Terence Lionel ‘Terry’ Paine MBE was born 23 March 1939 in Winchester and along with his manager became synonymous with Southampton Football Club.
Terry Paine was completely and utterly a product of Hampshire. As a promising youngster he played at inside forward for Hampshire Boys and represented Highcliffe Corinthians before moving to Winchester City, his birthplace, where he was moved out to the right wing.
Terry soon began to make a name for himself and began to attract the attention of bigger clubs. Southampton had a new manager and it was Ted Bates who signed young Terry on amateur forms in August 1956.
In February 1957, Saints signed Paine as a full-timer when he appeared in a reserve game against Bristol Rovers. The following month he made his League debut at home to Brentford, just a week before his 18th birthday. Paine did not score in the 3-3 draw but us fans were impressed by his skills, pace and the ability to use either foot.
Terry celebrated his birthday by scoring his first league goal in a 1-1 draw at Aldershot. He then kept his place in the side right until the end of the season, and would then never lose it over the next seventeen seasons except for the occasional injury.
From the start Terry showed a mannerism that upset many older more experienced players but his talent and willingness to take on full backs and leave them in his wake left Saints fans in no doubt that we had a rising star in the making.
The arrival of Paine came at the same time as that of another young winger, John Sydenham. John was an out and out speed merchant but though slightly slower it was the added skills of Paine that came to the for.
Southampton became a team that though a lowly Division Three South team, gave their fans bucket loads of goals and entertainment. It seemed that with the two wingers able to cause havoc the club’s centre forwards could always be reckoned as favourites to score.
With the superb service that Paine could supply Saints had a steady stream of high scoring forwards. Derek Reeves, George O’Brien, Ron Davies and Martin Chivers all gained their reputations with plenty of help from Paine.
Watching the wingers beating their backs and running down the line before putting in the necessary crosses was an exciting time for us Saints fans. Terry had a lot more to his game than merely providing chances as he scored goals as well.
With growing maturity, Terry gained international recognition when he played in an England Under-23 match against Holland in March 1960 scoring on his debut as England won 5-2. 1960 also saw Saints score a total of 106 goals as they won promotion to the old Division Two.
Terry took the step step up in his stride and continued to run riot down the wing. He scored 18 goals as well as providing the chances for the club’s main strike force. With Terry now more often in the public gaze he was attracting interest from Division One clubs. Terry put in a transfer request which he eventually withdrew with Arsenal coming close to getting his signature.
Saints continued to play open attacking football and with the extra attention he received Terry got called up by the full England team. 1963 saw Terry play two games for England. Terry provided crosses for both Jimmy Greaves and Bobby Charlton to score in a 4-2 victory away to Czechoslovakia on his debut. Terry scored a hat trick at Wembley against Northern Ireland later that year to become the first outside-right to score three goals for England since Stanley Matthews in 1937.
Terry continued to flourish and though Saints were unable to gain promotion to Division One he was happy at Southampton. World Cup fever was now growing as 1966 drew ever closer. Terry remained on the fringes of the England team as he helped Saints finally reach the top tier of football for the first time in the club’s history.
Terry played in England’s first match of the World cup but was injured and never played for his country again. In total he had played 19 times for his country and but for Alf Ramsey doing away with out and out wingers would surely have played many more.
Life in Division One was much tougher for the player and the club. Open football was still played and in signing Ron Davies, Terry had another centre forward who feasted on his crossing ability. Playing at a higher standard though meant that the goals were needed much more as the defence leaked goals at a high rate.
1968/9 saw Saints reach the heights of 7th position and a place in European competition. They got as far as the third round before falling on away goals to Newcastle.
Moving into the 1970’s Terry dropped back into midfield. He changed his style of play and still proved more than adequate at providing golden opportunities for others to score. His ability to find great through balls proving as effective as his crosses had been previously.
Ted Bates changed the style of the club as the team struggled and the feeling of being a popular club was soon to change as the Saints earned the tag of ‘animals’. This due mainly to the fact that the team had been filled with hard tackling grafters, and became known as a dirty team. Terry though still played well with his ability to make space for himself and to find passes for his front men.
By now basically every Southampton record had fallen to the evergreen Paine. He set new club benchmarks for appearances, goals and international appearances and while the latter two records have since been beaten his incredible total of league games is unlikely to ever be surpassed.
1974 saw Southampton become the first club relegated when finishing in 20th place. After relegation Terry was given a free transfer and he moved to Hereford United a club newly promoted from non-league football to Division Four. He was a success at Hereford before he finally hung up his boots and retired.
For Southampton Terry played in 713 league games out of a possible 735 in his time at the club. He scored 160 league goals and in all games for Saints scored 183 goals in 808 appearances.
My memories of Terry will always be of him racing down the wing, beating his back and crossing for the likes of Ron Davies, George O’Brien or Martin Chivers to score. Though we won the World Cup I along with thousands of other Saints fans always felt that Terry deserved more call ups.
He proved himself in midfield when moved back and was just as influential. In my book Terry Paine is a player truly worthy of being called a ‘Saints Legend’
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