We Are The Francis Benali Society Tuesday, 9th Sep 2014 08:14 As the Saints legend enters the final few days of his gruelling 1,000 mile challenge older Saints fans will recall his own personal anthem at the Dell. Francis Benali played almost 400 games for Saints from his debut almost 26 years ago in October 1988 to his final appearance in February 2003 when he played against Millwall in the FA Cup thus writing his name into the history books as part of the squad that took Saints to an FA Cup Final. Throughout his career he had that fighting spirit that although at times his play would frustrate the fans, he would always fight back with a never say die attitude, over his time at the Dell it has to be said that there were plenty of managers who tried to replace him, indeed a series of replacements were signed including the likes of Micky Adams, Simon Charlton & Lee Todd but he saw them all off and it was only when he turned 31 and the emergence of an outstanding talent in Wayne Bridge that he was finally ousted as the first choice left back, but he truly was a legend and appreciated by all Saints supporters for the services to the club. He became one of those players who has a song that is truly his and his only, this was lifted from the 1960's iconic film the Italian Job where the title track "we are the self preservation society" was adapted to become "We are the Francis Benali Society" unlike most football chants I have never heard this used elsewhere nor for any other player at Southampton Football Club. The original title of the song is very apt for Franny at the moment as he battles on with his run, self preservation is very much on his mind, but the word "self" is certainly not one you would associate with him, always a team man and always someone who put the Club before himself, since retiring again self has never been a word used by him either and that has culminated in this run, today(Tuesday) he will head towards Oxfordshire and then London and finally Southampton. When he arrives in St Mary's at half time how great it would be to hear "We are the Francis Benali Society" echoing around the ground, he deserves it not just for his services to Southampton Football Club but for his charity work on this run, I really don't know anyone else who could have done this and that tells you why Franny served this club in the first team for a period of 15 years and almost 400 games, oh and one goal too. To make a text donation from your mobile phone please text “BIGR55 followed by the amount you would like to donate EG £1, £3, £5, £10” To text number 70070. For example if you wanted to donate £10. Text BIGR55 £10 to 70070 Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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