There is a good argument to see him as our best ever manager

I'm old. I remember. In the mid 60's basically we were going nowhere. A standard 2nd division club who regularly finished mid table at best. Ron Saunders came in and transformed the mentality of the club as much as the team. With Duncan Forbes (who I think was already here) as captain and Dave Stringer along side him he first made us difficult to beat. Football was not that pretty in those days and we definitely fitted that category! However in 71/72 a bit of a transformation took place. We added goalscorers in the shape of David Cross and Peter Silvester. In midfield we had creators in Doug Livermore and Graham Paddon and of course Kenny Foggo on the wing. The resolute defence already existed. With his infamous training regime on Mousehold we were fitter than the rest. Think I saw every home game that season and it was wonderful. We went up to Div 1 for the first time ever and (just) stayed up under him. He also took us to a Wembley Cup Final, another first for the club. The greatest legacy though is that Ron Saunders made us into a top flight club or, if we were not in the top division we were seen as a club who might well belong there. That remains true today. As a manager I would contend Ron Saunders did more for our club than anyone else. He first made us into what we are. With the recent loss of big Dunc as well it has been a very difficult few weeks. Thank you for everything Sir.

Posted By: Saucerer, Dec 7, 20:41:40