David Armstrong

 

Rest In Peace David Armstrong

In the aftermath of our win against Leicester, sad news came through that a true Saints legend had passed away. I am of an age where I saw the entirety of David Armstrong’s Saints career and I feel privileged to have done so.

So, what I remember about David Armstrong, the player.

David‘s main strengths were what he added within the context of a team.  The most obvious things were goals from midfield and a natural balance on the left-hand side.

In my lifetime, Southampton have had what I would call two ‘best’ teams for different reasons. The Channon-Keegan-Ball team of around 1981 and the team that finished second in the league in 1984.

Southampton 1980-81

(Katalinic, Channon, Waldron, Holmes, Agboola, Graham Baker, David Armstrong, Keegan, McMenemy, Ball, Moran, Williams, Hebberd, Watson, Golac, Nicholl, Wells)

Back then it was a strategy for Lawrie McMenemy to sign players who everyone else thought were over the hill and get an extra year or two out of them. Lawrie supplemented those players with players out of the youth team and occasionally there was a player from his mid 20s who joined and one such was David Armstrong.  Consequently, there was a lot of churn between one season and the next but there were four players who managed to play regularly for both the Keegan era entertainers and the side that finished second. Those four were Nick Holmes, Steve Williams, Steve Moran and David Armstrong.

Southampton 1983-84

(Danny Wallace, Agboola, Foyle, Rofe, Steve Baker)
(Chatterley, Mills, Waldron, Sperring, Shilton, Ken Armstrong, Baird, Mortimore)

(Moran, Worthington, Holmes, McMenemy, Williams, Wright, David Armstrong)

To say that David had the knack of appearing at the right place at the right time was a massive understatement. It was crazy how many goals he would score just by arriving at the edge of the box to usually finish with his left foot but he also got in there to score quite a few headers as well. The game I remember most was a home game against Manchester United where he had two key involvements. One was managing to be half a yard offside as Kevin Keegan executed one of the most ridiculous overhead kicks into the top corner. It’s hilarious to watch when you bear in mind today’s interpretation of the offside rule but back then if a single player was behind the last defender, even if they were not interfering with play, nor in the goalkeepers eyeline - that was offside. No matter though because Armstrong turned up in the right place at the right time to dance through the defence and score the winner, in front of a Milton Road End containing a 13-year-old yours truly.  A few years later of course, there was the assist of all assists with the right footed cross, perfectly onto the foot of Steve Moran at Fratton Park in 1984.

There were 59 goals in 222 games for Saints in the League, from a player who did his fair share of defensive work and also towards the end of his Saints career, played a number of games at left back. His goal return in successive seasons for Saints was 16, 8, 15, 10, 10 from midfield. How much would you pay for a player who could do that these days?

Three England caps, one earned whilst at Middlesbrough and two earned whilst at Saints, tells the story that people outside of Middlesbrough and Southampton didn’t know quite how good he was and in terms of wider recognition, he always passed under the radar.  Then as now, you’d have got more England caps playing for a mid-table big club, than you would playing for Saints, regardless of our lofty league position in those years.

Later in his Saints career, Armstrong struggled with an ankle injury that restricted his involvement. It’s a shame he couldn’t have stayed fit for another couple of years because then he would’ve played with the Le Tissier – Shearer - Rodney Wallace team of 1987.

Make no mistake, David Armstrong is an absolute Southampton legend. He was an absolutely key player in those two early 80s Saints sides and perhaps only Nick Holmes, (because he played in the 1976 FA Cup Winning side), can lay claim to having played for more iconic Saints line-ups.

After retirement he became a familiar voice on the radio and one occasion I remember was him turning up on talkSPORT at a time when Saints were going very well with Mauricio Pochettino as manager. The clowns at talkSPORT were trying to talk down the fact that Saints were a good side that year but David Armstrong was having absolutely none of it and talked us up and wouldn’t have a word said against us. Saints in his blood all those years later.

A brilliant player and by all accounts, lovely approachable man and it’s really sad that he’s gone at the relatively young age of 67. For me he is synonymous with a time when football was better and the team that I supported was the envy of most of the country.  

Condolences to his family and friends.

Rest in Peace David Armstrong, Saints Legend