Martin Chivers would not be perhaps the first name on anyone's lips in this poll, but that would be to underestimate his contribution to Southampton Football Club.
Martin was a local lad who went to Taunton's school before joining Saints, making his debut in October 1962 whilst still only 17 with George Kirby still in fine form he would have to bide his time, that came the following season when he scored 21 times in only 28 games, Saints finished fifth but were well off promotion all season, but Ted Bates was starting to rebuild and Martin would be a big part of that.
1965/66 would be his year and Saints come to that, we gained promotion to the top flight for the first time in our history and Martin scored 30 league goals in only 39 games to play more than his part.
In 66/67 in the First Division, Chivers role would change, in came Ron Davies at the target man alongside him and it was the Welshman who scored the lions share of the goals, 37 in 41 games whilst Martin now becoming more of an all round player hit a respectable 14 in 41 games.
He started 67/68 well, Big Ron was still the main man, but as the New Year arrived Spurs came a calling and Martin went to White Hart Lane having hit 13 goals in only 24 games as the country's most expensive player up to that time with the £80,000 plus Frank Saul that Spurs paid.
Ted Bates was a canny manager though, he knew he had the young Mike Channon coming through and knew that the trick was to get top dollar for one player whilst having his replacement already in situ.
Martin's contribution to Saints should not be overlooked, 96 goals in 174 league appearances is a goal every .55 games and surprisingly is a better ratio than his team mate Ron Davies at a gaol every .56, however unlike Big Ron, Martin didn't get all of his in the top flight for the club, but it cannot be denied that without Martin Chivers and his 30 goals in our promotion season we might never have got to the top flight and Saints history might be a lot different, so from that point of view, Chivers has affected Saints future a lot more than most would give him credit for.
As mentioned in the league he played 174 games (1 as sub) with 96 goals, plus 7 FA Cup games for 4 goals and 8 league cup games for 6 goals.