27 Dec 12

I agree with all the positive comments above; thankfully no 'bonehead' comments. Havig first watche Saints in 1963 I remember Terry Paine, JohnSydenham,George Kirby, George O'Brien, Tony Knapp ad others. Yes They were a great side and Terry was the pick ofthem - IMO better than George Best,ause he also had humilty, loyalty, honesty and sobriety. Good on you Terry. PS John Sydenham lives just around the corner here in Perth.

Yon_St_Harri says...
1:07am Thu 27 Dec 12

Jeez my spelling - or is it typing? is rubbish.

alan.of.eastleigh says...
10:36am Thu 27 Dec 12

MGRA wrote:
ok so who is going to be first to state the obvious ?
The obvious is that MGRA has nothing useful to say.

This is a great appointment. Terry loves this club and it goes some way to compensating for his unceremonious exit back in the 80s. Look forward to him getting a great SMS reception on New Years Day.

allsaintsnocurves says...
4:58pm Fri 28 Dec 12

I like the Red Kit and I liked the centenary kit with the Red Sash. It's nice to change the kit around now and again but I'm sure we will be back in the stripes soon so keep calm!

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