Saints central defender from the 1980's/90's Kevin Moore has sadly passed away after a long fight against dementia.
Kevin Moore came from a famous Grimsby footballing family as he, his father, his uncle and two of his brothers all played for Grimsby Town and it looked like Kevin himself would be a one club man as he approached his 29th birthday, but then his career suddenly took a quick upturn, after over 400 league games plus another 66 in the cup he was sold to up and coming Oldham in February 1987, there he continued his good form and in the summer of that year he was a suprise signing for Saints manager Chris Nicholl who had played with him at Grimsby a few years earlier.
Given that he was replacing England International Mark Wright who had left amidst acrimony that summer for Derby County, the supporters were a little bit sceptical that a 29 year old who had played all of his games in the lower leagues would be good enough, indeed his signing hit home that Saints were cutting their cloth to suit after the McMenemy years and this was the direction we would be taking.
Moore at only 5ft 11 looked a little short for a central defender, but after his debut against Manchester United at the Dell on the opening day of 1997/98 season their worries were put to bed, Moore formed a solid partnership with Kevin Bond in a transitional season were Saints would finish 12th and Moore himself would play in 35 of the 40 league games, scoring his debut goal for the club on Boxing Day of that season opening the scoring in a 2-1 win over Spurs at the Dell.
The following season it perhaps started to look like Moore had been signed as a stop gap and that Saints would be looking to bring in new blood when Russell Osman arrived, however it was kevin Bond who departed and Moore would partner him, however as Saints started to slide, NIcholl clearly was not happy with the defence and it was moore who made way for Neil Ruddock on his arrival from Millwall for £250,000.
However if the fans thought that the Grimsby born players top flight career was going to be brief they were wrong and Kevin Moore although now 31 was about to show that he had a lot of life in him yet, 89/90 saw Ruddock and Osman play the lions share of games, but Kevin still started 18 plus 3 as sub of the 38 and even scored a goal, although this was overshadowed by his friend Matt le Tissier's hat trick in a 4-1 rout of Norwich.
1990/91 was a similar season to the previous, although Moore and Osman started as first choice the central defensive pairing was never stable with different partners almost monthly as Chris Nicholl looked to try and shore up the defence, again Kevin would play 19 games, which was a couple more than Osman started, but both were affected by the fact that Nicholl had panic bought ex Saint Jon Gittens.
1991/92 didnt look good for Kevin at the outset, Richard Hall had arrived at the club to add another rival for the centre half's shirt and new manager Ian Branfoot also brought in his old Reading player Steve Wood, it would be Boxing Day before Kevin played his first game of the season, but with Saints struggling and Osman and Gittens having played their last, it was a time for people to step up to the plate and Kevin enjoyed perhaps his best spell at the club after being recalled from a loan spell at Bristol Rovers, a stalwart of the defence in the final stages of the season as Saints stormed back from 22nd place in the league with a six game winning run as Saints stormed to safety with ten points to spare.
But in this spell was perhaps kevin's finest hour. the Zenith Data Trophy is now long forgotten, but it provided a day out at Wembley and Saints faced Nottingham Forest in the final, 2-0 down at half time Saints looked to be out of the game but a Matt Le Tissier goal halved the arrears and then on 70 minutes a thumping Kevin Moore header brought the game level, Saints would lose it in extra time, but the goal was perhaps trademark for Kevin who had a knack of scoring headers from corners.
Back in the league Saints resurgence had earned them a place in the newly formed Premier League, however would a now 34 year old Kevin get to play in it ?
The answer would be yes, he now had Ken Monkou challenging him for a spot, but he managed 18 games plus a couple of goals in 92/93, both headers in the box and both vital in two straight wins that at the end of the season made sure Saints were safe.
1993/94 would be his last season for Saints though, he would play 14 games in one of Saints most troubled season's ever although sadly it would be the only season he would not score, his last game for the club came 6 days before his 36th birthday in a 3-0 defeat at Spurs, a result that left Saints in deep trouble although they would get out of it in the final three games.
He then left for Fulham in the summer of 94 where he enjoyed another couple of seasons playing over 50 league games for the club in the process.
On retiring from football he took his surveyors exams and also worked for Fulham as their safety officer and training ground manager whilst still living just outside Southampton at Otterbourne.
In 2008 he was diagnosed with Pick's Disease a form of Dementia and his health deterioated to the extend that he was soon unable to live at home and needed round the clock care, sadly Saints in recent years have ignored his plight, Grimsby Town put on a benefit match to raise funds for his care, but down here it was left to Matt Le Tissier and a group of Kevin's friends to raise what they could through golf days and other fund raising events.
Although obviously Kevin's poor health was well known it still came as a shock to hear of his death, ironically on 29th April his 55th birthday, a young age for someone to die of dementia and for that matter a young age for anyone to die.
Given that he played his last game for the club 19 years ago, the younger generation of fans might not know too much about Kevin Moore, however the older generation do and havent forgot the 7 years service he gave to us where he never put in less than 100% and played a vital part in a turbulent period as the Premier league loomed and Kevin helped make sure that Southampton Football Club would be a part of that.
All in all his Saints record was
League 144 (4) Goals 10
FA Cup 13 Goals 0
League Cup 18(1) Goals 2
Zenith Data up 5 Goals 1
Total 180(5) Goals 13
In this day and age where few players stay 7 seasons nor play 180 games for a club Kevin Moore deserves his place in Saints history.