Hagiology Publishing have announced that their new book Match Of The New Millenium will be launched on Thursday 11th August and you can get a signed Matthew Le Tissier copy at the launch.

Back in 2000 as Southampton Football Club prepared to move to St Mary's and head for a new era, Hagiology Publishing published Match Of The Millennium to highlight the landmark matches of the club's history up to that point, now they have produced a follow up to cover 100 matches from the last 15 years.

The book will look at the good and the bad, from the first game played at St Mary's in 2001 right up to the exciting climax of last season.

Edited by David Bull and Barry Webb, the book contains reports on the Saints’ 100 most memorable matches written by supporters who were there and reflecting the highs and lows of the Saints’ recent history.

Who can forget… the first win at St Mary’s against Charlton Athletic... the FA Cup Final at Cardiff... the despair of relegation in May 2005... the anguish of administration and the joy at the club being saved... the JPT final at Wembley... back-to-back promotions and our return to the Premier League... the extraordinary 1-0 away win against Leeds United... wins at Old Trafford and St James’ Park just eight days apart… the 8-0 drubbing of Sunderland... the fastest-ever hat-trick in the Premier League?

Each match has at least one photo and at least one recollection from a current, or former, Saint who played in it.

Readers will learn, from the insightful comments of 21 contributing players, about tactics, half-time team-talks, disputed decisions and — from Rickie Lambert, in particular —what it took to score goals.

The 100 selected matches feature 50 different opponents, although some appear more often than others:

* Arsenal five times, with the Saints winning three and drawing two;

* Liverpool six times, winning five;

* Chelsea five times, losing only once;

* Manchester City five times, losing only once;

* local derbies — three in the League, one in the FA Cup and one in the League Cup.

Most of the matches trace the Saints' decline from the top flight to the third tier and the climb back up again, but readers can also relive:

* European ties against Steaua Bucharest and Vitesse Arnhem;

* seven FA Cup ties, including the 2003 Final, as well as the cup finals for the Youth and U-21 sides;

* the semi-final and Final of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy;

Commissioned by Southampton Football Club the book will be launched on Thursday, 11 August 2016 at 4.30 pm in the Saints Megastore at St Mary’s Stadium, to mark the 15th anniversary of the first game at St Mary’s Stadium which falls the day after the sixth anniversary of the passing of Markus Liebherr, whose daughter Katharina Liebherr has kindly written the foreword to this important record of the past 15 years.

MATT LE TISSIER (who played in Match No 1) and KELVIN DAVIS (Match No 100) will be at the launch to sign copies of the book, between 4.30 and 6.30 pm.

It looks like another great book from Hagiology who have almost single handedly chronicled the history of the club and its players from their first publication in 1998, indeed it could be said right back to 1987 when pre Hagiology, Duncan Holley and Gary Chalk brought out "A Complete Record Of The Saints" at that point in time there was little apart from the odd player biography to read about Saints.

Now of course there are a lot more books published and Hagiology led the way, indeed those of us who have written about Saints over the past 30 years whether it be as author as a book or in the media would have been lost without their wonderful books to refer to.

The book is on sale in the Saints Stores from Monday 8 August at £18.99.

It will also be on sale in local Waterstone’s stores from Monday 22 August.

It is already available direct from Hagiology Publishing at only £16
(plus £3.50 p & p, unless you arrange free hand-delivery/collection)

Details of this book and all other Hagiology publications can be found at

hagiologists.com

But you can find out more, right now, from one of the editors:

David Bull 0117-962-2042 OR Barry Webb 07806 626259

e mailto:

bull.hagiology@blueyonder.co.uk

Photo: Action Images

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