I don’t often see Saints playing away these days but I was lucky to be invited to Bournemouth by Leon Crouch.

Supporters may remember that Leon was one of those that saved the club financially a few years ago and he had two tickets from a friend of his who had done a similar thing at Bournemouth and been given lifelong seats as a thank you.

I thought the game was not totally exciting. Bournemouth could have scored in the opening minute and Southampton in the closing minute, but I think a draw was probably a fair result and a good one for Saints.

We now have three draws, incidentally, and every opponent started with the letter B – Burnley, Brighton and Bournemouth.

We could now do with some wins but certainly our opponents today, Newcastle, are in the same position.

Bournemouth have to be admired as a club. A derby match in the Premier League but only 11,000 people – that’s how small the ground is.

Full marks to chairman Jeff Mostyn and manager Eddie Howe for providing a Premier League atmosphere.

One of the other nice surprises to me was the room we were in had a gentleman on the microphone who introduced two ex-players at half time.

One was a player who had lived in Australia for the last ten years and the other was Ted MacDougall, who is a legendary name with a stand named after him at Bournemouth.

He has been living in America for many years, and the last time we met was years ago, again at a game there when he brought over a group of schoolboys who he coaches in the States.

Many memories flooded back.

He and Phil Boyer were the two forwards who made their name there and their manager, John Bond, eventually took them to Norwich City, where they carried on with their goalscoring exploits.

I eventually brought them both together to The Dell.

Phil was always the quiet man and the provider with Ted hitting the back of the net.

After a couple of years he took his last move in the league back to Bournemouth.

Everyone thought Phil would not perform as well but took them by surprise by winning the Golden Boot after the man he provided so many to had left, scoring 30 goals that following season.

One of the other things which surprised me on the day was whispers of management changes, which sadly you tend to go more in the media these days than ever before with only about a third of the season gone.

Mark Hughes’ job was mentioned.

I make the point that he was the right appointment at the right time, fortunately, and saved the club from relegation last year.

Any manager coming in these days with a squad of 25 or 30 players needs time to get to know them, sort out his most effective team, and it is far too early for a newcomer like him to be put under pressure, never mind having another foreign name linked with coming to the club.

Supporters with Newcastle today will know exactly what I mean as apart from their owner, Mr Ashley, being under lots of pressure from them for quite a while now, the focus is apparently turning on Rafa Benitez.

He has such a good record as a manager but of course when your team is as big as Newcastle and you are bottom of the league not having won a game yet no one will be too surprised.

Another manager, British in this case in Brendan Rodgers, who had followed him at Liverpool, has been linked with following him at Newcastle now.

For me it shows how times have changed.

In our day we were given much more support from the boardroom and time by the supporters. I suppose money these days has more of a say.

Whilst wishing Rafa all the best I hope his wins don’t start until next week.

  • Readers may remember I mentioned bumping into a gentleman in Romsey before the season started who asked me for tips.

He had asked me the previous year and won enough on his bets to buy me a cup of coffee.

He put thumbs up this week and said I was on my way to a coffee plus a sandwich.

He asked whether I had seen the tables. My tips of Leeds and Middlesbrough are joint top of the Championship with Sunderland in a promotion position in League One and the other one I whispered to him, Portsmouth, doing quite well also.

If these teams all stay in their same positions come the end of the season I think I will have to consider putting a bet on myself next year.