An autobiography of former Saint and current Eastleigh manager Ian Baird is currently underway and the author want Saints supporters help.
Ian Baird you might be surprised to learn wasn't born in Southampton, but Rotherham, however he was brought up in our fair city and attended St Mary's college where he was picked for England schoolboys before signiong on as an apprentice at the Dell in 1980 on leaving school and then as a full professional two years later, a big strong bustling centre forward, he was a victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time with Saint attack featuring a plethora of top notch forwards all vying for a first team space, his debut came in February 1983 still aged 18 he made 9(2) appearances that season although Saints style was not geared towards a big target man, however a haul of two goals gave the fans hope that he might be one for the future.
If he thought 83/84 might be his breakthrough year though he was wrong, an early winner at home against Arsenal would be his only goal of the year and he would only make half a dozen appearances as McMenemy kept faith with Frank Worthington,but Baird was still big in the Saints plans and he was sent out on loan to get experience playing a dozen times for cardiff city and scoring 6 times.
But perhaps he felt the writing was on the wall in the summer of 1985, certainly he was hungry for first team football and with the big name signing of Joe Jordan aligned with Alan Curtis who although in a withdrawn role could play up front and the return of ex Saint George Lawrence he probably felt that his opportunities might be limited, ironically his best game was his last, two goals in a 4-3 victory against West Brom at the Dell and then he was off to Leeds and a plethora of clubs including Pompey in a career that took in 9 English clubs and 1 Scottish before he retired from league football in 1997 after over 450 games in British football and a 1 in 4 strike rate, a good total in anyones book.
In 2004 he took over at Havant & Waterlooville before leaving in 2007 to joine Eastleigh as their manager securing their position in the Blue Square South only two promotions away from the football league, although in recent seasons he has been hampered by financial constraints at the Spitfires he has kept them out of stormy waters and within touching distance of the play offs.
Now with the book of his life story about to be produced the authors are looking for memories and anecdotes of Ian, although he didnt play many games for Saints, in total 21(3) scoring 5 goals, with being a local lad and a big name in local football, including a spell in the Sunday morning league, there must be many who have some memories they could pass on to the author.
he can be contacted at